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General Information
The Ixil Genocide Case is four decades in the making. In this time, survivors and family members have aged while continuing to fight for recognition of the genocide, and many survivors have passed away without seeing justice.
The genocide against the Maya Ixil people was part of a state genocide against the indigenous
people of Guatemala that spanned decades (1960-1996), from which the Historical Clarification
Commission has registered more than 250,000 deaths and disappearances, over 1 million internal displacements, 200,000 refugees, 440 communities erased from the map, and more than 600 massacres, 70,000 orphans, and 50,000 widows.
During the military government of Romeo Lucas García (1978-1982), the Guatemalan state and army designed and implemented its policy of genocide. While Romero Lucas García was in power, more than 1700 people suffered from genocide, forced disappearance and crimes against humanity by military operations deployed in the Maya Ixil region.
The opening of the case against Manuel Benedicto Lucas García is a powerful step forward in the path towards transitional justice. However, challenges remain. Although the inauguration of
President Bernardo Arévalo opens new democratic possibilities of respect for the rule of law and due legal process, corrupt figures remain in the Public Ministry and high courts, including
magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice and the Constitutional Court. This creates a high risk that the process will be interrupted by illegal actions to protect the accused with impunity.
Timeline of the Case
- In 2008, the ODHAG (Human Rights office of the Archbishop) accepted the request of AJR to direct the investigation and the legal action in a criminal complaint against the Military High Command of former General Romeo Lucas García, for grave human rights violation committed by the State security forces against the Maya Ixil ethnic group between July 1st of 1978 and March 23rd of 1982.
- Between 2008 and 2019, preliminary investigation work was carried out, resulting in the identification of at least 1296 victims.
- In 2021, Judge Miguel Ángel Gálvez (today in exile, due to persecution by the “Foundation Against Terrorism”) ruled that Generals Manuel Benedicto Lucas Garcia and Manuel Antonio Callejas y Callejas were to stand trial for their alleged participation in the aforementioned crimes.
- The Trial, in the Oral and Public Debate Phase, was scheduled for 2022. However, after a series of excusals of several judges and a recusal brought by the plaintiff AJR, the court was not convened until April 2023.
- On January 4, 2024, the First Criminal Sentencing Court for High Risk processes, granted
- immediate release to retired General Manuel Antonio Callejas y Callejas, who would have faced trial this January for his responsibility in more than 1000 deaths, forced disappearances, sexual violations and forced displacement, when he was Chief of Military Intelligence of the General Staff of the Guatemalan Army between 1978 and 1982. Experts concluded that the General is incapable of standing trial because he suffers from progressive dementia due to Parkinson’s disease. NISGUA and AJR state that this does not excuse the responsibility of retired General Callejas y Callejas.
- The Court resolved that the trial against Manuel Benedicto Lucas García will begin on March 25, 2024.
NISGUA will be posting daily updates as the case progresses.
FB: @NISGUA.Guate | X: @NISGUA_Guate | Instagram: @nisgua_solidaridad.
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