The arrest of lawyer Orlando López demonstrates, once again, the influence that structures in favor of impunity has in the Public Ministry and the justice system, which orchestrates persecution against justice operators, judges, and prosecutors who adhered to the law, fulfilled their role, especially in cases of serious human rights violations and corruption cases.

During his work at the head of the Human Rights Prosecutor of the Public Ministry, the Former prosecutor Orlando López proved, on two occasions, that there was genocide in Guatemala. His professional work proved before the high-impact Courts of Justice, the serious human rights violations committed by the military during the armed internal conflict.

As the media has published and confirms, revenge is the engine that fueled this arrest and adds to a series of acts in which the structures of impunity that have co-opted the justice system, push the country backwards in every way and aggravate the situation of human rights in Guatemala.

Those who attribute for the arrests against justice operators are the structures that are historically linked to corruption, impunity, and violence against human rights, and who today feel protected by authorities that are a part of them. Structures supported by the economic power that have the country plunged into poverty and who, in the future, may attack these same structures.

In the ten years after the historic trial for genocide and crimes against humanity, in which it was condemned and proven that there was indeed genocide and sexual violence during the internal armed conflict, we continue to accompany the victims who have spoken their truth and continue to cry out for justice, because memory, truth and justice are aright that assists people.

CENTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS LEGAL ACTION – CALDH

Guatemala, March 17th, 2023

On a white background with purple borders the statement of CALD about persecution and revenge