Monday, July 22, Hearing 52 This day the hearing continued with the testimony of the witness María Marcos. The witness pointed out that when the soldiers burned her house in Pexla, she was with three of her daughters, a baby, an 11 year old, and a 14 year old. [...]
On Friday, July 28th, 2023, a hearing to review the substitutive measures for Benedicto Lucas García, accused of genocide and crimes against humanity in the Lucas García Ixil genocide case was held. The plaintiff organizations denounced this new attempt to hinder access to justice for victims and survivors. Although [...]
One of many scenes of the first virtual assembly in Santa Anita. Photo credit: AJR This month we invite you to watch a series of virtual forums organized by the Xinka Parliament, read updates on the Association for Justice and Reconciliation’s (AJR) first virtual annual assembly, learn [...]
Nicole Estrada (she/her) wrote this blog while volunteering as an international accompanier in our GAP Internacionalista program. Her blog is here both as a text and an illustrated booklet -- check it out! Read Nico's illustrated booklet! Check out our "No safe third country [...]
Welcome to this second Friends and Family letter, I hope you are staying warm and cozy this winter days! I wish you a festive, joyous and reflective time. Below you’ll read about my reflections as well as my wishes for the next decade: for political prisoners to be freed, [...]
Una semilla de transformación y liberación se plantó hace dos años, cuando compartimos la visión de solidaridad de NISGUA y nuestro compromiso con un marco de justicia racial para toda la organización. Nos comprometimos a aumentar la participación de personas de color y camaradas de bajos ingresos / clase trabajadora [...]
A seed of transformation and liberation was planted two years ago, when we shared NISGUA’s vision for solidarity and our commitment to an organization-wide racial justice framework. We committed to increasing participation of People of Color and low income/working class comrades in the Guatemala Accompaniment Project (GAP). Your donations [...]
Maya Achi women demanding justice for sexual violence enter the court for a trial date in the case's intermediate phase. Photo credit: ACOGUATE Current accompanier, Tal Netter-Sweet, shares their experience of accompanying Maya Achí women who survived sexual violence committed by civil defense patrols, operating [...]
Current NISGUA accompanier Meredith Wilkinson shares the journey that brought her to accompaniment and the lessons she'll take away. She invites others to join NISGUA's cross-border work for justice through the Guatemala Accompaniment Program. If you're interested in being a part of our 2019 Accompanier Cohort, we call on [...]
News recap: Join NISGUA- as staff or as an accompanier!; Survivors Respond as Guatemalan Congress Threatens Amnesty; Sign On in Solidarity with Cross-Border Indigenous Organizing for Self-Determination; Plurinational Government, Omaha Nation Hold Summit in Q’anjob’al territory, Huehuetenango; International Mayan League Holds Vigil Demanding Justice for Youth Killed by U.S. Immigration System; International Organizations [...]
In 1999, the UN-sponsored Commission for Historical Clarification presented its report, Guatemala: Memory of Silence, which documented the crimes the Guatemalan state had committed against its own people during the Internal Armed Conflict. Each year, communities around Guatemala remember what they survived and those they lost on the National [...]
News recap: NISGUA is hiring!; Civil society reacts as political crisis escalates to a technical coup; Stand with Indigenous and campesino communities' right to self-determination; Pan American buys Tahoe Resources, inheriting Escobal Mine's legacy of human rights abuses; Court delays justice, but Maya Achí sexual violence survivors continue in struggle; Become an international accompanier [...]
News recap: Organizations demand justice in wake of assassinations and ongoing violence in Ixquisis, TAKE ACTION to stand with communities working to protect community consultations, NISGUA Speaking Tour shares lessons from successful organizing in Chixoy-Copón Rivers Watershed, KCA sues Guatemalan State in international court, survivors of sexual violence in Military Zone [...]
On International Human Rights Day, we recognize that the language of human rights has not always served to advance social justice. In many cases, it has functioned as a smoke screen for imperial institutions to validate or obscure their violence. The U.S. government used the rhetoric of human rights [...]
En este boletín el equipo de ACOGUATE subraya varios desarrollos en casos jurídicos de alto perfil, incluyendo el caso por genocidio, el caso de Las Dos Erres y el caso de la Mina San Rafael. También explica unos puntos en la coyuntura de Quiché y Ixquisis. ¡Haz clic en [...]
Solidarity Update news recap: NISGUA’s Fall Speaking Tour Kicks Off in November; AJR President, Edwin Canil, speaks on the fight for justice for genocide in "Learning From Survivors" talk; NISGUA welcomes a new GAP cohort; Former accompanier and NISGUA fellow Claire Bransky holds "500 Years Screening: Life in Resistance from Guatemala [...]
En este boletín el equipo de ACOGUATE hace un análisis histórico del caso Las Dos Erres y da actualizaciones sobre un caso por violencia sexual, el estatus de defensorxs criminalizadxs en Huehuetenango y la lucha del pueblo Ch’orti’ de Morola. ¡Haz clic en la foto abajo para leer más! [...]
En este boletín el equipo de ACOGUATE da actualizaciones sobre las luchas de la resistencia pacífica en Ixquisis, FAMDEGUA y CONAVIGUA. También cuenta sobre la visita de la relatora especial de las Naciones Unidas sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas en Guatemala. ¡Haz clic en la foto abajo [...]
In her final letter as a human rights accompanier in Guatemala, Clara Lincoln draws connections between the US and Guatemalan governments' violence against indigenous peoples and people of color, through genocide, sexual violence, state brutality, and attempts at erasure through the imposition of mega-projects and gentrification models that strip people's [...]
News recap: We're ready for 2018 with a new cohort of GAP volunteers; NISGUA Local: Building connections between global movements to defend life and territory; Members of the AJR denounce ongoing racism as they continue their search for justice for genocide; plaintiff organizations to take Military Zone 21 case [...]
In her first letter from Guatemala, Claire Bransky provides a brief history of Guatemala and how its people have been affected by forces of racism, exploitation, and the US's imperialism. As a volunteer with NISGUA's Guatemala Accompaniment Project (GAP), Claire provides accompaniment through the international coalition ACOGUATE to Guatemalan [...]
NISGUA's Sponsoring Community partnerships provide the resources, energy and political action required to ensure ongoing international accompaniment in Guatemala. Their long-term commitment to human rights and solidarity is an essential component of the longevity and sustainability of the Guatemala Accompaniment Project (GAP). The Needham Congregational Church/Guatemala Partnership is one of [...]
On August 27, Guatemalan President, Jimmy Morales, declared Iván Velásquez, head of the UN anti-impunity commission, the CICIG, "persona non grata" in Guatemala and requested his immediate expulsion. This decision came on the heels of a request by the CICIG and the Guatemalan public prosecutor’s office to strip Morales [...]
News recap: Motions filed against former Constitutional Court judges for breach of duty in overturning the genocide verdict; Ríos Montt to stand trial for genocide for his role in the Dos Erres massacre; Accompanier perspective: "As You Come Home: Immigration, Reunion, and the Continuity of Power"; Thousands respond to action [...]
News recap: “Guatemalan women healing towards justice” tour kicks off this weekend at the border; Alliance for Prosperity means more of the same U.S. foreign policy towards Central America; Xamán massacre will be prosecuted in Inter-American Court; The home of human rights defender Angelica Choc attacked amidst advances in criminal trial. This [...]
News recap: Psychologist Maudi Tzay joins NISGUA this fall on tour in the United States; Eight former military to stand trial for charges in the CREOMPAZ case; Urban activists return to Central Square for the Day for Heroes and Martyrs; Seven political prisoners from Huehuetenango go to trial. This and [...]
In the fall of 2015, Llan Carlos Dávila from the Diocesan Committee in Defense of Nature (CODIDENA) toured the U.S. to speak about CODIDENA’s efforts to stop the development and expansion of Tahoe Resources’ Escobal mine in southeastern Guatemala. Dávila spoke about popular education, grassroots action, and the organizing of [...]
February 28, 2016 marked a big step forward for justice in Guatemala when a verdict was reached in the Sepur Zarco trial. For the first time in the Americas, a national court successfully tried sexual slavery as a crime against humanity for crimes committed on its soil. As NISGUA, we acknowledge [...]
One of the pillars of international human rights accompaniment is the backing of a strong and active international network that commits to ongoing education of the international community about the human rights context of those we accompany, monitors the specific situations of those human rights defenders, and is ready [...]
"We are talking about one of the biggest cases of forced disappearance in Latin America." - Thelma Aldana, Guatemala Attorney General Major arrests were made yesterday morning related to cases of crimes against humanity and forced disappearances committed between 1981 and 1988 by former high-ranking military officers. The remains of 558 people have been [...]
Dear Family and Friends, Thanks to those of you who’ve responded to my recent call for action in solidarity with political prisoners in Huehuetenango and for financial support in NISGUA’s successful May Match campaign! Those of you who’ve signed in support of the release of Saúl Méndez and Rogelio [...]
Since the mid-1990s, members of the NISGUA network have provided a physical international presence to threatened human rights defenders and communities in the Ixcán. We invite you to read the following reflection piece from one of our current accompaniers, Kayla Myers, about the violence of the past and the ongoing [...]
This year, ACOGUATE honors 15 years providing a physical international presence to threatened Guatemalan human rights defenders as they work towards social justice and transformation. In 2000, NISGUA joined international accompaniment organizations from Canada and Austria to form ACOGUATE, drawing from experiences accompanying refugee communities during their return to [...]
Posted on March 2, 2015 by ACOGUATE Translation by NISGUA Detained and awaiting trial since August 27, 2013, natural resource defenders Saúl Méndez and Antonio Rogelio Velásquez of Santa Cruz Barillas were recently sentenced to 33 years and four months in prison. They were found guilty of being accomplices [...]
NISGUA sat down with several members of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) to ask them how they feel about the genocide retrial and the events of January 5th, when lead Judge Jeannette Valdés was recused from hearing the case and the retrial was suspended. The departure of [...]
"Historically, we have never received the support of the state or the government for our development, which is why it seems fair that we be able to take advantage of our own natural resources in order to improve the living conditions of our people according to our own vision [...]
Ex-colonel Esteelmer Reyes Girón and ex-military commissioner Heriberto Valdéz Asij were arraigned and ordered to pre-trial detention on June 23 by Tribunal "B" of the High Risk Crimes Court. The two will remain in prison while they await trial on charges of assassination, forced disappearance, and crimes against humanity. [...]
Toma acción inmediata para expresar su apoyo para el acompañamiento internacional en derechos humanos y los defensores de derechos humanos en Guatemala! Favor de remitir la siguiente carta a las autoridades guatemaltecas y estadounidenses hoy! Descarga la carta aquí y mandarla con un mensaje personalizado a los embajadas, consulados [...]
Take immediate action to express your support for international human rights accompaniment and human rights defenders in Guatemala! Please forward the below letter to Guatemalan and US authorities today! Download the letter here and forward it with a personal note to embassies, consulates and Guatemalan officials. The contact [...]
On July 1, 2014, Guatemalan officials revoked the temporary residence permits of two human rights accompaniers with Peace Brigades International. In response to their expulsion, the Convergence for Human Rights (Convergencia por los Derechos Humanos), a network of Guatemalan social, environmental, human rights, feminist, campesino and territorial defense organizations [...]