Last week Guatemalan authorities detained two of eight defendants named in an international arrest warrant issued by a Spanish judge earlier this year.
The warrant was based on a criminal complaint filed by Nobel Laureate Rigoberta Menchú with the Spanish National Court against senior government officials for terrorism, genocide and torture. Guatemala is just ten years removed from a 36-year civil war that left over 200,000 people dead. In fact, forensic anthropologists continue to dig up victims from mass graves scattered across the country side.
Former Ministry of Defense Ángel Aníbal Guevara Rodriguez and former Director of the National Police Colonel German Chupina Barahona were arrested early on Nov. 7.
Bridget Brehen, accompaniment coordinator at The Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) commented that "these arrests represent a significant step forward in the struggle for justice and accountability in Guatemala. In honor of all those who have and continue to dedicate themselves to this struggle, we hope that the remaining warrants will be executed and the accused extradited or brought to trial in Guatemala."
Notably missing from the arrest warrant was ex-dictator and former U.S. ally Efrain Rios Montt, who was also named in Menchú’s complaint. Montt was responsible for orchestrating a scorched earth campaign against the country’s Mayan population, which resulted in the murder and disappearances of thousands of indigenous people.