Guatemala: News & Updates

We wrote to officials in Guatemala to express our concern about the government’s pattern of restrictions on freedom of the press as demonstrated by the arrests of award-winning journalist José Rubén Zamora (on July 29) and Flora Silva, the finance director of the independent media outlet El Periódico (on August 19).  The arrest of Zamora on baseless charges came five days after local outlets published strong criticism of various officials of President Giammattei’s administration involved in corruption.

Also arrested was assistant public prosecutor Samari Gómez Díaz on July 30, allegedly in connection with charges against José Rubén Zamora. Samari Gómez Díaz is one of at least five female prosecutors arrested and spuriously charged in the past seven months.

US tax dollars for decades have been provided to the Guatemalan government to improve the judicial system. That very system is being increasingly used to persecute those challenging corruption and fighting for justice. The arrest of José Rubén Zamora is part of an intensifying pattern of persecution and criminalization of justice operators, journalists, and human rights defenders. It is a grave abuse of the criminal justice system to target journalists and prosecutors known for investigating corruption to uphold the rule of law.   

The PNC (national police) and military have a long history of violating the rights of Indigenous communities with extreme violence. There have been several violent incidents reported around the Petén region and the Sierra del Lacandón National Park. Security forces are known to enforce the initiatives of private companies to install hydroelectric dams that pollute the local rivers and drinking water sources. They also enable the deforestation of biodiverse regions for industrial-scale agricultural plantations for the production of palm oil.

At around 2:00 am on August 17, 150 National Civil Police vehicles and 12 army trucks entered the communities of Nueva Jerusalem II and La Revancha, detonating explosives that left 12 large holes along the road, claiming to comply with a judicial order to destroy two alleged clandestine highways inside the Sierra del Lacandón National Park. It is curious that the roadways are described by authorities as “clandestine” since personnel of CONAP (National Council of Protected Areas) have themselves traveled by those roadways many times.

The roads were built by the local communities themselves—and maintained without government support—along paths that have existed for decades and used initially for transportation of agricultural products. These transportation routes are vital to ensure mobility during health emergencies.

We wrote to officials in Guatemala about continued impunity for violent crimes against transwomen. On July 2, 34-year-old Nancy Sacul Tut became the 16th LGBTQ+ leader killed in Guatemala in 2022.

On July 2 at 9:30pm in Guatemala City, Nancy Sacul Tut was shot in the face. A few days prior, Nancy had filed a complaint with the Public Ministry for death threats and violent attacks against her. Nancy, a Maya Q’eqchi’ woman originally from Alta Verapaz, was an active member of the Transwomen Sex Workers Collective of Trébol.  Ilse Janeth Contreras, president of the Transwomen Collective, has been forced into hiding; she began receiving death threats after being interviewed in the media about Nancy’s assassination and the vulnerability of transwomen.

Nancy grew up in Chisec, Alta Verapaz Department, before moving to the capital city at age 17. She was rejected by her family and suffered discrimination in her hometown. Proud of her heritage, she continued to wear traditional Indigenous clothing representative of her region. Ilse Janeth Contreras described Nancy as a quiet woman who worked in the sex trade, in addition to selling clothes and vegetables in the market. As of July 5, the day Nancy was buried, authorities had not started an investigation into her assassination.  

We are outraged by the pattern of disinterest and inaction on behalf of the state to defend and prevent violence against transwomen.

We wrote once again to officials in Guatemala about the unjust criminalization of environmental defenders who are part of the local resistance to the El Fénix nickel mine in El Estor (Izabal Department), run by the Guatemala Nickel Company (CGN) and owned by Switzerland-based Solway Investments. Residents of El Estor have been victims of land grabbing, arson, and repression. The contamination of Lake Izabal has had severe consequences on the local fishing community. María Magdalena Cuc Choc was first detained and unjustly criminalized in 2018 for the alleged crimes of threats, illegal detention and aggravated usurpation during the eviction of the community of Chab’il Ch’och’ in 2017. On June 27, the judge acquitted her of two crimes but sentenced her to two years for the charge of aggravated usurpation. She was given the option to pay 7,500 quetzales—about US $920—to commute her sentence.

We condemn acts of state violence and criminalization of Indigenous environmental rights defenders in El Estor