Guatemala: News & Updates

A group of hitmen killed Crisanto Garcia Ohajaca at a Catholic worship service on March 29. He was likely targeted for his family links to COMUNDICH, an indigenous rights organization that currently supports 48 Mayan Ch’orti’ communities who live along the border with Honduras, and his knowledge surrounding the killing of another member of the Ch’orti’ de Morola community.

assassination of Héctor Manuel Choc Cuz in El Estor, Izabal Department. For many years, his local Mayan Q’eqchi’ community has been protesting displacement from their ancestral land and environmental degradation caused by the Fenix nickel mining, which was owned by Hudbay Minerals of Canada

During a student-led human rights march in Guatemala City on March 23, a group of persons wearing hoods and gowns, and armed with bats and machetes, attacked Jorge Santos, the General Coordinator of UDEFEGUA (Protection Unit for Human Rights Defenders in Guatemala), causing wounds that required stitches.

murders of journalists Laurent Ángel Castillo Cifuentes, age 28, and Luis Alfredo de León Miranda, age 30; their bodies with hands and feet tied and gunshot wounds to the head were found near Mazatenango, Suchitepéquez Department.

unjust criminalization of María Magdalena Cuc Choc, environmental and indigenous land rights defender in Izabal Dept., involved in a land dispute between her Chabil’ Ch’och’ indigenous community and an investment company held by a former president and former government officials

continued unjust criminalization of Juan Eduardo Caal Suram, a member of the Artisanal Fishermen’s Guild (GPA), which has been calling for government action to resolve the contamination of Lake Izabal in El Estor, Izabal Department, polluted by the Guatemalan Nickel Company.

unjust and arbitrary detention of indigenous and environmental rights defender Juan Eduardo Caal Suram, a member of the Artisanal Fishermen’s Guild (GPA), which has been calling for government action to resolve the contamination of Lake Izabal in El Estor, Izabal Department, polluted by nickel mining.

assassination of union leader Tomás Francisco Ochoa Salazar, of the SITRABREMEN meat-packers union in Guatemala City, and shooting injury of union member Andy Noel Godinez

killing of labor rights defender Eugenio López y López during a peaceful protest of former agricultural workers in Coatepeque, Quetzaltenango Department