Central America

Sex abuse trial starts for Guatemalan ex-paramilitaries

AFP

A trial started in Guatemala Wednesday for five former paramilitary soldiers accused of sexually abusing 36 indigenous Mayan women some 40 years ago during the country’s civil war.

The five are former members of Guatemala’s Civil Self-Defense Patrols (PAC) blamed for several atrocities during the 1960-1996 war in which an estimated 200,000 people were killed or disappeared.

They will take part via videoconference from the Mariscal Zavala jail where they are being detained for crimes committed between 1981 and 1985 around the town of Rabinal, north of the capital Guatemala City.

The population of Rabinal was particularly hard hit by the war. A mass grave with the bodies of more than 3,000 people was discovered in the area.

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Thirty-six women have come forward in the last decade with accusations of sexual violence committed against them during that time.

The identities of most of the women are being withheld for their own security, said their lawyer Lucia Xiloj.

Some have already given recorded evidence to investigators, which will be played in court.

Only five of the victims have opted to be present for the trial before Judge Jazmin Barrios in the Supreme Court of Justice.

According to Xiloj, many Mayan women “were raped after the (forced) disappearance of their husbands” by paramilitaries and soldiers.

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Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rigoberta Menchu told reporters at the court that Guatemala had failed to “fulfill its obligation to defend these sisters who were raped, tortured, humiliated and subjected to (sexual) slavery during so many years of armed conflict.”

A United Nations truth commission documented 669 massacres committed during Guatemala’s civil war, of which 93 percent were attributed to government forces.

Central America

Guatemala raises police death toll to nine after gang violence escalates

Guatemalan authorities raised the death toll of police officers killed in a wave of gang violence to nine on Monday, after one officer wounded in the attacks died from his injuries. The violence prompted the government to declare a state of siege.

Criminal gangs launched a series of coordinated attacks against police forces across several parts of the country in retaliation for the government’s recapture of three prisons, where gang leaders had been holding dozens of prison guards hostage. Authorities said the hostages were used to pressure officials into transferring gang leaders to facilities with looser security measures.

Eight police officers were killed on Sunday. Another officer, identified as Frayan Medrano, died Monday in a public hospital after being shot while riding a motorcycle with a colleague, who remains in critical condition, according to police and the Ministry of the Interior.

Central America

Guatemala prison uprisings leave 46 guards held by gangs

Gang members staged riots, took prison guards hostage and set fires on Saturday at several prisons in Guatemala, in protest over the transfer of their leaders to a maximum-security facility and the implementation of new confinement measures, authorities said.

The Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gangs — both designated as terrorist organizations by the United States and Guatemala — are accused of contract killings, extortion and drug trafficking. Guatemala’s Minister of the Interior, Marco Antonio Villeda, confirmed that the unrest affected three prison facilities.

Villeda said the riots did not result in any fatalities or injuries, but 46 prison guards are currently being held hostage by gang members.

The minister stated that the government is willing to engage in dialogue to secure the release of the detained personnel, regain control of the prison facilities and ensure that inmates submit to internal regulations and the rule of law.

“Dialogue, not negotiation. We are dealing with terrorist structures that are financed and well organized. These are terrorist groups with whom we will not negotiate. The State is acting with legitimacy and in accordance with the law,” Villeda said.

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According to official figures, 18 guards are being held at the Renovación 1 prison and the Preventive Detention Center for Men in Zone 18 — nine at each facility — while another 28 guards are hostages at the Fraijanes 2 prison.

Villeda acknowledged that all three prisons remain under gang control, but stressed that authorities are prioritizing the safety of those being held. “We will guarantee their lives and respect for them. We will take whatever time is necessary to retake control of the prisons,” he said.

The minister also warned that the prison riots are part of what he described as an “orchestrated plan,” which has included road blockades in other parts of the country and the destruction of penitentiary infrastructure and records.

Central America

Bukele warns crime can become a ‘parallel government’ during visit to Costa Rica

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, accompanied by his official delegation, arrived at the site where the new facilities of the Center for the High Containment of Organized Crime (CACCO) are being built. Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves welcomed Bukele, marking the start of the cornerstone-laying ceremony.

“Thank you very much to President Rodrigo Chaves and his cabinet for this invitation,” Bukele said, noting that this was his fourth meeting with the Costa Rican leader in the past two years.

In his address, Bukele stressed that insecurity is a problem that undermines all aspects of society. “When insecurity advances, jobs collapse, education becomes more difficult, and the economy slows down. People stop going out, businesses close early, investment leaves, and tourism disappears,” he said.

The Salvadoran president warned that if crime continues to grow, it can turn into a parallel government—“the dictatorship of gangs, criminals, and drug traffickers.” He added that this situation has not yet occurred in Costa Rica and that the country is still in time to prevent it.