[Español a continuación] As the Maya Ixil Genocide case against ex-general Manuel Benedicto Lucas García comes to a close, the Association for Justice and Reconciliation -AJR- and The Human Rights Office of the Archbishop of Guatemala -ODHAG- declare to the public, national and international audience: WE ARE APPROACHING A [...]
Noviembre marca el cierre del caso genocidio Maya Ixil contra Manuel Benedicto Lucas García, el Jefe del Estado Mayor del Ejército Guatemalteco, entre 1981 y 1982. Les invitamos a mostrar solidaridad con integrantes de la Asociación para Justicia y Reconciliación (AJR) quienes llevaron al caso, les testiges que valientemente [...]
Lunes 2 de septiembre de 2024. Audiencia 68 El lunes 2 de septiembre se presentó desde el consulado de Guatemala en México el perito Guillermo Vázquez. El primer peritaje corresponde al realizado en el cantón Xecax, en donde se recuperaron 34 osamentas de las cuales se identificaron 31. El [...]
Monday, August 12, Hearing 63 The presiding judge informed those present in the courtroom that on Saturday, August 10, Lucas Garcia's defense filed a written recusal against the Tribunal. According to the defense lawyers, the tribunal allowed expert witness Bertoni to go beyond the limits of his testimony by [...]
Martes 30 de julio, audiencia 56 “Quedamos con este miedo de que en cualquier momento nos pueden matar también.” Sobreviviente del genocidio Ixil En la audiencia de hoy se incorporaron 2 pruebas documentales y en audio se escuchó el anticipo de prueba de un testigo. El primer documento al [...]
On Saturday, August 10, the defense of former general Benedicto Lucas García filed a legal action to recuse the court, since according to the lawyers the court allowed the Public Prosecutor's Office to overreach their interrogation of an expert witness on the topic of victim identification. Therefore, several human [...]
On May 10, 2023, the Caravan of Memory and Justice was held to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the historic genocide sentence of May 10, 2013, on which former dictator Efrain Rios Montt became the first head of state in the world to be sentenced in national courts [...]
El 10 de Mayo del 2023 se realizó la Caravana de la Memoria y la Justicia para conmemorar el décimo aniversario de la histórica sentencia por genocidio del 10 de mayo de 2013, fecha en la cual el ex dictador Efraín Ríos Montt se convirtió en el primer jefe [...]
(Español abajo) Dear community, In recent weeks, we have seen acute moments of settler-colonial violence and authoritarianism throughout the globe. We stand in solidarity with those rising up to protect their homes, livelihoods, and the right to self-determination, from Palestine to Colombia, and back into our own cities and [...]
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, [...]
On October 17, Judge Claudette Domínguez, known for her right-wing ties and regressive decisions, was removed from the Maya Ixil genocide case against Luis Enríquez Mendoza García, who was chief of military operations under Ríos Montt Government. The plaintiffs of the case successfully proved that Judge Dominguez has a [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
Next week, a verdict is expected in the retrial of José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez, former head of military intelligence under General José Efraín Ríos Montt’s 1982-1983 dictatorship in Guatemala. Rodríguez Sánchez faces charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for the particular role he played in classifying the entire [...]
Three Ixil survivors lift up the 2013 sentence in the last day of the retrial against Ríos Montt, following his death. Photo credit: CALDH On April 1, 2018, former Guatemalan dictator José Efraín Ríos Montt died of a heart attack at the age of 91. In his death, [...]
"Let's respect the word of the people." Original statement in Spanish below. The Ixil genocide case retrial was moved to Santa María Nebaj for this week, following plaintiffs’ request for the judges to hear testimony in the region against former de facto dictator José Efraín Ríos Montt and former [...]
Entre el 6 y 9 de febrero, se trasladaron las audiencias del re-juicio del caso por genocidio a Santa María Nebaj, tras la solicitud de las querellantes que los jueces escucharan los testimonios contra el ex-dictador de facto José Efraín Ríos Montt y el ex-director de inteligencia militar, José [...]
The Ixil genocide case retrial was moved to Santa María Nebaj for this week, following plaintiffs' request for the judges to hear testimony in the region against former de facto dictator Ríos Montt and former head of military intelligence, José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez. Antonio Caba Caba, a survivor and [...]
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 [...]
Today, Survivors of massacres in the 80s from Chimaltenango traveled to participate in the trial against Rodríguez Sánchez for the Ixil genocide. The AJR (Association for Justice and Reconciliation) is made up of survivors from 5 regions in Guatemala and solidarity between communities has been their foundation since [...]
El 13 de octubre, el caso por genocidio del pueblo ixil se abrió de nuevo contra el ex-dictador Efraín Ríos Montt y José Mauricio Rodriguez Sánchez, ex-jefe de inteligencia militar. Este fue el segundo intento de llevarles de nuevo a juicio después del proceso, condena, y sentencia de Ríos [...]
On October 13, the Ixil genocide trial is set to open once again against former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt and José Mauricio Rodriguez Sánchez, former head of military intelligence, in the second attempt to retry the case after the 2013 trial, verdict, and sentence convicting Ríos Montt of genocide. While [...]
News recap: Solidarity in the streets; U.S. Speaking Tour, "Guatemalan Youth in Defense of Land and Life," kicks off on October 9th; Thousands call for resignation of Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales and Congressional representatives; Grieving the loss of Ixil genocide survivor Jacinto de Paz, witness in the trial against Ríos [...]
News recap: Ixil communities celebrate ancestral resistance during the Day of Dignity; Land defender Angélica Choc appeals the acquittal of Mynor Padilla, accused of murdering her husband; Communities fighting to protect the Oxec and Cahabón Rivers denounce decision by Constitutional Court; On World Environment Day, the IACHR calls for the protection [...]
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 [...]
While international accompaniment is at its core a response to the requests of Guatemalan communities and a tool for the protection of human rights, it is also a radical practice of showing up in solidarity and grappling with the deeper questions of structural injustice. Current accompanier Chris Shorne shares a poignant [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
The following is a statement released by Ixil human rights organizations in light of the decision to move the genocide retrial to Nebaj for three days this week. This is the first time the Court for High-Risk Crimes is moving the closed-door trial to Ixil territory, to hear from elderly [...]
The following is a translation of reports from the Center for Human Rights Legal Action (CALDH), one of the plaintiff organizations in the genocide case against former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt and his former head of military intelligence, José Mauricio Rodriguez Sánchez. While witnesses and plaintiff organizations continue to uphold the validity [...]
"We know that genocide took place. The whole world knows it, but the truth has been denied." Juventino Caal, member of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) Yesterday, a new trial against Jose Efraín Ríos Montt and José Mauricio Rodriguez Sánchez opened in Guatemalan courts and once again [...]
"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 [...]
On May 10, supporters, scholars and students from over a dozen countries celebrated the one-year anniversary of the genocide sentence. The worldwide day of action brought together communities to support the survivors' decades-long struggle for truth and justice in Guatemala. People across the world read the sentence aloud, participated commemorative events [...]