Current political situation October 2025

The struggle and resistance of the Tz’utujil people in Santiago Atitlán

On October 24, the people of Santiago Atitlán succeeded in removing Mayor Francisco Coché from office on charges of corruption. They also succeeded in having the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) recognize First Councilman Andrés Ajuchán as the new mayor.1

Protests against Coché began in April 2025, when the mayor was accused of irregularly authorizing 244 new motortaxi licenses, despite there already being 265 taxis in circulation, increasing traffic chaos. Coché is accused of receiving bribes totaling Q105,000, which were never reported in municipal coffers. Beginning in April 2025, the Ancestral Authorities of the Tz’utujil People repeatedly called on Coché to explain his actions; he did not respond. As a result, on September 16, these authorities, together with other local residents, gathered in front of the townhall to peacefully demand his resignation.2

Indigenous Ancestral Authorities from other regions supported the people of Santiago Atitlán and requested that the Minister of the Interior, Francisco Jiménez, and the Human Rights Ombudsman, José Alejandro Córdova, protect the rights of the Tz’utujil people against the actions of law enforcement who were attempting to reopen the townhall, which had been closed by the population and its authorities.3

Months earlier, the local population had also taken organized action in the face of the state’s negligence regarding the pollution of Lake Atitlán by tilapia cages. On July 23, ancestral authorities and hundreds of residents removed 235 cages and nearly 700 hundred-pound bags of invasive fish. The residents dismantled the cages, removing poisoned fish and burying them on municipal land, demonstrating indigenous peoples’ organizational capacity.

According to the Tz’utujil population, the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) has not acted effectively against corruption and environmental problems; however, the MP filed an injunction requesting police and riot police intervention to evict the population on October 8. Community leaders point out that Cornelio Sansón Sicay Ramírez, the district attorney of Sololá, has close ties to senior MP officials, which has increased mistrust of the actions of this investigating body. The case of Santiago Atitlán shows that indigenous self-determination can bring about significant changes that benefit communities. The Tz’utujil people have a strong history of resistance, with milestones such as the 1990expulsion of the military detachment stationed in their territory, following a massacre committed against the population by the army.4

Mesoamerican Caravan for Climate and Life Passes Through Guatemala

Almost a month after starting out, the Mesoamerican Caravan for Climate and Life is arriving in Belém do Pará, Brazil, where the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) will be held in November. The Caravan’s aim is to raise awareness of the complaints, struggles, and solutions proposed by communities resisting the extractivist, neoliberal model. The Caravan began its journey on October 4 in Sonora, Mexico, passing through Michoacán and Oaxaca before arriving in Guatemala between October 12 and 14 to meet with other groups and communities engaged in resistance. The Caravan then moved on to El Salvador, Honduras, and Costa Rica, where, on October 21, it presented the report “The Cost of the Struggle for Life and Climate”5 to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR). This report details the human rights violations suffered by territorial defenders in each of the places visited. The Caravan continued on to Panama, Colombia, and finally arrived in Brazil on November 1.

During the Caravan’s visit to Guatemala on October 12, Indigenous Peoples’ Day, the main topics of discussion and condemnation were militarization, megaprojects, forced migration, the commodification of life, and the water crisis. The Caravan traveled through Tecún Umán, Coatepeque, Quetzaltenango, Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa, Guatemala City, and Jutiapa, meeting with communities and organizations speaking out about the threat to life and self-determination posed by mining, hydroelectric, and oil megaprojects, which occupy 18% of the national territory, often under military protection. In Guatemala City, the organizations and delegations participating in the Caravan demonstrated in front of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN) and issued a joint political statement emphasizing the responsibility of states and international organizations to guarantee respect for the lives, territories, and worldviews of indigenous peoples. They also joined the global mobilization “The Global South Resists, for Climate and Life.”6

Throughout its journey, the Caravan witnessed the water crisis caused by the extractive model. Guatemala is the only country in Latin America without a Water Law regulating the use of water, and its Mining Law dates back to 1997. Currently, more than 90% of surface water sources are contaminated, largely due to mining activity. Furthermore, there are 345 mining exploitation and exploration licenses covering 1,139.7 square kilometers; 754 applications have been submitted in 2025, covering 19,232.35 square kilometers. This situation particularly affects indigenous peoples.7 One emblematic case that falls within this scenario is the struggle of the Ch’orti’ people against the Los Manantiales Quarry mining project in Chiquimula.8 The response to this peaceful struggle has been to criminalize the territorial defenders resisting this project.

Jutiapa was the last place the Caravan went in Guatemala, where the community of Asunción Mita has been fighting an emblematic battle against gold mining by the Canadian company Aura Minerals. The Caravan was accompanied by Guatemalan organizations and authorities from the Ch’orti’ people.9

Concerns about the MP’s possible bias in the Military Diary Case

On October 7, an intermediate phase hearing was held against Toribio Acevedo Ramírez, Malfred Orlando Pérez Lorenzo, Alix Leonel Barillas Soto, and Edgar Virgilio de León Sigüenza, charged with crimes against humanity in the Military Diary case.10 MP prosecutor José Crisanto Gómez Meléndez requested the provisional closure of the proceedings and a change in the classification of the crimes, despite the fact that the charges against the defendants are supported by more than 7,000 pieces of evidence, including 100 statements and records of people executed by the State.11 In response, Judge Carol Yesenia Berganza Chacón rescheduled the hearing for October 14. That day, the plaintiff organizations, including the Association of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared of Guatemala (FAMDEGUA) and the Mutual Support Group (GAM), notified the judge that they had asked Attorney General Consuelo Porras to remove prosecutors José Crisanto Gómez Meléndez and Noé Nehemías Rivera Vásquez (both recently assigned to the Human Rights Prosecutor’s Office) from the case, as they believe the prosecutors may not act with the necessary impartiality in the proceedings. A decision on the prosecution’s request for the provisional closure of the case was expected to be announced at that hearing. However, the judge decided to postpone the hearing until January 19, 2026. In the coming months, it will be decided whether or not the prosecutors in question will continue to handle the case.

According to FAMDEGUA’s representative Santiago Choc, the MP’s actions represent a breach of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling,12 which obliges the Guatemalan State to investigate and punish the forced disappearances in the Military Diary case. It is also worrisome that the decision on the challenges against the prosecutors lies in the hands of the current head of the MP, Consuelo Porras, who has been sanctioned by more than 40 countries, along with prosecutor Noé Rivera, for being pro-corruption actors.

Según Santiago Choc, representante de FAMDEGUA, las actuaciones del MP representan un incumplimiento de la sentencia de la CorteIDH, que obliga al Estado guatemalteco a investigar y sancionar las desapariciones forzadas del caso Diario Militar. Además, es preocupante que la decisión sobre las recusaciones contra los fiscales esté en manos de la actual jefa del MP, Consuelo Porras, sancionada por más de 40 países13, al igual que el fiscal Noé Rivera, por ser actores que favorecen la corrupción.

Given this scenario, there is concern about the safety of the plaintiffs and their legal representatives. So far, since Judge Miguel Ángel Gálvez was forced into exile due to serious threats, there has been no progress in this case.14

The USAC under Walter Mazariegos’ rule: absence of democracy, repression, and criminalization

In 2024, the MP initiated criminal proceedings against the student movement opposing University President Walter Mazariegos, whose election process is said to have lacked transparency and legitimacy. At the MP’s request, Judge Victor Cruz issued 33 search warrants and 27 arrest warrants against students, teachers, and human rights activists. This case is known as the “USAC Takeover: Political Looting” (“Toma USAC: Botín Político”). Currently, 12 people have been indicted, the latest being Edmar Arriola, who was arrested on September 26. Arriola spent 12 days in pretrial detention until a judge held the initial hearing and granted him alternative measures.

The initial hearing for Ramón Cadena, a prominent lawyer and human rights defender, and students Christopher Alexis Morales and Pedro Emanuel Ros Domingo was scheduled for October 23. It was suspended for the second time and rescheduled for January 2026.15 Four days later, the two students were handed over to the police at the courthouse, in an attempt to force the judge to hold the initial hearing.16

In addition, Mazariegos’ administration launched a series of disciplinary proceedings and administrative and criminal sanctions, used as internal repression mechanisms against students, teachers, workers, and civil society for questioning the legitimacy of his administration. In February 2024, disciplinary proceedings were initiated against ten students linked to movements that denounced fraud and demanded the recovery of university autonomy. On May 29, 2025, the University High Council (CSU) decided to expel them, a decision that some university council members described as a “clear act of authoritarianism, repressive and devoid of dialogue.”17 This October, the Constitutional Court (CC) upheld this decision, thus ratifying the penalty of expulsion that had been imposed.18

In 2022, Walter Mazariegos assumed the presidency of the University of San Carlos of Guatemala (USAC) in a process marked by a lack of transparency and legitimacy. On election day, with the support of the National Civil Police (PNC) and paramilitary groups, voters for his main opponents were prevented from accessing the polls. Moreover, Mazariegos was accused of vote buying.

In response to the fraud, several student organizations organized a peaceful takeover of the USAC facilities between 2022 and 2023, as part of the so-called “Resistance Against Fraud.” The resistance was supported by national and international student organizations such as the Federation of University Students of Honduras (FEUH) and the Landivarian student movement of Rafael Landívar University in Guatemala,19 among others, which issued statements, staged sit-ins outside university facilities, and held press conferences.