Category Archives: Human Rights Analysis

Semuy II

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Among the victims of corruption in Guatemala are three women we had the honor of visiting in prison several months ago, Rosa Ich Xi, Olivia Mucú, Angelina Coy Choc. The women, without due process, were convicted of the murder of three soldiers in the community of Semuy II, Izabal in 2019. The Indigenous Q’eqchi’ women were sentenced to 75 years in prison.Our team in Guatemala coordinated with El Observador to write an article on the prospects for justice in the case as the women’s appeal hearing approaches. You will find the full article in Spanish here. A much-abridged summary, with additions for clarity and context, follows.


The Effect of the Murders on the Community Until September 2019, when the armed attack occurred, Semuy II was the meeting and decision-making center of the Q’eqchi’ resistance in the south of Lake Izabal. Its location as a strategic meeting point owed to its proximity to the African palm plantations of the NaturAceites  corporation and to the area of advancing mining operations. The community was the meeting place for more than a dozen communities active in the anti-mining protests of 2017 and 2019 in El Estor. The meeting samong the communities were successfully ended in the aftermath of the murders, when the administration of Jimmy Morales imposed a 30-day state of siege, which was later extended. It covered 22 municipalities and purportedly was decreed as a result of the murders. The state of siege shut down the right to protest and the right to free speech and free assembly. Two months before the attack on Semuy II, in July 2019, the Constitutional Court had suspended the license for the Fénix mining project, owned since 2011 by the Swiss transnational Solway Investment Group Limited. The ruling reduced the area of the mining concession granted in 2004 from 247.9 to 6 square kilometers and ordered a consultation to obtain the consent of the Q’eqchi’ communities, which represent the majority in 90 percent in the area in question. The state of siege made preparations for the consultation impossible.
The Upcoming Appeal

Rosa, Odilia, and Angelina, along with four other Q’eqchi’ individuals, have left behind families, as well as a wounded community, as they serve their prison sentences. The women were sentenced in March 2022. Angelina, who was shot during the military attack, has not had access to the medical attention she needs. She requires surgery to have the bullet removed. The women’s appeal hearing, scheduled to take place on August 21, is a reason for hope but also for concern: Judge Luis Mauricio Corado Campos, who will rule on the appeal, has been linked to corruption. Corado Campos was among the 13 magistrates whose judicial immunity the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity (FECI), led by Juan Francisco Sandoval, requested to be lifted in July 2020 so that they could face prosecution. The magistrates were accused of influence trafficking, violating the Constitution of the Republic, and illicit association for maintaining communications with Gustavo Alejo Cámbara, accused of leading a parallel structure to maliciously influence the election of Supreme Court and Court of Appeals judges in 2019 in the case known as Parallel Commissions 2020.

The Shoddy Prosecution

On September 3, 2019, soldiers from a Navy patrol entered through Pataxté beach and crossed Semuy II with their faces covered. The children who were at school, frightened, took refuge on a hill. The women who were attending a medical session, left the consultations to ask the soldiers why they had come. The men, who had not yet finished painting the church, saw the soldiers and had the same question. Then the gunfire started. Two members of the community were injured, Enrique Cuc Tiul and Angelina Coy Choc, and three soldiers were killed. The Public Ministry took more than 24 hours to reach the community and collect the bodies of the soldiers. The community was besieged for five days until a delegation from the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office arrived. Soldiers raided several houses, interrogated several residents as suspects, and conducted searches in nearby areas.The house of Joel Juc Xol was surrounded, and his personal identification document was taken away; Agustín Chub, a member of the community, was found hanging from a low beam on the outside of a house, an apparent but suspicious suicide. The names of Jux Xol, whose ID had been stolen, and of Agustín Chub—before his apparent suicide—had appeared in a publication by the Foundation Against Terrorism, an ultra-conservative group linked to former military officials and corrupt actors within the Public Ministry and other spheres. The Foundation Against Terrorism, according to Guatemala’s National Civil Police, reportedly received the men’s names through a leak from the database of the Ministry of the Interior.

How did the shooting start? Who opened fire? Whose weapons were they? These were questions that the court did not bother to clarify. The court’s ruling was based on the statements of a “protected witness,” who testified with a balaclava to hide their identity. The prosecution also did not identify exactly what role the convicted women had allegedly played in the soldiers’ deaths.

Some of the Forces at Play in the Region

Multiple economic forces have particular interests in the region, and many benefited from the narratives circulated after the killings and from the state of siege. One of the most important entities in Guatemala, Cementos Progreso (CEMPRO), whose partner families, the Maegli Novella, have strong economic interests south of Lake Izabal, is said to be one of funders of the Foundation Against Terrorism, which contributed to the narrative that the community of Semuy II was engaged in drug trafficking. The rationale the soldiers gave for entering the community of Semuy II is that they were searching for a plane they had been tracking as a suspected drug transportation craft. Various economic associations benefitted from the state of siege. The Guild of Palm Producers and Exporters (GREPALMA), the Guatemalan Nickel Company (CGN)-PRONICO, and the Association for the Defense of Private Property (ACDERPO) publicly requested the extension of the state of siege, as well as an active eviction policy in the area. Families in the community do not believe the community members imprisoned for the murders are guilty. Read more about Semuy II in our prior publications and be on lookout for news and ways to support justice as the women’s appeal hearing approaches. 
  

Arévalo Acts to Remove Attorney General Consuelo Porras

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As the four-month mark of the Bernardo Arévalo administration approaches, the battle between the president and Attorney General Consuelo Porras has intensified. In recent weeks as Porras has remained in office, the criminalization of human rights defenders and others has increased. A prosecutor who was shot at and injured in March and whose mother was killed in the assassination attempt has been arrested; criminal cases against Indigenous environmental leaders have been reactivated; and violence against defenders has increased. The young son of an Indigenous environmental defender was gunned down and killed by assassins in mid-April. On May 6, Arévalo took a bold step and submitted to the Guatemalan Congress a proposal that would allow the law governing the Public Ministry to be changed so that he can remove Porras from office. Porras has asked the Constitutional Court to block the action. More details are below.

Governance

Arévalo Makes a Bid to Remove Attorney General Porras

On May 5, in a televised message, President Bernardo Arévalo announced that he would ask Congress for a reform so that the Attorney General can be removed from her position. He said the proposed law would re-establish parameters already in the Constitution for the removal of the attorney general. He pointed out that she is stalling investigations of corruption, such as the purchase of Sputnik vaccines and the relationship of former government officials with confessed drug traffickers, while prosecuting and jailing those who denounce corruption. He also noted that she led the attack against democracy by attempting to question election results without having the competence to do so. He had already invited Consuelo Porras to resign, and she had refused. Hours before his announcement, Consuelo Porras filed an appeal before the Constitutional Court to try to avoid her removal, alleging that the president was exceeding his authority and that his actions represented a true and imminent threat to the rule of law. On May 6, a crowd of supporters accompanied Arévalo to Congress to present the bill.

Arévalo’s First Hundred Days Focus on Corruption but Fall Short of Hopes

On April 23, President Bernardo Arévalo held a ceremony to mark his first hundred days in office. Speaking to the crowd gathered in Guatemala City, he outlined seven areas that his administration has addressed, including security, education, wildfire response, health care, and transparency. He announced he was lowering the president’s salary by 25 percent and signed the decree before the crowd. Prior to this, as Jeff Abbott points out in The Progressive, the Guatemalan president was one of the highest paid heads of state in the hemisphere, earning nearly $20,000 dollars per month prior to the decrease by Arévalo. In February, Arévalo’s administration launched the National Commission Against Corruption (CNC), which worked with ministries to expose acts of corruption linked to former president Alejandro Giammattei’s cabinet. The CNC reviewed over 1,400 public works contracts, most of which were left incomplete by the previous administration. During Arévalo’s initial hundred days in office, the CNC has filed 17 allegations of government corruption with Guatemala Attorney General’s office. In the first 59 days of Arévalo’s presidency, Guatemalan authorities reportedly seized nearly 5 tons of cocaine, doubling the amount confiscated in the entirety of 2023. María del Carmen Aceña, associate researcher at the National Economic Research Center (CIEN) and former Minister of Education, stated that the first hundred days have been complicated and this is due, in her opinion, to the fact that Guatemalans forget that in the first days of government, progress is slow. A chief complaint is that Arévalo has been unable to oust Attorney General Consuelo Porras, recognized as corrupt by the European Union,  the United States, and now Switzerland, as well. On April 10th, Switzerland announced sanctions against Porras, as well as against the Secretary General of the Public Ministry, Ángel Pineda; head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity Rafael Curruchiche Cucul; prosecutor Leonor Eugenia Morales Lazo de Sánchez; and Judge Fredy Orellana. On the occasion of President Arévalo’s first one hundred days in office, the 48 Cantones of Totonicapán held a press conference to address the primary concerns affecting the Maya, Garífuna, and Xinka communities. Edin Zapata Tzul, the president of the 48 Cantones, described the presidential period as “one hundred days of a spring that has yet to bloom.” The 48 Cantones emphasized the rising prices of basic necessities such as food and gasoline, increases which disproportionately affect Indigenous groups. Additionally, the 48 Cantones called for the immediate dismissal of prosecutor Consuelo Porras and allied judges due to concerns regarding impunity and corruption. They also stressed the importance of inclusion in the decisions of the government. “It is important that the Maya, Xinka and Garífuna peoples be included in the decisions of the current government for the betterment of our peoples, in economic, agricultural, natural resources, energy and mining, education, health, infrastructure and the priorities of the nation’s budget,” said Zapata Tzul.

Arévalo Appoints Mayan Leaders as Governors

After receiving criticism for including only one Indigenous Mayan in his cabinet, President Arévalo appointed twelve new departmental governors on April 25 and included nine Indigenous authorities and Mayan social activists and academics. Sololá, Alta Verapaz, Huehuetenango, Sacatepéquez, and Chimaltenango are among the departments with Indigenous governors. Semilla party affiliates were appointed in the Petén and in Suchitepéquez. Two governorships have yet to be appointed, as the executive branch did not consider any of the people proposed by the Departmental Development Committees to be suitable for the position. Arévalo named eight other governors in March.

Arévalo’s New Minister of Environment Expresses Concern about Mines

President Arévalo has appointed Patricia Orantes Thomas as the new Minister of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN) after dismissing María José Iturbide. Evidence had surfaced that María José Iturbide had misused official vehicles. Vox Populifound that Iturbide’s daughter used state-owned cars and security provided by the MARN. As a result, President Arévalo made the decision to dismiss Iturbide “to avoid any doubt about his administration’s commitment and zero tolerance for misuse of state resources and corruption.” On April 5th, President Arévalo tweeted that he would be working with anti-corruption commissioner Santiago Paloma to draft a new code of ethics for officials, including the appropriate use of government resources. Orantes, who prior to her appointment was a member of Congress affiliated with the Semilla party and was in fact one of the party’s founders, has expressed concern about the apparent illegality attending some mining licenses. Speaking before Congress on April 24th, she suggested the need for the Mining Law to be reformed. In relation to the license of the Cerro Blanco open pit gold mine, her office is carrying out an audit and will be making a report. She said the granting of the license “had enormous anomalies that are embarrassing, forged signatures and seals,” and she said she assumes the license will have to be canceled.

New President of the Constitutional Court, Widely Believed to be Corrupt, is Seated

On April 15th, Néster Vásquez Pimentel took office as the new president of the Constitutional Court, replacing Héctor Hugo Pérez Aguilera. Vásquez is included in the US State Department’s Engel list of corrupt actors for “undermining democratic processes or institutions by abusing his authority to inappropriately influence and manipulate the appointment of judges to high court positions.” Inclusion on this list entails the revocation of entry visas to the United States. His rulings have favored actors linked to corruption cases, such as Alejandra Carrillo and Otto Pérez Molina, among others. Vásquez was the only judge who opposed granting a constitutional protection to guarantee the inauguration of Bernardo Arévalo and Vice President Karin Herrera.

Attacks on Defenders,  NGOs, and Judicial Personnel

Sixteen-Year-Old Son of Indigenous Leader Shot to Death

The sixteen-year-old son of a Maya-Poqomam leader opposed to sand extraction in Chinautla, Guatemala was gunned down on April 18, killed by assassins on a motorcycle. His brother, who was with him, was seriously injured. Denilson Alberto Vázquez Chacón and his brother, Lester Moisés Armando Vázquez Chacón, are the sons of an Indigenous authority of the Multisectoral Chinautla, Armando Vásquez. Together with the authorities of the surrounding communities, Vásquez has protested against sand extraction companies that have been damaging the environment. These companies have operated without a valid license for more than two years. About two months before the murder, on February 9, Denilson Alberto was run over and seriously injured by a sand extraction truck belonging to the company La Primavera, one of the many companies operating in the area whose activities Multisector de Chinautla has been protesting for years. Office of Save the Children Raided​​​​​​​​​​On April 25th, the Public Ministry’s Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity (FECI) raided the headquarters of Save the Children, an international, nongovernmental organization that has been operating in Guatemala since 1976. According to the Public Ministry, the raid was part of a broader international investigation into cases of child abuse in Guatemala. Juan Luis Pantaleón, the Public Ministry’s spokesman, said the ministry was investigating a network of US-funded NGOs allegedly involved in trafficking migrant children. FECI head Raul Curruchiche revealed that the authorities had asked the attorney general’s office in Texas for help with the investigation. In a letter to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Ángel Pineda, the ministry’s secretary general, accused Save the Children of sending children to Texas illicitly. The Guatemalan government confirmed that the prosecutor’s office contacted Paxton without going through the diplomatic protocols required for international collaboration. Save the Children disputes the allegations. As the New York Times points out, the inquiry is widely viewed as a political attack in a country with a history of targeting nonprofit groups and human rights organizations.

Persecution of TSE Judges Intensifies

The president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), Blanco Alfaro, and the four judges that are being prosecuted in the TREP case are facing a new accusation and threats to remove their immunity. The complaint, related to alleged irregularities in the presidential election, was filed on April 15th by the National Unity Party of Hope (UNE). On April 19, a congressional committee met to consider whether the TSE magistrates’ judicial immunity should be revoked. The decision-making process has not been completed. TSE judge Irma Palencia has filed an injunction before the Constitutional Court to halt two processes aimed at lifting her immunity that were initiated by the Supreme Court. She is facing accusations from the UNE party and others alleging that she committed fraud when purchasing the TREP electronic voting system. Palencia has argued that the complaints lack evidence and should be dismissed. Efforts to strip the magistrates’ immunity began last September, after Arévalo won the second round of voting and sectors opposed to his presidency alleged that fraud had occurred.

Prosecutor Miriam Reguero Sosa Arrested after Raid on her Home

On April 11th, prosecutor Miriam Reguero Sosa was arrested in her home following a raid. The Public Ministry’s initial accusations against her were money laundering, neglect of duties, and abuse of authority. According to the Public Ministry, the case arose from the follow-up to the investigation of an initial attack on Sosa in 2022, where armed assailants riding a motorcycle fired on Sosa’s vehicle, resulting in the death of her security guard. Sosa is the survivor of two armed attacks. In the second attack, carried out by armed assailants only two weeks before her arrest, Sosa’s mother and security guard were shot and killed and Sosa was injured. The suspects for the second attack have been apprehended. In a video clip from La Hora, Sosa is shown detained and surrounded by police forces. In the clip, Sosa states she is in disbelief that not only after 15 days of her mother’s burial the PM has resorted to arresting her, instead of employing an effective investigation to uncover the aggressors responsible for her attack. Sosa goes on to affirm she fears for her safety and blames the MP for any further physical harm which may occur to herself or to her family. At Sosa’s arraignment, the court found that there was not enough evidence to prove the possible commission of money laundering, and she was indicted only on the abuse of authority charge. It was determined that Sosa was not a flight risk and was released and granted house arrest without paying any financial bonds.

Community Leader who Opposed Hydroelectric Dams in Huehuetenango Arrested

On April 15th, Tomás Domingo Mateo, originally from San Mateo Ixtatán, was arrested on charges of conspiracy in the city of Huehuetenango. He was sent to the Santa Cruz del Quiché prison to await his first statement hearing. He is one of 23 community members slapped with arrest warrants by Judge Alex Eleodoro Cifuentes several years ago after peacefully opposing hydroelectric projects. According to the community, the complaint against Domingo Mateo was made by a representative of the company Energía y Renovación, which attempted to fraudulently build two hydroelectric plants. Otros Mundos AC/Friends of the Earth, an organization that works for the defense of the territory against extractive megaprojects, condemned Domingo Mateo’s arrest and expressed solidarity with the struggle of the Council of the Maya Wuxhtaj People. “This arrest is directly related to the legal and political persecution of which leaders and leaders of river defenders have been victims in the context of the imposition of private hydroelectric projects in northern Huehuetenango. Tomás Domingo Mateo was arbitrarily denounced by operators of the company Proyecto de Desarrollo Hídrico (PDHSA) since 2016, when he served as a community authority,” the Council pointed out. “[T]his arrest is part of a series of destabilization acts that are taking place at the national level, as well as the reactivation of the legal and political persecution against human rights defenders in Guatemala.”

Criminalization of Maya Ch’orti’ Authorities Opposed to Mine Continues

On April 12th, four Maya Ch’orti’ authorities who are part of a peaceful resistance movement against Cantera los Manantiales, an antimony mine, were ordered to stand trial. The case against the men had been closed last year, but after the Public Ministry appealed, Judge Juan José Regalado from the First Criminal Court of Chiquimula sent the men to trial. Juan Carlos Pérez Canán, Leonor Crisóstomo Méndez, Guillermo Ramírez Pérez, and Fredy Geovany Ramírez Ramírez are accused of illegally detaining Odilio de Jesús Guzmán Salazar and Rony Leonardo Guzmán Guzmán, who are the purported owners of land where Los Manantiales operates in Olopa, Chiquimula. The First Criminal Court Judge had ruled to dismiss the case. According to defense attorney Jovita Tzul, there are now ten community members who will face trial in this case of persecution against the anti-mining resistance. Six of the ten leaders currently have alternative measures in the same criminal process. Since 2012, the Maya Ch’orti’ communities of Olopa have been criminalized and persecuted by the company Cantera Los Manantiales, which sought to establish itself in the territory for the extraction of materials such as antimony. As Front Line Defenders has noted, “Guatemalan human rights organizations have accused the Cantera Los Manantiales mining company, located in Chorti ’de Olopa, Chiquimula of committing serious human rights violations against indigenous peoples. In November 2019, the Supreme Court suspended the license of the mining company Cantera Los Manantiales and the Court of Amparos granted the Maya Ch’orti Indigenous Council of Olopa a provisional protection against the risks they were exposed to as a result of the mining activities, following the company’s violation of the agreements it had signed with the community.”

Steps Toward Justice

Ixil Witnesses Begin Testifying Against General Benedicto Lucas García

On April 5th, Guatemala City’s Highest Risk Court “A” began hearing arguments on the Ixil genocide trial. Survivors state that General Benedicto Lucas García directed several massacres against the Ixil community in 1982. As the Chief of Staff of the Army, he identified the Ixil peoples of Santa María Nebaj, San Juan Cotzal, and San Gaspar Chajul as “the enemy within.” He is accused of ordering more than 30 massacres and destroying 23 villages in the Maya Ixil region, causing the death of at least 1,128 people when he led the army between 1981 and 1982, when his brother Romeo Lucas García was in power. Guatemala’s thirty-six-year counterinsurgency campaign against a small guerrilla force relied on “dirty war tactics” and scorched earth operations, culminating in the genocide of nearly 200,000 people, 83 percent of whom were Indigenous. Lucas, 91, was convicted on May of 2018 in a separate case for the rape of Emma Guadalupe Theissen and the forced disappearance of her brother Marco Antonio Molina Theissen. He was sentenced to 58 years in prison.Since the trial began, testimonies from survivors have been presented. The lawyers of General Benedicto Lucas García asked the High Risk Court to restrict the media from broadcasting the hearings of witnesses and experts. His lawyers argued that before testifying the witnesses cannot communicate with each other or be informed of what is happening in the trial. Furthermore, they said the  request was “based on good faith litigation and so that the evidence is not contaminated.” The plaintiffs’ lawyer opposed the request and the Court ruled that there was no issue with broadcasting the trial or with the media being present. The former general seeks acquittal with immediate freedom. Only the genocide trial has kept him in prison. Last summer an appeals court ordered his release in relation to his 2018 conviction, but he remained in pretrial detention because of the genocide charge.  Lucas García denies the charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, forced disappearances, and sexual violence against the Ixil. Human rights organizations have been increasingly exasperated by the slow-moving legal process seeking to redress war crimes committed nearly 42 years ago. This frustration is exacerbated by setbacks, such as the death of Lucas García’s co-defendant, retired colonel César Octavio Noguera Argueta, and the finding that his other co-defendant, Manuel Callejas y Callejas, was unfit to stand trial due to age-related conditions.
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Arévalo Attempts to Balance Commitments to Justice and Private Sector Interests

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The spring in Guatemala has been full of events, as President Bernardo Arévalo tries to balance relationships with the private sector and the United States while pushing forward on his commitments to justice for all sectors and transparency within his own government. The pushback against progress on these fronts is ongoing. Arévalo and his vice president, along with his party’s most powerful member of Congress, risk losing their immunity and being prosecuted. Meanwhile, armed violence has re-emerged as a tactic in at least one case involving a prosecutor, and criminalization of Indigenous activists and others continues. While it’s impossible to catalog all the news, we provide a glimpse in the update below.  

The New Administration’s Relations with the United States

  • President Arévalo meets with President Biden and Vice President Harris at the White House

On March 25th, President Arévalo met with Vice President Kamala Harris and later with President Joe Biden at the White House to discuss good governance, effective migration management, and economic opportunities. According to a White House press release, Vice President Harris announced that the United States intends to provide $170 million to Guatemala for development, economic, health, and security assistance for Guatemala, subject to Congressional notification, including a planned USAID investment of $135 million. This assistance will support efforts to combat corruption; conserve biodiversity; scale agricultural technologies; and improve health outcomes, inclusive of all Guatemalans, especially Indigenous communities. USAID will work with the Guatemalan people to deepen locally led development; protect human rights; promote social inclusion of women, youth, and indigenous people; and expand broad-based economic growth. President Biden thanked President Arévalo for his leadership in hosting the next Los Angeles Declaration for Protection and Migration Summit planned for later this spring and emphasized the importance of continuing to advance the Biden-Harris Administration’s Strategy For Addressing the Root Causes of Migration in Central America. 

  • Minister of Environment  Reveals Authorization of Cerro Blanco Mine

The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN) recently confirmed that the Cerro Blanco mine in Asunción Mita, Jutiapa, has been authorized to operate. The MARN revealed the news in a a public statement made  by Minister María José Iturbide.  The controversial  gold mine was given authorization to operate by the former MARN under the  Giammattei administration, five days before former president Giammattei’s  departure from office  The period in which the authorization could have been revoked expired one day before Minister Iturbide’s March 25th announcement. The mine is owned by a Canadian company, Bluestone Resources. The mine  has triggered widespread protests from both Guatemalan and Salvadoran communities concerned about profound environmental impacts. Of particular concern is the potential impact on the El Tempisque stream, a tributary to Lake Güija, which in turn connects with the Lempa River, traversing the border with El Salvador. The Extractive Industries Observatory (OIE) has warned of the imminent risk of contamination to these vital water bodies, which millions of people depend on as their primary source of water. On September 18, 2022, the population of Asunción Mita carried out a municipal consultation of residents based on the Municipal Code, in which the inhabitants of the municipality were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the mining project. A total of 7,481 people voted no to mining, while 904 voted in favor. The result of the Municipal Consultation of neighbors is directly binding.

Nonetheless, in March 2023, the US embassy in Guatemala advocated with the Giammattei administration in favor of the reactivation of the Cerro Blanco mining project, according to an article in Prensa Comunitaria. Through two letters addressed to Gersón Barrios Garrido, then Minister of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN), the US diplomatic mission requested “support to know the progress of the approval process of the modification of the environmental plan in order to continue assisting US investors interested in investing and contributing to the economic development of Guatemala.” The first letter, dated March 30, 2023 and signed by John Howell, commercial counselor of the US embassy, informs Minister Barrios Garrido that “Elevar Resources, S.A. is a subsidiary of Bluestone Resources Inc., a company that has substantial capital from investors of United States of America (USA) . . . .” 

Violence and Criminalization

  • TSE Judges Indicted for Fraud in TREP Procurement Case

On March 14, several Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) judges were indicted on charges of fraud, abuse of authority, and noncompliance with duties by the Twelfth Criminal Court. The charges relate to the judges’ alleged involvement in irregularities surrounding the acquisition of the Preliminary Electoral Results Transmission System (TREP) used during the 2023 elections. Judges Irma Elizabeth Palencia Orellana, Mynor Custodio Franco Flores, Gabriel Vladimir Aguilera Bolaños, and Ranulfo Rafael Rojas Cetina had presented themselves voluntarily at the courthouse, and had arrest warrants pending since January. The Public Ministry had asked last September that their immunity be lifted, a request that the country’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of before sending the matter on to the Guatemalan Congress, which lifted the judges’ immunity in December. Palencia in December denounced the attempt to prosecute the judges as a means of undermining the electoral results, a concern shared by the Guatemala office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. While Palencia was cleared of abuse of authority accusations, the other magistrates were not. Despite the Public Ministry’s request for pretrial detention, the judge opted for substitute measures, including house arrest, monthly appearances to sign in at the Public Ministry, a ban on contacting the involved company or any individuals who presented evidence at the hearing, and a prohibition on leaving the country. The accused were also required to pay bail of Q100,000 (US$12,837) or face arrest. They would be allowed to continue working as TSE judges, a decision their lawyer expressed satisfaction with, since the TSE is undertaking a process of electoral reform. Begun in February, the Electoral Updating and Modernization Commission (CAME) is a mechanism aimed at strengthening the Electoral and Political Parties Law and consists of the magistrates of the TSE, a representative and alternate of each political party, representatives of social organizations, and academic institutions accredited before the electoral body. 

In early April, however, the Public Ministry’s Prosecutor’s Office for Administrative Crimes successfully appealed the substitute measures. The judges, under the new measures, are not allowed to work in their positions as TSE judges, must have no contact with other TSE magistrates, cannot visit the TSE office, and must pay a bail of Q700,000 ($89,814). The abuse of authority charge against Palencia was reinstated. The Public Ministry requested and was granted five additional months to carry out its investigation and present its conclusions. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for August 29.  

  • Prosecutor Miriam Reguero Targeted in Armed Attack

On March 27 in Zone 3 of Guatemala City, armed assailants on a motorcycle fired on prosecutor Miriam Aida Reguero Sosa as she traveled in her vehicle with her mother and her bodyguard. Roguero’s mother and her bodyguard were killed, and Roguero was injured. The assault occurred in a commercial area in the southern part of the city. Roguero works for the Public Ministry in the Special Prosecutor’s Office of the Metropolitan District Prosecutor’s Office for Property Registry Frauds and has worked on a fraud case involving a network of lawyers who defrauded citizens by buying and selling real estate. Reguero’s mother, Miriam Sosa, and the prosecutor’s security agent, Carlos González, succumbed to their injuries hours after the attack.The Public Ministry in a statement pledged to spare no effort in investigating the crime and bringing the perpetrators to justice. Mirian Reguero had previously been targeted in a similar attack in October 2022, where her bodyguard was killed. 

  • Trial of General Manuel Benedicto Lucas García Postponed

The genocide trial of Manuel Benedicto Lucas García, former Chief of the General Staff of the Guatemalan Army, slated for March 25, has been postponed until April 5th following the resignation of two defense attorneys. Lucas García stands accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, forced disappearances, and sexual violence. These atrocities were perpetrated against the Ixil Indigenous people in the department of Quiché between August 16, 1981, and March 23, 1982, when his brother, Fernando Romeo Lucas García, was president of Guatemala. Prosecutors allege that policies implemented under Fernando Romeo Lucas García led to massacres and other heinous crimes targeting the Maya Ixil population. General García’s alleged actions resulted in the loss of at least 1,421 lives and the obliteration of 23 entire villages through methods such as arson, destruction of livelihoods, persecution, forced displacement, and bombings. 

The trial represents the second prosecution for genocide in Guatemala, with the first occurring in 2013 against José Efraín Ríos Montt. Ríos Montt, who orchestrated a coup that deposed Fernando Romeo Lucas García on March 23, 1982, was initially convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity for the massacre, torture, rape, and displacement of Indigenous communities during the early 1980s. However, the verdict was subsequently overturned on a technicality by Guatemala’s Constitutional Court. 

  • José Rubén Zamora’s Trial Postponed for Fifth Time

On March 20th, Judge Jimi Bremer suspended proceedings in the trial of journalist José Rubén Zamora for the fifth consecutive time. According to Zamora, former director and founder of the Guatemalan daily El Periodico, the trial was suspended because one of the parties asked that the judge be recused. Zamora made clear that his defense team had not made the request. He said the motion must have been filed by the so-called Foundation Against Terrorism, the plaintiff in the case, or by the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Zamora, who has been in pretrial detention since July 2022, has reportedly experienced improved conditions in prison following President Arévalo’s assumption of office in January, as observed by Artur Romeu, Director of Reporters Without Borders’ Latin America Bureau. 

  • Supreme Court Can Proceed to Consider Lifting Arevalo’s Immunity    

Guatemala’s Supreme Court has dismissed requests for the recusal of two judges in the case against President Bernardo Arevalo, Vice President Karin Herrera, and Congressman Samuel Perez. The Court’s decision, revealed on March 26, means that the Court can proceed with considering a request to remove the immunity of the three in order to prosecute them. The requests for the lifting of immunity were made in December by the  Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Corruption and Impunity (FECI) and the Prosecutor’s Office for Crimes Against the Cultural Heritage of the Nation.  Attorney General Consuelo Porras is pursuing multiple investigations of Arévalo, including for allegedly encouraging a monthslong takeover of a public university by students. It also contends his party committed wrongdoing when it gathered petition signatures required to form years earlier. 

  • Lawyer Claudia González Indicted for Alleged Abuse of Authority

At the request of the Public Ministry (MP), Judge Jimi Bremer has proceeded to send Claudia González, an anti-corruption lawyer, to trial for alleged abuse of authority. González,former head lawyer for  the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), was arrested in August 2023 and spent 81 days in prison before being released to house arrest in November. . The charges against her stem from from González’s involvement in investigating Supreme Court justice Blanca Stalling, who was prosecuted for pressuring a judge in a case involving Stalling’s son. After CICIG was forced out of Guatemala, Stalling in 2022 was reinstated as a judge and the charges against her were dropped. The charges against González are inappropriate because only public officials can be charged with abuse of authority and González was at no point a public official. 

During the hearing conducted on March 18th, González contended that the accusation of abuse of authority lacked specificity, emphasizing that Judge Bremer failed to consider the defense strategies she presented. She underscored her status as a non-public official, asserting the inapplicability of the alleged crime to her circumstances. Notably, the presiding judge overseeing her trial, Judge Jimi Bremer, faces international sanctions from multiple countries due to allegations of corruption and human rights transgressions. Various organizations, including the United Nations Secretary-General, have expressed concern about  the prosecution of González. 

  • Human Rights Defender Sofía Tot Ac Sentenced to More than Three Years in Prison 

Sofia Tot Ac, a respected Indigenous Poqomchi leader, was sentenced to three years and four months in prison on March 20. Tot dedicated herself to various community initiatives including mobile schooling, adult literacy programs, clean water projects, healthcare missions, and advocacy for land rights in the municipality of Purulha, located in the department of Baja Veracruz. Her case has prompted renewed attention to the challenges faced by Indigenous communities defending their ancestral territories, including defamation and criminalization. Tot was arrested in June 2022 and charged with usurping private property in a protected area. Throughout her trial, Sofia Tot Ac was represented by the Human Rights Law Firm, which is accompanied by Peace Brigades International. Prior to her sentencing, on March 18th, US Senator Ed Markey voiced his concern on Twitter, calling Tot’s prosecution an attempt to intimidate human rights defenders and calling on the judge to issue a fair verdict. 

Progress toward Justice

  • Arévalo Files Charges Against Porras and Pineda

On February 29, President Arévalo  filed charges against Attorney General Consuelo Porras for dereliction of duty and asked that her immunity be lifted. The Supreme Court has not yet heard the request. The Arévalo administration on March 7 filed a complaint with the Office of the Comptroller General of Accounts against Ángel Pineda, who works under Attorney General Consuelo Porras as Secretary General of the Public Ministry. The complaint alleges that Pineda and former president Alejandro Giammattei may have misused public funds when they hired a US law firm to assist in the political persecution of Guatemalans in exile in the United States. In November 2021, Pineda reportedly advised Giammattei to hire a law firm to “defend the interests of the government” in light of statements made on social media by former prosecutors who had fled into exile. The Giammattei administration hired the firm Greenberg Trauring at a cost of more than $59,000 per month, paid out in 2021 and 2022. 

  • Arévalo Apologizes to Mother of María Isabel Véliz Franco on Behalf of the State

As part of his diplomatic trip to Washington, President Arévalo signed an official act of apology to the mother of a murdered teenager and her family. María Isabel Véliz Franco was murdered in 2001, at the age of fifteen, after heading out to her job at a clothing store. Her body was found two days later, mutilated and with signs of sexual abuse. The government’s apology satisfies part of a 2014 Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling that condemned Guatemala for violating the human rights of Franco’s daughter and ordered the nation to apologize to her family. The Court’s ruling states that the government failed to comply with its obligation to prevent femicide because police did not promptly investigate Véliz Franco’s disappearance, in spite of the increasing number of femicides in the country. Furthermore, they did not investigate the crime from a gender perspective, and they shifted the blame onto the victim and her family. 

  • Recognition Accorded to Virginia Laparra for Anti-Corruption Advocacy

On March 8th, Virginia Laparra, a distinguished anti-corruption prosecutor, was recognized for her exceptional contributions by President Arévalo and Vice President Karin Herrera on International Women’s Day. Former head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office in Quetzaltenango, Laparra earned the prestigious Order of Labor Excellence medal for her unwavering commitment to upholding integrity and accountability. The ceremony, hosted at the former Government Palace, honored Laparra alongside 24 other distinguished women. Laparra, who endured nearly two years of prison, thanked her family in her acceptance speech and said she would remain dedicated to doing quality work, informed by values and principles. 

EU Supports Arévalo’s Anti-Corruption Agenda, as Struggles with the AG Continue

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  • European Union Sanctions Porras and Four Others for Undermining Democracy

    On February 2, the European Union sanctioned Attorney General Consuelo Porras and four other officials for their roles in undermining democracy, the rule of law, and the peaceful transfer of power in Guatemala. In addition to Porras, these sanctions, which include asset freezes and prohibit EU citizens and companies from providing funds to the individuals, target the Secretary General of the Public Ministry, Angel Pineda; Head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity, Rafael Curruchiche; prosecutor Leonor Morales; and Judge Fredy Orellana. All are barred from entering or transiting through EU territories. In announcing the sanctions, the EU reaffirmed its commitment to supporting democracy in Guatemala and expressed willingness to collaborate closely with President Arévalo’s administration on mutual interests, including strengthening the rule of law, promoting sustainable economic development, and advancing social justice for the Guatemalan population.

  • Attorney General Porras and President Arévalo Spar Over Meetings

    Throughout the first weeks of his presidency, President Bernardo Arévalo’s relationship with Attorney General Consuelo Porras has been rocky. Porras’ resignation was a main demand of the thousands of Indigenous communities and leaders who called a national strike last fall and demonstrated for months outside the Attorney General’s office. Arévalo had publicly stated that he would ask her to resign. During his first week in office, Arévalo sent a formal letter to Porras, asking her to meet with him on January 24th to discuss a series of cases and protocols of concern. Instead of agreeing to the meeting, Porras released a video stating that she would not be resigning from her position until her term end, two years of which remain, and that revealing information about cases to anyone not involved in them would be illegal. In the video, she argued that the Public Ministry was independent, not subject to any power of the State. Arévalo then extended an invitation to Porras to attend a cabinet meeting on January 29th, noting that the law required her attendance. Porras briefly attended, leaving after about fifteen minutes, arguing that her presence beyond that point was illegal. President Arévalo in a press conference said the Attorney General left, citing legal strictures that didn’t apply, and he alleged that her early departure evidenced a lack of willingness to comply with the law that required her presence. Porras took the initiative next, inviting President Arévalo to a meeting on February 7th. Arévalo did not attend but sent  Minister of the Interior Francisco Jiménez in his stead. After the meeting, Jiménez announced that the administration would seek inter-institutional approaches and would work with the Attorney General’s office. “The collaboration and joint work with the Public Prosecutor’s Office is an essential element to achieve the objectives that we have set as a new government in the area of security,” said Jiménez. He spoke together with Porras in a press conference following the meeting.

  • Constitutional Court Rules Semilla Cannot Have Party Representation in Congress

On January 30th, the Constitutional Court ruled that representatives affiliated with the Semilla Movement cannot be recognized as members of that party within the Congress of the Republic. With this decision, the Court confirmed a prior ruling by Judge Fredy Orellana, who cited alleged illegalities related to the party’s founding. The Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity has accused Semilla of using falsified signatures to gain official party recognition and subsequently participate in the 2015 elections. As a result of this ruling, the party’s congressional representatives will have to function as independents and are barred from holding leadership positions in Congress and from participating in working committees.

  • Affected Communities Resist Reactivation of the Cerro Blanco Mining Project

Residents of Asunción Mita, Jutiapa and representatives of environmental organizations from El Salvador held a press conference on January 31 to denounce the Cerro Blanco open-pit mining project, which would affect an important river located in the common border area. The Canadian company Bluestone Resources, Inc., which owns the mine, revealed that in early January, Guatemala’s Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources had authorized the transition from an underground mine to an open-pit mine. This change reportedly would affect the course of the Lempa river, the most important river in El Salvador and bordering Guatemala.

In response, Salvadoran and Guatemalan organizations asked the authorities of both countries to take a stand against the project, which they described as illegal and unfeasible. They alleged corruption in mining license procurement and announced plans to challenge the issue at the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights.

  • Residents Block Attempted Eviction in Alta Verapaz

On January 31st, more than 100 National Civil Police (PNC) patrol cars, along with riot police and other government authorities, were blocked by residents as they attempted to enter the village of Ch’ina Cangüinic, about an hour away from the city of Cobán, in the department of Alta Verapaz. The police apparently intended to carry out an eviction. Residents received word that police were approaching, and a group of individuals coordinated efforts to obstruct the PNC’s access to the village, ultimately compelling the PNC to withdraw from the area. According to reports, shots were fired and some of the community residents were injured.

  • Journalist José Rubén Zamora’s Retrial Postponed

On February 5th, esteemed Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora, founder and director of El Periodico, appeared briefly in court before his hearing was suspended as the presiding judge, Jimi Bremer, was summoned for an evaluation by the Judicial Career Council. Observers from Reporters without Borders, along with journalists and diplomats, were denied access due to the limited space in the courtroom. The session lasted 15 minutes before being adjourned. The trial will resume on February 21. Zamora has been detained for over 550 days in connection with politically motivated charges, including money laundering, conspiring to obstruct justice, and other charges. An appeals court last October ordered a retrial, annulling both his conviction and his acquittals on influence peddling and blackmail charges. Patrick Ventrell, Chargé d’Affaires at the US Embassy in Guatemala, visited Zamora in prison last month to evaluate his health and his treatment and reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to independent journalism and free expression.

  • Police Officers Convicted  for Illegal Detention of Journalist Norma Sancir

On January 31st, Judge Jorge Douglas Ochoa delivered a verdict convicting two agents and a retired commissioner of the National Civil Police for the illegal detention and abuse of authority against journalist Norma Sancir. Norma, a Kaqchikel Mayan journalist, was unlawfully arrested on September 18, 2014, while covering a protest eviction in the Ch’orti’ Mayan region. Despite identifying herself as a journalist and presenting her credentials, she was accused of various offenses and spent five days in detention before being released by a judge due to insufficient evidence. The trial, which had been delayed for over nine years, was suspended 14 times as the defense attempted to prolong the process. Former commissioner Ceferino Salquil Solval and police officers Olga Leticia Segura and Mirna Marleny Agustín were each sentenced to 3 years and 9 months in prison by Judge Ochoa.

  • Victims Give Final Testimonies in the Alaska Massacre Trial

Last month, in the Alaska Massacre trial, the court heard the final statements of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the victims of the massacre, which took place in Totonicapan at the Alaska Summit (Cumbre de Alaska) in Totonicapan in October 2012. The massacre claimed the lives of six people who were protesting, while more than two dozen others were injured. On January 23rd, prosecutors recommended sentences for nine soldiers accused, ranging from 16 to 25 years. Expert reports confirmed the peaceful nature of the demonstration. Evidence presented linked shell casings to military weaponry, affirming the victims’ claims that the soldiers fired on them. On February 5th, following emotional testimony from widows and injured survivors, including Adan Pedro Sapón, the trial is progressing to the verdict stage. The wives of the victims and the injured men delivered poignant final statements, highlighting the emotional toll of the massacre on their families. They shared their experiences of widowhood, parental responsibilities, and the enduring trauma caused by the massacre. Authorities from the 48 Cantons of Totonicapán, human rights observers, including GHRC staff, and other Indigenous supporters and leaders attended the hearing. On February 14th, the defendants will present their final statements.

In a Win for Democracy and Hope, Bernardo Arévalo Takes Office

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Shortly after midnight on January 15, Bernardo Arévalo was inaugurated as Guatemala’s president, fulfilling the hopes of many for a new Guatemalan spring. Until the last minute, sectors opposed to his presidency threatened to derail the inauguration, which was delayed  by nearly nine hours. At around 11:00 PM, former president Alejandro Giammattei–who has now been denied a visa for the United States, due to well-founded evidence of corruption–turned the office over the to Guatemalan Congress rather than to Arévalo, saying he feared that midnight, the deadline for the transfer of power, would arrive without the transition. He did not appear at the inauguration.

The long delay in the inauguration ceremony owed to heated arguments in the Guatemalan Congress, as lawmakers disputed the make-up of the congressional delegation that would be involved in the inauguration and argued over the status of 23 Semilla lawmakers, given the party’s suspension. The debate surrounding the Semilla Movement’s classification as a political party had escalated in November, when the Constitutional Court upheld the temporary suspension of its legal status due to alleged registration flaws. Prosecutors allege irregularities in signature collection during the party’s founding. The Court’s order implied the removal of Semilla’s ability to hold legislative positions as a party. Temporarily, on the night of January 14, Semilla won the debate, as Congress agreed on an accord (5-2024) that would allow those sworn in as independents to in fact represent their parties. Semilla lawmaker Samuel Pérez Álvarez was elected president of Congress, and he invested Arévalo with the powers of office. Soon, however, Semilla’s status was changed; the Constitutional Court, in response to an injunction requested by the so-called Foundation Against Terrorism, the Liga Pro Patria, and members of Congress representing the Vamos party, ruled that Semilla legislators were independents, and they could not lead congressional committees or form part of the congressional leadership council. On January 19, a new election for the presidency of the Congress will take place, since Semilla lawmaker Pérez Álvarez has decided to step down from the presidency in light of the Constitutional Court’s ruling.

International pressure was intense on January 14 as deliberations in Congress dragged on. Representatives of various diplomatic missions met urgently, and international leaders issued a joint statement, read by Secretary General of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, calling on Congress to fulfill its duty. Samantha Power, Administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) who headed the US delegation to the inauguration, called on all parties to remain calm as the delay continued and demonstrations outside the congressional building were repressed with teargas. The inauguration at last took place, shortly after midnight, amid much fanfare. 

In his inaugural speech, President Arévalo expressed gratitude to the Indigenous communities and youth for their pivotal support during the historic 105-day resistance. He highlighted his anti-corruption agenda and deemed as priorities social justice and the strengthening of democracy, cautioning against authoritarianism and corruption. His first official act involved visiting the site outside the Attorney General’s Office, where Indigenous people had maintained a 105-day resistance, to acknowledge the resilience and strength of the Indigenous communities, which in Arevalo’s words served as inspiration for thousands of Guatemalans advocating for democracy.

On January 19, in an apparent effort to combat corruption, Arévalo in a letter to Attorney General Consuelo Porras requested a detailed report and a meeting with her to discuss the progress of criminal cases subject to rulings made by the Inter-American Court; the criteria used for criminal prosecution of cases linked to freedom of speech and the press; the protocol for action in response to protective measures issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights; and the investigation into the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines. 

In the face of legal and political challenges, President Bernardo Arévalo’s inauguration and his first actions as president have marked a moment of pivotal change for Guatemala. The resilience of the Guatemalan people and the support from international leaders underscored the significance of upholding democratic values. Crucially, the Indigenous resistance emerged as a driving force, indicating the Guatemalan people’s determination to shape the nation’s future. As President Arévalo embarks on his presidential journey, his commitment to social justice and anti-corruption measures have sowed hope for a new era in Guatemalan governance.

We are so grateful to share this work and this moment with you. Your donations, actions, and commitment to supporting human rights in Guatemala are inspirational and critically important.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

All of us at Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA We are already ramping up our work for 2024! In the coming year, keep an eye out for: Our regular human rights updates, sent via email and published to our blog; speaking tours with Guatemalan human rights defenders in the United States; delegations to Guatemala to document human rights violations; and opportunities to take action!  

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Our Winter Quetzal is out!

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Our Winter Quetzal features the leadership of Guatemala’s Indigenous in the struggle to defend democracy. See the Quetzal here and donate to our work here.

Last week we awarded the Alice Zachmann Human Rights Defenders Award to Judge Miguel Angel Galvez. We were fortunate to be able to set up meetings on Capitol Hill for both Judge Galvez and Ixil Authorities Feliciana Herrera and Miguel de Leon. Feliciana, accompanied by GHRC’s Veronica Serrano Tama, participated in a press conference called by Congresswoman Norma Torres, Congresswoman Delia Ramirez, and Congressman Juan Castro. Both Feliciana and Miguel de Leon met with OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro and delivered a letter to him from Indigenous Authorities.



Indigenous Authorities have warned that, in spite of the December 14 Constitutional Court’s ruling ordering the Guatemalan Congress to guarantee the effective taking of office of all officials elected in 2023, a coup is still in progress, and they called on the international community to impose stronger sanctions on those responsible.

In other news, the Inter-American Court ruled on December 16 that the Guatemalan government violated the rights of the Indigenous Q’eqchi’ people to property and consultation by permitting mining on land in El Estor, Izabal where members of the community have lived at least since the 1800s. The court linked the human rights violations to “inadequacies in domestic law,” which fail to recognize Indigenous property and ordered the state to adopt new laws.The court ordered an immediate stop to all mining activities, gave Guatemala six months to begin awarding a land title to the community, and ordered the creation of a development fund. No further mining can take place, it said, without the community’s consent.

Guatemalan Government Attempts to Carry Out Coup

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GUATEMALA Week in Review

Public Ministry Declares Election Results Invalid, Files More Charges Against Arévalo 
On December 8, Guatemala’s Public Ministry announced that it had found inconsistencies in the electoral results and said the results were invalid. As a consequence of the raids carried out on September 12 and 29 at the Supreme Electoral Tribunal facilities (TSE), the Public Ministry said, “it was established that there were illegalities in the safekeeping of the electoral boxes.” The Public Ministry also said that in the boxes “there was no document 4, which contains the data of the votes obtained by the candidates.” In a September 29 raid on the offices of the TSE, Public Ministry officials forcibly removed numerous boxes of electoral results, put them into trucks, and drove them away in a move the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights termed a “theft.” The boxes have remained in the Public Ministry’s possession since.
       In a press conference, the Public Ministry unveiled the findings of three investigations pertaining to the electoral process. In his own press conference on December 8, President-elect Arevalo called on the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court to defend democracy.

Public Ministry Requests Arrest Warrants for TSE Officials and Semilla Party Members
Allegedly as a result of its investigations, the Public Ministry has requested arrest warrants for Jorge Salvador Santos Neill, Director of Information Technology of the TSE, “for the crimes of abuse of authority and material falsehood with electoral aggravation,” and against Alejandra María Chiroy Castro, Director of the Department of Citizen Registration and Elaboration of Registries, “for the crime of abuse of authority.” The Public Ministry also presented charges against Arévalo’s party, the Semilla Movement. The Prosecutor for the third time filed a request for Arévalo’s immunity to be removed, as well as that of Samuel Andrés Pérez Álvarez, a Semilla member of Congress. A new accusation filed against Arévalo was “possible commission of the crime of laundering of money or other assets.” According to Rafael Curruchiche, head of the Prosecutors Office Against Corruption and Impunity, there is a “lack of reliable clarification of the origin and destination of $44,000.” The Public Ministry requested the arrest of Jaime Gabriel Gudiel Arias and Cynthia Alejandra Rojas Donis “for the crimes of ideological falsehood with electoral aggravation in a continuous manner.” Samuel Andrés Pérez Alvarez and Ligia Iveth Hernández Gómez were also accused of “the possible commission of electoral finance crimes.”

United States Imposes Visa Restriction Sanctions; EU Likely to Follow    
On December 11, the United States imposed visa restrictions on nearly 300 Guatemalan citizens, including over 100 members of the Guatemalan Congress who had voted to remove the judicial immunity of TSE judges, as well as some members of the private sector. The European Union has announced that it is in the process of applying sanctions. The EU has “unequivocally condemn[ed] attempts to nullify the results of the general and presidential elections in Guatemala, based on spurious allegations of fraud” and stated that “actions and statements of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Guatemala represent an attempt at a coup d’etat, spearheaded by politically motivated prosecutors,” The EU said it was “ready to adopt a framework allowing for targeted restrictive measures against those responsible for these actions.”
       United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk raised the alarm about “persistent and systematic attempts by the Attorney General’s Office in Guatemala to undercut the general election results.” The High Commission said,“Friday’s announcements, aimed at nullifying the outcome of the general elections and questioning the constitution and existence of the Movimiento Semilla party are extremely disturbing.” He called on the current president, as well as the judiciary, to take action to preserve the rule of law and ensure respect of the electoral outcome.
  The Guatemalan government contended that it had undertaken a transparent transition process that it is respectful of the independence of state agencies and autonomous and  decentralized institutions and strongly rejected the “hasty pronouncements of some actors of the international community regarding actions that, according to their communiqués, could imply an alteration of the constitutional order.”

OAS in Extraordinary Session Invokes Article 18 of Inter-American Charter     The Organization of American States (OAS), which immediately condemned the Public Ministry’s actions as “an attempted coup d’état by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Guatemala,” held an extraordinary session of the Permanent Council of the OAS on December 12. The Permanent Council adopted a resolution urgently asking the Guatemalan government to consent to a mission to Guatemala by the OAS as soon as possible. With 29 votes in favor, one vote against (Guatemala), one abstention (El Salvador), and two delegations absent, the Permanent Council adopted the resolution “Actions against the rule of law that put at risk the transition of government in Guatemala.”

Bicameral Congressional Delegation Visits Guatemala       Five US Senators, led by Senator Tim Kaine and including senators Durbin, Butler, Merkley, and Welch, and two member of the House of Representatives, Delia Ramirez and Norma Torres, traveled to Guatemala last week to address democracy, stability, migration, economic growth, and security. In a press conference, the congressional representatives stressed the importance of respecting the will of the Guatemalan people. As Senator Kaine noted in a statement on the delegation’s return, “Democratic backsliding, including the attempt to overturn a free and fair election in Guatemala that occurred while we were there, further drives irregular migration and poses a serious danger to our ability to work together to tackle those problems.” President Alejandro Giammattei refused to meet with the delegation, and on December 12 he published a letter on social media accusing some members of the US government of intimidation and manipulation of politics and the press. He said there was no attempt underway to prevent the elected authorities from taking office.

Bipartisan Statement Calls on Guatemala to Uphold Rule of Law, Ensure Transition 
On December 12, five US senators urged the Guatemalan government to ensure the transfer of power to President-elect Arévalo and uphold the rule of law. The statement was signed by U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, along with Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).

Efforts at a Coup Intensify as Barely a Month Remains before the Transition of Power

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 The last week has been eventful in Guatemala, as the Attorney General’s Office, in alliance with other sectors, continues its efforts to overturn the election results and prevent Bernardo Arévalo from assuming the presidency. Even as Under Secretary of State Jose W. Fernandez visited the country and lauded an accord between Indigenous leaders and the private sector to support a peaceful transition to democracy, the Guatemalan government ramped up its efforts to prevent Arévalo’s presidency. 

We are conducting meetings in Washington this week with Ixil authority and mayor of Nebaj Feliciana Herrera, informing the US Congress and State Department of the dangers Indigenous leaders face for their pivotal role they are playing to try and prevent a coup. Next week we will be hosting Judge Miguel Angel Gálvez for a series of meetings and to receive the Alice Zachmann Award. If you are in the area, please attend to support Judge Gálvez, who is now in exile. 

Congress May Elect New TSE Judges
On December 1, the Guatemalan Congress voted to remove the immunity of four judges of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) who have been accused of overvaluing the electronic voting system, known as the TREP. The four judges asked for a 20-day vacation–reportedly at the suggestion of the president of the TSE, who is the only one whose immunity is not threatened–and the four have left the country. Meanwhile, the Guatemalan Congress plans to name two alternate judges to the TSE, which would give it a quorum and make action possible as the other judges are out of the country. An injunction filed in the Constitutional Court seeks to remove the four judges from their posts, with the argument that in leaving the country, they abandoned their labors. If they are removed from their positions, four new judges will be elected. On December 5, TSE judge Irma Palencia in a communique expressed fears that the motive behind the persecution of the judges is to change the results of the election by incorporating new judges into the TSE who would not stand by the decision that Bernardo Arevalo won the election. 

On December 7, massive protests, led by Arévalo and Vice President-elect Karin Herrera, took place in Guatemala City in support of democracy.

The international community has responded strongly to the removal of the TSE judges’ immunity and the escalating threat to democracy.

Magnitsky Sanctions Imposed on Giammattei’s Close Advisor 
On December 1, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Luis Miguel Martinez Morales for his role in corruption in Guatemala. The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said he was engaged in widespread bribery schemes, including schemes related to government contracts.After the eighth emergency meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States, on December 4, where the removal of the immunity of the TSE judges was decried and member states expressed serious concern about the threat to democracy in Guatemala, the OAS on December 8 adopted a resolution on Guatemala. Martinez is the former head of the now defunct Center of Government and is considered one of the powerful unelected officials in the government. In Guatemala, it is an open secret that Martinez and Giammattei are romantically involved. 

Indigenous Authorities Appeal Budget Before Constitutional Court
On December 5, Indigenous authorities filed an appeal in the Constitutional Court against the budget approved by the Guatemalan Congress on December 1. The budget assigns more funding to the Public Ministry and removes funding from education, health, and social development. The Guatemala-America Chamber of Commerce also has declared that the budget should be vetoed, not because of the defunding of basic necessities but to protect transparency and because it limits the actions of the incoming administration and puts at risk compliance with Guatemala’s financial obligations. 

Human Rights Watch Asks EU for Sanctions
Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, sent a detailed letter to the Members of the Council of the European Union, asking the EU to impose sanctions on Attorney General Consuelo Porras, Head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity Rafael Curruchiche, Judge Fredy Orellana, and Prosecutor Cinthia Monterroso. Human Rights Watch also asked the EU to consider imposing sanctions on other people who may bear responsibility for serious human rights violations in Guatemala, including by examining the responsibility of magistrates, members of Congress, and businesspeople. 

Bicameral Congressional Delegation Visits Guatemala
Five US Senators, led by Senator Tim Kaine and including Senators Durbin, Butler, Merkley, and Welch, and two member of the House of Representatives, Delia Ramirez and Norma Torres, are traveling to Guatemala this week to address democracy, stability, migration, economic growth, and security.

Giving Tuesday Support Our Work!

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Today is the day! During the next 24 hours, people around the world will come together to participate in a global day of giving. At GHRC we have a goal of raising $4,000 to promote human rights in Guatemala and support communities and activists who face threats and violence.  This is a critical time for Guatemala. Our staff is on the ground in Guatemala, accompanying protests, providing support, and monitoring and documenting the human rights situation. The President-elect and the judges of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal run the risk of arrest. Outspoken student leaders and academics are being persecuted and jailed. We’re standing side by side with Guatemalans who are risking their own safety for their democracy. Will you stand with us?   DONATE
Please give whatever you can. Every bit makes a difference.

Share on social media and let friends and loved ones know they can make a difference on #GivingTuesday by supporting our work! DONATE