Attacks against human rights defenders in Guatemala increased during the government of conservative President Alejandro Giammattei (2020-2024), a social organization denounced this Wednesday.
From January 2020 to last June, 2,646 cases of attacks against activists, independent justice operators, community leaders and journalists, among other actors, were documented, said Jorge Santos, coordinator of the Unit for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders in Guatemala. (UDEFEGUA).
According to a UDEFEGUA report, the figure is higher than the 1,642 reports during the government of Jimmy Morales (2016-2020) and the 2,260 cases reported in the administration of Otto Pérez (2012-2015), who resigned four months before handing over the charge accused of corruption.
“What we want to demonstrate is that a sustained increase in violence against the defense of human rights in the country is being documented,” Santos said.
During the first half of 2022, the organization registered 589 attacks, mainly due to the persecution of former anti-mafia prosecutors and judges who investigated important corruption cases by the Public Ministry.
He also gave an account of the recent arrest for alleged money laundering of the journalist José Rubén Zamora, head of the newspaper El Periódico, a medium that has denounced corruption in the management of Giammattei and of the attorney general Consuelo Porras, sanctioned last year by the United States.
Santos mentioned that among the main attacks recorded between January and June are cases of defamation, harassment and unfounded legal complaints. Of the total cases, 45% correspond to attacks against women.
“We are warning that the authoritarian consolidation has a purpose and that purpose is to restore a regime of impunity, corruption and violence and that, therefore, the defense of human rights at this time is being deeply violated,” Santos warned.
In June, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) added Guatemala to its list of countries where it observes serious human rights violations, something that Giammattei rejects. Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua also appear there.
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