Letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples on arbitrary criminal charges in Guatemala

Washington, DC

Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples
United Nations, Geneva

Subject: Arbitrary criminal charges against Indigenous leaders in Guatemala

Dear Dr. Barume,

I am writing on behalf of Human Rights Watch to provide information concerning the arbitrary detention and politically motivated prosecution of Guatemalan Indigenous leaders Luis Pacheco and Héctor Chaclán. Both leaders have been in pretrial detention for over seven months while their hearings have been delayed, undermining their due process rights.

Luis Pacheco and Héctor Chaclán are former leaders of 48 Cantones of Totonicapán, an influential Indigenous organization in the department of Totonicapán, Guatemala. 48 Cantones played an instrumental role in nationwide peaceful protests that ultimately enabled President Bernardo Arévalo to take office following his victory in 2023 general elections, amid efforts by the Attorney General’s Office to impede a transition of power.

In 2023, Pacheco served as president of 48 Cantones and Chaclán as treasurer. Pacheco was serving in Arévalo’s administration as Vice Minister of Sustainable Development in the Ministry of Energy and Mines at the time of his arrest in April 2025.

1. Background

President Arévalo won Guatemala’s presidential run-off election in August 2023.[1] The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (Tribunal Supremo Electoral, TSE) and the Constitutional Court confirmed the election results.[2] Electoral observation missions of the European Union and the Organization of American States (OAS) found no evidence of serious irregularities.[3]

Guatemala’s Attorney General’s Office is led by Consuelo Porras, who has been sanctioned by the United States and the European Union for alleged corruption and for undermining democracy in Guatemala. [4] Her office sought to overturn the results and prevent a democratic transition of power.[5] Its strategy entailed investigating the legal registration of Semilla, Arévalo’s political party, and pursuing politically motivated prosecutions against human rights defenders and justice operators.[6] Attorney General Porras and her allies have also sought to strip President Arévalo and electoral judges of immunity in order to investigate and prosecute them.[7]

These efforts to overturn the election and obstruct Arévalo’s inauguration prompted widespread peaceful protests in October 2023, led by Indigenous groups. 48 Cantones of Totonicapán was an instrumental actor during the protests.[8] The mass demonstrations, and robust international scrutiny, played a key role in ensuring that President Arévalo was able to assume office in January 2024.[9]

2. Arrests and Charges

On April 23, 2025, Guatemalan police detained Luis Pacheco and Héctor Chaclán in Guatemala City.[10] Prosecutors charged them with terrorism, unlawful association, and obstructing criminal proceedings in connection with their role in the 2023 protests.[11]

Specifically, prosecutors in the Organized Crime Unit of the Attorney General’s Office said the charges against them stem from unspecified criminal complaints related to street blockades during the protests.[12] The prosecutors also claimed, without providing evidence, that protesters intended to take over the headquarters of the Attorney General’s Office.[13]

In a preliminary hearing on April 25, a judge ordered that Pacheco and Chaclán be held in pretrial detention.[14] The case is under judicial seal, a maneuver often misused by prosecutors in Guatemala to avoid public scrutiny over politically motivated prosecutions.[15]

Under Guatemalan law, the offense of terrorism has a broad definition that opens the door to abusive prosecutions. Its scope includes anyone who “carries out an act of violence, or an attack against life or human integrity, or against property or infrastructure” with “the purpose of altering the constitutional order” or “the public order of the State,” among other goals.[16] The crime is punishable with up to 30 years in prison.

Prosecutors also brought terrorism charges against Esteban Toc, another Indigenous leader who participated in the 2023 protests.[17] Toc was arrested on August 28 and formally charged on September 6; he remains on house arrest awaiting his next hearing.[18]

3. Ongoing Detention and Due Process Violations

As of December 2025, Luis Pacheco and Héctor Chaclán had been held in pretrial detention for over seven months.

Human Rights Watch researchers visited Pacheco and Chaclán at Mariscal Zavala prison in Guatemala in early July 2025. Researchers observed Pacheco and Chaclán exhausted and in low spirits, having then been detained for over two months, with little information about their cases and how long they would be in detention. Both said that they were prosecuted for their defense of democracy in 2023. Pacheco described the experience as “a terrible psychological torture.” With their case under seal, Chaclán said that they did not know what evidence prosecutors claimed to have against them.

On October 24, an appeals court granted a recusal request by the judge in charge of Pacheco and Chaclán’s case and assigned a new judge to the case.[19] The hearing to determine whether Pacheco and Chaclán will go to trial had been delayed for months while the judge’s request was pending. This essentially put their case in limbo and prevented them from being able to request alternatives to pretrial detention. The new judge must set a date for their next hearing, but as of December 1, no date had been publicly announced.

4. Broader Context

The arbitrary arrest and prosecution of Pacheco and Chaclán, as well as the procedural delays in their case, reflect a broader pattern in which the Attorney General’s Office has pursued baseless or politically motivated cases against human rights defenders, journalists, justice operators, and public officials, which Human Rights Watch has repeatedly documented.[20]

The UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers visited Guatemala in July 2025. Her post-visit preliminary observations detailed the Attorney General’s Office’s “policy of criminalization.”[21] Specifically, the Rapporteur noted that “Indigenous authorities and student leaders have been criminalized, apparently in retaliation for their defence of democracy following the 2023 elections.”

5. International Response

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has condemned the arrests and prosecution of Pacheco and Chaclán, describing their case as “part of a broader, well-documented pattern of politically motivated misuse of criminal law in Guatemala.”[22]

In May, the Ambassador of the European Union to Guatemala visited Pacheco and Chaclán at Mariscal Zavala prison, publicly praising the role of Indigenous authorities in defending democracy in 2023 and supporting their rights to legal defense, due process, and “access to impartial justice.”[23]

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, also expressed concern over “the misuse of [Guatemala’s] criminal law to arrest Indigenous leaders” including Pacheco, in the days following Pacheco and Chaclán’s arrests.[24] In his statement Turk noted that “participating in peaceful demonstrations is a human right that must not be punished.”

We thank you for your attention and remain available should you have any questions.

Juanita Goebertus Estrada
Director
Americas Division
Human Rights Watch