As Guatemala held its general elections on June 16, the justice system made an important arrest. They captured retired general Luis Enrique Mendoza in Baja Verapaz, as he went to cast his ballot. Mendoza had been on the run for nearly eight years. Mendoza served as Chief of Operations [...]
News recap: Survivors Achieve Tentative Victory against Proposed Amnesty Law; ACODET Leaders, Indigenous Authorities Hold Press Conference in Defense of Community Consultations; NISGUA and New Mexico State University Organize Indigenous Environmental Leadership Delegation to Guatemala
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 [...]
Guatemalan partner organizations, including CALDH and HIJ@S, published an open letter denouncing Guatemalan congressional attempts to pass amnesty legislation. The proposed legislation could overturn decades of work for justice, allowing those responsible for crimes against humanity to walk free. The letter rejects these latest attempts to legislate impunity, at the expense [...]
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 [...]
Merilyn Topacio Reynoso Pacheco, 1997 - 2014. (Photo: Danilo Zuleta) Two weeks have passed since the deadly attack against Alex and Topacio Reynoso, community leaders from Mataquescuintla, Jalapa who were actively opposed to Tahoe Resources' Escobal mine in southeastern Guatemala. Topacio, just 16 years old, was killed, [...]
This morning, the Constitutional Court (CC), Guatemala’s highest court, will hear arguments regarding the April 2013 decision by Judge Carol Patricia Flores to set the genocide case back to a pre-trial phase. The mid-trial ruling cited technical errors in the judicial process and stated that the case should return [...]
On November 5, almost six months since the highly contested decision by Guatemala's Constitutional Court (CC) to annul the genocide sentence, Guatemalan courts announced a date for the retrial of former General Ríos Montt. Guatemala's High Risks Court “B” affirmed that it has the jurisdiction to hear the case but said [...]
The "Justice for genocide: A survivor's story" fall speaking tour left Wisconsin on November 13 to embark on the final stops of the tour: Laramie, WY; Denver, CO; and the Bay Area, CA. The Wyoming Guatemala Accompaniment Project (WYGap) welcomed tour speaker, Association for Justice and Reconciliation President Anselmo [...]
“We are here in the United States asking for your solidarity. Borders divide us, but justice is a fundamental pillar of democracy” -Anselmo Roldán to the international community From November 7-11, NISGUA visited six Midwestern cities with Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) president Anselmo Roldán. The Midwest leg [...]
The Guatemala Education and Action Project (GEAP) hosted NISGUA and the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) on our third tour stop in Los Angeles. GEAP's events included a press conference, community event and a number of college speaking opportunities for AJR president Anselmo Roldán. Anselmo receives [...]
On October 30, NISGUA began our tour with Association for Justice and Reconciliation president, Anselmo Roldán Aguilar. After a day of meeting with key state and congressional representatives, Anselmo gave his first presentation at the Unitarian Unitarian Church of Arlington. The event, hosted by Partners for Arlington and Guatemala, [...]
Guatemalan newspaper Prensa Libre splashed "CC brings José Efraín Ríos Montt closer to amnesty" across its front page headlines, with the corresponding article publishing excerpts of a leaked ruling issued by the Constitutional Court. Plaintiffs and lawyers still have not received notification of the decision at the time of [...]