Current political situation December 2025

Malicious litigation continues against Luis Pacheco and Héctor Chaclán

At a press conference, civil society organizations condemned the continued use of malicious litigation in the criminal proceedings keeping Luis Pacheco and Héctor Chaclán in prison. The two men are accused of terrorism, criminal conspiracy, and obstruction of justice in connection with their participation in the mass demonstrations in defense of democracy in late 2024. Another indigenous leader, Esteban Toc Tzay, has also been charged with the same crimes and is currently under house arrest. This malicious use of the justice system has been condemned at both the national and international levels, and the three leaders’ cases are considered examples of criminalization.

Judge Arnulfo Carrera Dávila scheduled an evidentiary hearing for December 19. However, the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) and the Foundation Against Terrorism (FCT) “have misused criminal law to criminalize Luis Pacheco and Héctor Chaclán.” “They have been kept in prison on the basis of inconsistent arguments, and proceedings have been delayed by malicious challenges.”1 Most recently, the FCT recused the judge, arguing that he is friends with Pacheco and that the two defendants have paid him to obtain a favorable ruling. Several social organizations and the defense attorneys deny and refute this unfounded accusation.

Attorney Juan Castro described the FCT’s accusations as a “spurious complaint” intended to obstruct the proceedings. Castro noted that Judge Carrera Dávila had already dismissed the legal action, which must now be resolved by an Appeals Court. This could delay the proceedings by at least four more months. “We condemn this malicious litigation because they are using these spurious allegations with the sole intention of obstructing the proceedings.” While the Appeals Court makes its decision, Pacheco and Chaclán will remain in preventive detention, where they have been for almost eight months.2

In light of this situation, many civil society organizations are demanding the release of Luis Pacheco and Héctor Chaclán. The two men also released a letter from prison,3 in which they stated that “demonstrations in defense of democracy and the transition of power are a constitutional right, not terrorism. No organization of indigenous authorities is a criminal conspiracy.” They have had to spend important dates in prison, such as their children’s birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and Christmas holidays. “Through this criminalization, they have separated us from our families and our communities.”4

Decision in favor of the State of Guatemala in arbitration with mining company

On December 24, the State’s Attorney’s Office (PGN) announced the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)’s decision in favor of the State of Guatemala in an arbitration case initiated by Daniel W. Kappes and the company Kappes, Cassiday & Associates (KCA) in 2018.5

KCA’s Progreso VII Derivada mining project is located in the municipalities of San José del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc, about 25 km from Guatemala City. The US company filed a complaint against the Guatemalan State after the Supreme Court of Justice and, later, the Constitutional Court ordered the suspension of its operations. This suspension came in response to findings of violations of collective rights, including the absence of free, prior, and informed consultation, as well as the existence of sustained social conflict in the territory. In addition, the project’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) contained irregularities and was found to lack a construction license.

Unable to continue its operations, KCA resorted to international arbitration—a mechanism provided for in the Dominican Republic, Central America, and United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), signed by the Guatemalan government in 2005 despite widespread opposition from social organizations—to demand that the Guatemalan government bear the economic cost of not allowing the mine to continue operating. KCA was seeking $499 million in damages.

After seven years of legal proceedings, “the arbitral tribunal concluded that Guatemala did not violate its international obligations to protect investment, recognizing that the suspension of the project was in response to internal judicial decisions and a real social conflict, not arbitrarily caused by the State.” The ruling establishes that a State is not obliged to compensate a company for suspending a project that has been rejected by society, that territorial defense cannot result in economic debt for the country, and that community resistance does not justify international financial sanctions.6

On December 28, the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya called a press conference at the peaceful encampment they have maintained in front of the mine entrance. At the press conference, they expressed their satisfaction with the ICSID ruling but also stated that they would remain on alert “until the Progreso VII Derivada project is definitively canceled.” They also expressed concern about the possible granting of new mining licenses in the region. “We are satisfied with and vindicated in our peaceful struggle, knowing that KCA lost its bet to make millions of dollars through this international arbitration process, which it began knowing that it never had any chance of obtaining consent from the communities that have always said no to this unfeasible project, a project that not even the mining company itself was able to defend in an arbitration system designed to protect the investments of transnational corporations.”7

State issues public apology for the forced disappearance of four members of CERJ in 1989

On December 12, President Bernardo Arévalo offered a public apology on behalf of the State of Guatemala to the families of Agapito Pérez Lucas, Nicolás Mateo, Macario Pú Chivalán, and Luis Ruiz Luis, who were detained and disappeared in 1989. They were members of the Runujel Junam Council of Ethnic Communities (CERJ) who opposed the forced recruitment that the army was carrying out at that time and did important work organizing and informing communities about human rights issues.8 CERJ was accompanied by PBI Guatemala in the 1980s and 1990s.

These four Maya Kaqchikel people were kidnapped by the army during the civilian government of Vinicio Cerezo. Their family members, together with CERJ, began a long journey to search for them, as well as to demand justice. In the face of inaction by the relevant state agencies, they brought a complaint before the Inter-American Human Rights System, and in November 2024, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled against the Guatemalan state. In its ruling, the Court concluded that the men were “victims of enforced disappearance by members of the Guatemalan army” and that the State did not investigate, prosecute, or punish the alleged perpetrators. It also questioned the fact that the State never “made a diligent effort to search for and locate the victims.”9

In his speech, Elvyn Díaz, head of the Presidential Commission for Peace and Human Rights (COPADEH), announced that the Executive will soon launch the National Plan for Dignity and Reparation with the aim of creating “the institutional conditions to provide effective, dignified, and comprehensive compensation, in accordance with international standards, and broader protection for victims and their families.” He also shared that COPADEH is creating a search plan, together with organizations of family members of the victims of forced disappearance. He stated that, “these measures are a step forward in ensuring the non-repetition of human rights violations, but we are aware that more structural measures are still needed, including legal reforms to establish a genetic information system to clarify what happened to the disappeared and measures to declassify, preserve, and provide access to the archives and documentary records of the security forces.”10

OHCHR report: situation of human rights defenders, journalists, and justice operators

On International Human Rights Day, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Guatemala presented the report Guatemala: Challenges in the Defense of Human Rights 2020–2025, which examines the situation of human rights defenders in the country. The report focuses on Indigenous defenders who defend land and territory, journalists, and justice operators who investigate, report, and prosecute acts of corruption. The quantitative and qualitative analysis carried out by the OHCHR “seeks to highlight the risk factors faced by human rights defenders, their families, communities, and organizations, as well as the impact of these factors; the structural causes that create an unsafe and adverse environment for the defense of human rights; the challenges faced by specific groups of human rights defenders; and the State’s response to this issue.” Between 2020 and May 2025, the OHCHR team documented 1,546 attacks against 940 people, identifying acts of criminalization, intimidation, threats, and defamation as the main forms of aggression.