We receive monthly updates from the Guatemala Human Rights Commission (GHRC). Here we reproduce a small section of the January 2026 update regarding attacks on human rights defenders there. We are grateful to the GHRC for their regular reporting on the human rights situation in Guatemala.
GHRC Monthly update January 2026
- Maya Q’eqchi’ Land Defender Murdered
On December 14, Víctor Manuel Colindres, a land defender who opposed mining operations by Rio Niquel, was shot to death by unidentified men in a grocery store in Colindres, in the Sierra Santa Cruz. Colindres had actively participated in protests against the mine from January to June, 2025. During those protests, 54 communities demanded that the government revoke 10 environmental licenses granted to the Río Nickel S.A., a subsidiary of the Canadian company Central American Nickel (CAN), and Producciones del Atlántico, a Guatemalan company. They argued that the companies’ operations threatened the biodiversity of the Sierra Santa Cruz located in Livingston and El Estor, Izabal, as well as their water sources. The licenses, which had been granted under the administration of Alejandro Giammattei, were revoked last summer. See coverage by Rights Action here. Another protester, Misael Mata, from the community of Las Flores, was murdered last May.
- Fourth Indigenous Leader Arrested in Relation to Protests
On January 14, Indigenous leader Basilio Puac García, former vice president of the 48 Cantons of Totonicapan. Puac, was arrested and falsely charged with crimes. He is the fourth Indigenous leader arrested since last April for helping to organise protests that foiled a coup attempt in 2023, after Arévalo’s surprise victory at the polls. Puac, like Indigenous leaders Esteban Toc Tzay, Hector Chaclán, and Luis Pacheco, is facing charges related to his role in the peaceful protests. On January 15, President Arévalo publicly denounced the arrest as an unfounded attack on democracy and Indigenous peoples. The Board of Directors of the 48 Cantones condemned Puac García’s arrest as political retaliation and called for his immediate release in an official statement, specifying that such actions seek to intimidate Indigenous authorities.
On January 16, Puac was released from jail on bail, approximately 48 hours after arrest. Judge Víctor Funes dismissed an initial charge of terrorism, but indicted García on charges of sedition, obstruction of justice, and illicit association. Puac must report to the Public Ministries Office in Guatemala City once a month to sign the attendance register and satisfy bail conditions.
Chaclán and Pacheco, meanwhile, have been in pretrial detention for more than ten months, and a recent suspension of their legal proceedings, owing to the so-called Foundation Against Terrorism’s motion to recuse the judge assigned to their case, means they may be detained for at least four more months.
Guatemalan analysts view Puac’s arrest, as well as the arrests of Toc Tzay, Chaclán, and Pacheco, as a tactic to exact revenge on the sector that led the fight for democracy. During the 2023 protests, Indigenous leaders called for Attorney General Consuelo Porras’ resignation, since she was leading the charge to prevent Arévalo from assuming office. Her efforts included the theft and retention of ballot boxes.
On January 20, UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism Ben Saul submitted an Amicus Curiae brief asking Guatemala’s courts to review the country’s use of anti-terrorism laws. The UN rapporteur issued the brief in response to a case brought by the 48 Cantones de Totonicapán, which challenges the constitutionality of these laws. In particular, the brief reportedly emphasizes that the right to protest should not be criminalized under anti-terrorism legislation, warning against its use to suppress social and political dissent.
- Maya Q’eqchi’ Community Evicted in Izabal
El Estor, Izabal remains a focal point of land disputes linked to palm oil expansion projects. On December 17, 2025, state security forces destroyed homes and forcibly evicted more than 40 families from their ancestral land in La Ceiba. The families remain displaced. State representatives and alleged landowners Rina Castañeda, Isabel Bautista, and Imelda Bautista were present during the eviction and said it was carried out in compliance with the judicial order.
On December 18, 2025, the Authorities of the Indigenous Municipality of Santa Lucía Utatlán released a public statement condemning the evictions as human rights violations. According to the statement, the community has become an “object of territorial and forced dispossession,” calling on both Congress and President Bernardo Arévalo to stop the systemic violence and displacement of the Maya Q’eqchi’. Particularly, the statement references Guatemala’s obligation to abide by Convention 169 of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which protects Indigenous peoples’ collective territorial rights.