Current political situation January 2026

Another indigenous authority criminalized and prosecuted for defending democracy1

2026 began with a fourth criminalization and prosecution process against another one of the leaders of the national strike and 106-day uprising to defend democracy, which took place at the end of 2023. Indigenous and ancestral authorities, together with their communities, defended the results of the presidential elections and democratic processes, demanding the resignation of Attorney General Consuela Porras. In April of last year, Luis Pacheco and Héctor Chaclán, former authorities of the 48 Cantones of Totonicapán, were arrested. They have been in pretrial detention ever since. In August, Esteban Toc Tzay, an indigenous leader from Sololá, was arrested and placed under house arrest. All three were charged with terrorism, obstruction of criminal proceedings, criminal conspiracy, sedition, and obstruction of justice.

On January 14, Basilio Puac, former vice president of the 48 Cantones of Totonicapán, was arrested. He has been charged with sedition, obstruction of criminal proceedings, and criminal conspiracy. The presiding judge did not accept the terrorism charge and granted Puac house arrest. Puac was accompanied by members of the current board of the 48 Cantones, who offered words of encouragement and solidarity.

Consuelo Porras’s Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) and the Foundation Against Terrorism (FCT), who tried to sabotage the 2023 election results, have brought these cases forward and have criminally prosecuted indigenous authorities across the country. These cases are closed to the public, meaning that neither the media nor observers are allowed to attend. Furthermore, the process is being delayed because the FCT has twice recused the judges assigned to continue with the next stages of the judicial process.

CSJ closes case against journalists2

The Injunctions and Preliminary Hearings Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) denied an injunction requested by the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity (FECI) in the case against journalists from various media outlets, columnists, and staff of the now-defunct newspaper elPeriódico, whose editor, José Rubén Zamora, remains criminalized and in prison.

The judges upheld the decision handed down by Judge Aurora Gutiérrez of the Fifth Criminal Court, who ruled that the case should not be resolved through criminal proceedings, but rather before a Court of Honor, as established in Articles 35 and 71 of the Freedom of Expression Act. The ruling also refers to Article 35 of the Political Constitution of the Republic of Guatemala, which recognizes the media’s work as a matter of public interest and establishes that publications containing allegations, criticism, or accusations against public officials or employees do not constitute crimes or offenses. This decision definitively closes the case.

The FECI, led by Rafael Curruchiche, accused the journalists of obstructing justice by publishing articles on the criminalization of José Rubén Zamora and of allegedly conducting a “disinformation campaign.”

ElPeriódico publications reported that the arrest of the newspaper’s founder and president was an act of retaliation by the Alejandro Giammattei administration and Attorney General María Consuelo Porras in response to the newspaper’s investigations and Zamora’s critical columns.

As a result of Judge Jimi Bremer’s decision to bring Zamora to trial, the MP sought to investigate Julia Corado, who was editor-in-chief of elPeriódico before it shut down; Gerson Ortiz, former head of information; reporters Christian Velix, Alexander Valdéz, Rony Ríos, and Denis Aguilar; and columnists Edgar Gutiérrez and Gonzalo Marroquín.

Gerardi case: evidentiary hearing against Darío Morales

On January 6 and 16, High Risk Court D, presided over by Judge Abelina Cruz, held evidentiary hearings against Darío Morales García. He is accused of perjury and being an accessory to extrajudicial execution in the case of the murder of Monsignor Gerardi. The MP and the joint plaintiff, the Human Rights Office of the Archdiocese of Guatemala (ODHAG), presented more than 100 pieces of evidence. These include testimony from Héctor Hugo Pérez Aguilera, currently a Constitutional Court (CC) judge and former attorney general at the time of the events, as well as technical-military and intelligence expert reports by Peruvian expert Clover Benamú and General Rodolfo Robles Espinosa. The evidence was submitted in order to establish whether Gerardi’s murder was part of an Army special intelligence operation. The defense requested that several pieces of evidence be excluded due to alleged procedural violations; however, the judge rejected their request. The case was sent to trial before High Risk Court D, and the judge ruled to keep the defendant in pre-trial detention at the Men’s Pretrial Detention Center in Zone 18.3

Darío Morales, a member of the Presidential General Staff (EMP) during the Álvaro Arzú administration (1996-2000), is being tried for his involvement in the murder of Bishop Juan José Gerardi. The murder took place three days after the publication of the Historical Memory Recovery report, Guatemala Never Again, on April 26, 1998. As the ODHAG’s coordinator, Monsignor Gerardi led the effort to collect thousands of testimonies about crimes committed by the Guatemalan army during the internal armed conflict. According to the charges, in this case there is “reason to believe that Morales was at the scene of the crime on the day of the murder and that he may have altered parts of the crime scene in order to prevent the identification of those who committed the crime against the priest.”4

New developments in cases of criminalization against former justice operators

The Seventh Criminal Court lifted all coercive measures against Claudia González, lawyer and former head of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), including a travel ban, a prohibition on leaving the country, an obligation to report to the MP every 15 days, and a restriction on her movement, limiting her to the department of Guatemala. The renowned lawyer, who has been internationally recognized for her fight against impunity and corruption, remains subject to prosecution and will face an oral and public hearing, scheduled to begin on May 5, 2026. Former judge Blanca Stalling, who recently passed away, accused González of abuse of authority for allegedly ordering irregular proceedings against her in a 2017 corruption case. The crime of abuse of authority can only be committed by public officials, a category to which González never belonged.5

Former anti-corruption prosecutor Stuardo Campo’s legal situation remains unclear. On January 26, an intermediate stage hearing was scheduled to establish the plaintiff and review coercive measures in the Libramiento de Chimaltenango case. However, Judge Victor Cruz, who was designated as an anti-democratic actor by the U.S. State Department, suspended the proceedings. The last hearing in this case was held in December 2023. Campo has been in pretrial detention since then. In 2025, he was acquitted in the Alfa 7 case, but he still faces charges in two other cases.6 He and the international community describe the proceedings against him as retaliation for his investigations into former officials from the Jimmy Morales and Alejandro Giammattei administrations.7