Guatemala
[WHRD ALERT] GUATEMALA / Persecution, threats, and theft of work equipment belonging to defender and communicator María Laura González following her coverage of the Case of Our Lady of the Assumption Orphanage.
After covering a hearing on the Case of the Our Lady of the Assumption Orphanage, defender María Laura González, a communicator of the 8 Tijax Collective, was pursued and forced to hand over the camera and cell phone with which she had documented the hearing. The incident took place soon after the defender left the […]
[WHRD Alert] GUATEMALA / Defender Claudia Paz criminalized for investigating grave human rights violations and struggling against corruption as Guatemala’s Attorney General.
According to the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), last June 8th, the National Office for the Prevention of Torture and Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment filed a complaint against Claudia Paz y Paz. The former Attorney General is accused of “crimes of abuse of authority, torture, and usurpation of powers” related to her […]
[WHRD Alert] GUATEMALA / Intimidation, persecution and attacks against a professor and students peacefully resisting in defense of the autonomy of San Carlos University.
The students Naomi Valdez, Kenya Urrutia and Leslie Vásquez, and the professor Lucía Terrón of San Carlos University in Guatemala are targets of intimidation, persecution, and attacks due to their peaceful resistance in defense of university autonomy. San Carlos University of Guatemala is the only public university in the country whose autonomy is established in […]
[WHRD Alert] GUATEMALA / Adela Choc Cuz, ancestral authority and rights defender, is criminalized, physically attacked, and expelled from her community due to her work as a spiritual guide and defender of land and territory.
In the early morning hours of May 16, 2022, the ancestral authority and human rights defender Adela Choc Cruz was illegally detained along with her daughter, denied the consumption of food and water, and held prisoner until she was finally released just before daybreak on May 17, 2022. The spiritual guide who resides in the […]
[Urgent Alert] GUATEMALA / Government imposes state of siege in El Estor after repressing peaceful protest against illegal mining operation.
On Sunday October 24th, after two days of brutal repression by the National Civilian Police (PNC, Spanish initials) and Army against the Q’eqchi’ people peacefully opposing the illegal operation of the Swiss–Russian Solway Mining Company, the Guatemalan government decreed a state of siege in the town of El Estor, Izabal. That same Sunday, the police […]