Unofficial translation by the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA). You can find the original statement in Spanish further below.

Press Release

The Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR), The Human Rights Office of the Archdiocese of Guatemala (ODHAG), and the Institute of Comparative Studies in Criminal Sciences of Guatemala (ICCPG)

A message for national and international public opinion:

Today, March 12, 2026, we presented to the honorable rapporteur of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Andrea Pochak, a petition against the State of Guatemala, primarily regarding the DENIAL OF JUSTICE in the case known as the Ixil Genocide, during the Lucas García period, which began in 2001 and went to trial 23 years later, when it was interrupted by an illegal ruling issued by the First Chamber of the Court of Appeals, whose members have direct ties to corrupt individuals seeking impunity.

This petition is filed on behalf of at least 1,200 direct victims and 27,000 indirect victims of grave human rights violations such as: massacres and the razing of villages, extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, sexual violence, and forced displacement, all of which were committed against a non-combatant civilian population of Ixil Maya origin by military units under the orders of Generals Manuel Benedicto Lucas García and Manuel Antonio Callejas y Callejas, as well as Colonel Cesar Octavio Noguera Argueta, among other members of the Army General Staff during the regime of General Fernando Romeo Lucas García.

Here are some facts in support of our petition:

  • 23 years have passed since the first complaint was filed before reaching trial
  • In 2024, pending the court’s ruling on the oral and public hearing, the trial was suspended by the aforementioned courtroom through an illegal ruling ordering the transfer of the trial to a court that had not presided over the evidentiary proceedings.
  • The defendants CÉSAR OCTAVIO NOGUERA ARGUETA and MANUEL ANTONIO CALLEJAS Y CALLEJAS died with impunity, enjoying the privileges afforded them by the justice system – elderly survivors of the events – died without ever seeing justice and having been abandoned by the State.
  • In April 2024, the oral and public trial began, solely against MANUEL BENEDICTO LUCAS GARCÍA. But after 99 hearings and more than 1,000 pieces of evidence examined, having presented overwhelming evidence of the defendant’s responsibility for 34 massacres, forced disappearances, 30 acts of sexual violence, torture, and the complete destruction of villages that caused the deaths of thousands of children, pregnant women and elders, the prosecution and the plaintiff’s having concluded their arguments and seeking a sentence of 2,800 years in prison against the defendant, while the defense was set to present its case the court was preparing to issue a verdict, the trial was suspended by the First Chamber of the Court of Appeals.
  • In parallel, the Attorney General and of the Public Prosecutor’s Office intervened to obstruct the completion of the trial and a likely conviction through the dismantling of the team of prosecutors handling the case, transferring some and ousting others.

In light of these clearly deliberate actions that undermine the victims’ right to justice, reparations ,and guarantees of non-repetition, the AJR, the ODHAG and the ICCPG have today filed a petition with the IACHR against the State of Guatemala for its violations of various rights protected by the American Convention, from the moment the events occured and continuing through to the impunity that persists to this day, including: discrimination, personal integrity, personal freedom, judicial guarantees, personal and family life, children’s rights, private property, the right to truth, and undue delay in obtaining justice, among others.

Through this action, we reaffirm our relentless struggle to honor the memory of our loved ones, to seek justice and reparations, and for guarantees of non-repetition, in the face of a judicial system that has been co-opted by the criminal groups that profited from the genocide, and the imposition of silence and forgetting of our history, and our stuggles for a life with social justice.

Guatemala, March 12, 2026

En español: