On a press conference on November 21, 2024, representatives from AJR ( Association for Justice and Reconciliation) and ODHAG (Human Rights Office of the Archbishop of Guatemala) demanded that the First Court of Appeals reject the defense's dishonest attempt to throw out the genocide case and instead, act according [...]
November marks the close of the Maya Ixil genocide case against Manuel Benedicto Lucas García, Chief of the General Staff of the Guatemalan Army between 1981 and 1982. We invite you to show your solidarity with members of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) who brought the case [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 January 4, the oral and public debate for the Ixil Lucas García genocide case was scheduled to begin. A day before, a hearing was held to conclude on the mental health of Manuel Callejas y Callejas. The court resolved the cessation of criminal prosecution in an ordinary trial [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
From February 1 to February 15, the intermediate phase of the Ixil Genocide case against the retired military officer Luis Enrique Mendoza García took place. Mendoza García was Chief of Military Operations (G3) under the Ríos Montt dictatorship between 1982 and 1983. After verifying that there was reasonable doubt [...]
(Español abajo) Maya-Ixil Human Rights survivors and victims of Guatemalan state-sponsored violence fight for asylum in the United States El Paso Immigration Lawyer Carlos Spector declares, “It’s the most significant case I’ve ever had.” El Paso, TX: Gaspar Cobo and Francisco Chávez are Maya-Ixil human rights leaders and [...]
"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 [...]
Isa Villalon, NISGUA internacionalista, wrote this letter upon their return to the United States in March, 2020. Since her return, Isa has been organizing with Abolish ICE Denver. I wasn't able to send out my last friends and family letter before I left Guatemala. Now, [...]
Picture of Esteban Celada during a hearing on the Creompaz case. Photo credit: Verdad y Justicia April 2020 Solidarity Update As we all face the multidimensional implications of the current pandemic, we want to share with you the analyses of our Guatemalan partners. Read [...]