"Their truth is our truth". Illustration by CALDH. On September 16, 17 and 18, survivors of massacres that occurred in the Ixil region gave their testimonies as pretrial evidence in the case against retired military officer Luis Enrique Mendoza García who was Chief of Army Operations in the government [...]
This article was originally written by Carlos Juarez for gAZeta magazine on January 2020. You can read the article on Spanish here. Since the publication of this article no further arrest has been made. On the contrary, several defendants have requested their release from preventive detention, claiming that due [...]
Archive picture of Marco Antonio Molina Theissen On Wednesday, August 19 a closed hearing was held to resolve the petition of substitute measures for 3 high-rank military officials who currently are in the Guatemalan Military Hospital, arguing the dangers to their health in the face of [...]
Beloved community, we write this Solidarity Update with broken hearts. Rubén Herrera of the Departmental Assembly of Peoples of Huehuetenango (ADH) passed away on July 22. We honor Rubén and we stand in solidarity with Rubén's family and the ADH. We also invite you to watch [...]
[Español abajo] NISGUA denounces the attack on social activist Tania Palencia We are deeply concerned about the attack at the home of social activist Tania Palencia on May 22 . Tania is a human rights defender and has made fundamental contributions to Guatemalan social movements, and is also an [...]
On May 11, the military José Antonio Vásquez García and César Augusto Cabrera Mejía, accused in the CREOMPAZ case, asked Judge Claudette Dominguez to obtain conditional freedom in the context of the COVID-19 emergency. The plaintiffs in the CREOMPAZ case published a first statement explaining why this petition should [...]
NISGUA joins CALDH in denouncing the break-in of the home of Esteban Celada. Esteban is a well known Guatemalan lawyer who currently represents the girls massacred in a state-run youth shelter "Hogar Virgen de Asunción" in 2017. To date, there have been 39 attacks on Esteban, who also worked [...]
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, [...]
In September, NISGUA had the honor of hosting a delegation to Guatemala for representative leaders of the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN). The delegation featured talks with women land defenders, cultural exchanges, and a community visit to the Chixoy River watershed. There is also so much that cannot be captured [...]
Mientras Guatemalan realizaba sus elecciones generales el 16 de junio, el sistema de justicia hizo una captura importante. Detuvieron al ex-general Luis Enrique Mendoza en Baja Verapaz, cuando él fue a votar. Mendoza había sido prófugo durante casi ocho años. Mendoza fungió como Director de Operaciones (S3) durante la [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Organizaciones en Guatemala, entre ellas CALDH e HIJ@S, publicaron una carta abierta denunciando el intento del Congreso a aprobar una iniciativa de ley garantizando amnistía. La iniciativa de ley arriesgaría décadas de lucha por justicia, dejando los responsables de crímenes de lesa humanidad libres. La carta rechaza estos intentos [...]
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: 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 [...]
For a downloadable version of this media advisory, click here. For nearly a year and a half, Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales has repeatedly defied the rule of law by attacking the UN-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). On January 7, Morales announced that his administration would [...]
A survivor of sexual violence waits outside the courtroom for the Military Zone 21 case. Photo Credit: CALDH This article is about Indigenous women seeking justice for systematic sexual violence that was used as a tool of war against them. It contains several explicit descriptions of [...]
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 [...]
News recap: Court affirms that the state enacted genocide, but finds Rodríguez Sánchez not guilty in a split decision; Constitutional Court upholds temporary suspension of Escoal mine and calls on the State to consult impacted Xinka communities. This and more in this month's solidarity update. [...]
We will use this genocide verdict to leave a good tree planted, with strong roots -- the fruits of which will be enjoyed by our children. - Edwin Canil, President of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation, survivor and plaintiff organization On September 26, in a split, 2-1 decision, [...]
Today, the trial against former Head of Military Intelligence José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez is expected to reach a verdict. As a key player under Efraín Ríos Montt’s 1982-1983 dictatorship in Guatemala, Rodríguez Sánchez stands accused of genocide and crimes against humanity against the Ixil people. Over the past year, [...]
"We're motivated to come here - come and listen, to see whether or not there will be justice in Guatemala." Today, the genocide retrial against former head of military intelligence José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez moved into powerful closing arguments, where plaintiffs synthesized key points in the [...]
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 [...]
On April 1, 2018, former Guatemalan dictator Efraín Ríos Montt died from a heart attack at the age of 91. Having initially been convicted in 2013 of genocide and crimes against humanity against the Ixil people, he died under house arrest facing a retrial. Today, survivors organized with the [...]
On Sunday, April 1, 2018, former Guatemalan de facto dictator Efraín Ríos Montt died of a heart attack. At the time of his death, he was being retried for genocide and crimes against humanity, after initially being convicted in 2013. Read the following statement by the Center for Human [...]
News recap: Prayerful action on the Equinox at the Ohlone Shellmound and Village Sacred Site in California; Genocide retrial moves to Nebaj to hear testimonies from elderly and protected witnesses; Nearly 40 years later, former military officials stand trial for crimes against the Molina Theissen family; NISGUA's latest report celebrates community [...]
Nearly a year has passed since the March 2017 indictment of five former high-ranking officers in the Guatemalan military for crimes against humanity. They stand accused of having participated in the illegal detention, torture, and sexual assault of Emma Guadalupe Molina Theissen and the forced disappearance of her 14-year-old [...]
Today, plaintiff organizations went to Guatemala’s Constitutional Court to ask that the Court include testimonies from 35 key witnesses in the Military Zone 21 case – the largest case of forced disappearance to date in Latin America’s history. The plaintiff organizations and public prosecutor claim that during the [...]
En medio del nuevo juicio del caso por genocidio de los acusados José Efraín Ríos Montt y José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez, la Asociación para la Justicia y la Reconciliación (AJR), el Centro de Acción Legal en Derechos Humanos (CALDH), y el Bufete de Derechos Humanos (BDH) publicaron un comunicado [...]
In the midst of the ongoing genocide retrial of José Efraín Ríos Montt and José Mauricio Rodriguez Sánchez, the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR), the Center for Human Rights Legal Action (CALDH), and the Human Rights Law Firm (BDH) published a press release in the Guatemalan newspaper, El Periódico, to mark [...]
Young Ixil university students stand in solidarity with genocide survivors outside of court.Photo credit: Ixil University students, Chemol txumb'al, FUNDEBASE, y AJR Friday, December 1, marked the seventh trial date since the case for genocide against Efraín Ríos Montt and José Mauricio Rodriguez Sánchez was reopened on [...]
El siguiente comunicado fue publicado por el Centro para la Acción Legal en Derechos Humanos – CALDH y publicado aquí con su permiso. Jose Efraín Ríos Montt fue condenado a 80 años en prisión por genocidio y crímenes de lesa humanidad en contra del Pueblo Ixil el 10 de [...]
News recap: "This Land is Ours": Hundreds march to demand the restitution of stolen and occupied lands at site of Military Zone 21; Former military officers to stand trial for crimes committed against Molina Theissen family; Thousands respond to international call to action against violent repression of peaceful protest in Casillas; Inter-American [...]
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 [...]
Photo credit: Roderico Díaz. News recap: Honoring the life of Miguel Ramírez Matóm, witness in the Ixil genocide trial; Take action: Denounce impunity for attacks against environmental defenders; Communities in the Ixcán commemorate 10 years since the referendum that said ‘no’ to resource extraction; Announcing our fall tour: "Guatemala youth in defense of [...]
Today marks the opening of the trial against seven land defenders from northern Huehuetenango, all of whom have been held in pretrial detention as political prisoners for over a year. All seven are being accused of crimes that allegedly took place during community protests against the imposition of hydroelectric [...]
The following are translations from the Center for Human Rights Legal Action (CALDH), plaintiff in the genocide case against former dictator Ríos Montt and his Head of Military Intelligence, Rodríguez Sánchez. CALDH and the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) are currently participating in the closed-door retrial of Ríos [...]
Photo of 14-year-old Marco Antonio Molina Theissen. Photo credit: Lucrecia Molina Theissen The submission of preliminary evidence in the Molina Theissen trial was expected in Guatemala's First Instance Tribunal last week but was halted by a defense appeal on the issue of amnesty. The court had previously ruled [...]
News recap: CREOMPAZ: Public Prosecutor presents evidence in the largest case of forced disappearance in Guatemala’s history; Closed-door genocide retrial moves to Ixil territory; Observer mission travels to Huehuetenango to document human rights violations in the context of hydroelectric projects; “Communities Rise Up” delegation builds connections across borders. This and more in this [...]