Misplaced Pages

#215784

139-645: The repression reached genocidal levels in the predominantly indigenous northern provinces where the Guerrilla Army of the Poor operated. There, the Guatemalan military viewed the Maya as siding with the insurgency and began a campaign of mass killings and disappearances of Mayan peasants. While massacres of indigenous peasants had occurred earlier in the war, the systematic use of terror against them began around 1975 and peaked during

278-458: A general strike broke out to protest sharp increases in public transportation fares; the government responded harshly, arresting dozens of protesters and injuring many more. However, as a result of the campaign, the government agreed to the protesters' demands, including the establishment of a public transportation subsidy . Wary of the possibility that the scenario unfolding in Nicaragua at

417-449: A January 1971 secret bulletin of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency detailing the elimination of hundreds of suspected "terrorists and bandits" in the Guatemalan countryside by the security forces. While repression continued in the countryside, the Arana government began an unprecedented wave of killings and "disappearances" in the capital, despite minimal guerrilla activity. Arana established

556-534: A coalition of revolutionary campesinos, Catholics, and indigenous Maya people. The organization was described as overwhelmingly composed of the indigenous and radicalized Catholics. The organization considered indigenous militants to be important revolutionary allies, and was influenced by the Maoist concept of the protracted people's war , aspiring to launch its own version of it. The organization dedicated itself to building popular support among poor peasants, Catholics and

695-600: A command center for the death squads, as it had in the early 1970s under Arana. A center existed within the National Police known as the Joint Operations Center (Centro de Operaciones Conjuntas de la Policía – COCP), which forwarded intelligence on "subversives" from the National Police headquarters to the Archivos . Such information included the names of potential death squad victims. Documents were later recovered from

834-689: A detailed report on abuses in the last months of the Peralta regime in which it named thirty five individuals as involved in killings and disappearances, including military commissioners and members of the Ambulant Military Police (PMA) in coordination with the G-2. After the publication of this report, "death-squad" attacks on the AEU and on the University of San Carlos began to intensify. Many law students and members of

973-566: A few Anglophone countries in the Caribbean. The following Latin American nation-builders were concerned to build the rule of law : Simón Bolívar , Antonio José de Sucre , Mariano Moreno , Mariano Gálvez , and Dionisio de Herrera . Trinidad and Tobago signed the convention on 28 May 1991 but suspended its ratification on 26 May 1998 (effective 26 May 1999) over the death penalty . In 1999 under President Alberto Fujimori Peru announced it

1112-541: A government publicity campaign in which regular statistics were provided by government spokespersons on killings of "subversives" and "criminals" which the authorities attributed to the ESA and the EM, ostensibly as a way of using the media to downplay the government's responsibility and terrorize the left. Statistics reported in the domestic press (often originating from government spokespersons) and by human rights organizations suggest that

1251-400: A judge, one must be a national of a member state of OAS, a jurist, have the 'highest moral authority', have high competency of human rights law, have 'the qualifications required for the exercise of the highest judicial functions in conformity with the law of the state of which they are nationals or of the state that proposes them as candidates'. 'Highest Moral Authority' is loosely defined by

1390-527: A member of the "Zacapa Group" and former commander of the PMA). Employing new anti-riot gear donated by the United States Government , Platoon agents surrounded marchers and tear-gassed them. Students were forced to retreat and dozens of people, mostly school-aged adolescents, were hospitalized. This was followed by more protests and death squad killings throughout the later part of the year. In September 1978

1529-788: A minimum of 8,195 persons were assassinated in Guatemala in 1979–80, a rate which exceeds Col. Arana's "state of siege" in 1970–71. Abductions and disappearances of civilians by the death squads were carried out under the public eye by heavily armed personnel sometimes identifying openly as members of the security forces, and traveling in vehicles easily identifiable as belonging to the Guatemalan National Police and other security agencies, particularly red Toyota jeeps either unmarked or sporting military license number sequences. Unrecognizable cadavers were frequently found mutilated and showing signs of torture. The bodies of many of those abducted by

SECTION 10

#1732859292216

1668-465: A new plainclothes secret police agency known as the 'Detective Corps of the National Police' which specialized in surveillance and political policing activities. This new security agency – working in tandem with special commandos of the military and units from '4th Corps' of the National Police – abducted and murdered thousands of suspected subversives in Guatemala City during the 'state of siege.' As in

1807-400: A number of Indigenous Mayan leaders. The new group had several ideological differences from the prior FAR. The FAR had based its ideology on the foco theory of Che Guevara . Che Guevara believed that people living in countries still ruled by colonial powers, or living in countries subject to newer forms of economic exploitation, could best defeat colonial powers by taking up arms. Several of

1946-642: A state that has ratified the American Convention or accepted jurisdiction of the Court. Judges are required to recuse themselves from cases involving their home country. States parties are no longer permitted to name a judge ad hoc to their case if a sitting judge is not from their country. If a judge is a national of one of the State Parties to the case, the State Parties can only designate a judge ad hoc if there are inter-state complaints. In order to be nominated as

2085-579: A struggle between capitalism and communism , and both saw heavy intervention from the U.S. to protect its economic interests. As a result, the EGP decided to include civilians more actively in their projects and made non-combatants a part of the revolutionary movement. The EGP saw their role as not only incorporating the issues that the civilians were concerned about but also "instructing" them in their political beliefs. The EGP also followed liberation theology, and utilized its Catholic supporters and networks to build

2224-545: A vehicle for left wing subversion. Due to the fact that cooperatives had been largely drawn out into the open, the names of cooperativists were relatively easy for the intelligence services (G-2) to collate in order to designate targets for the subsequent extermination program. Peasants identified as belonging to cooperatives began to disappear or turn up dead throughout the Indigenous communities of El Quiche, individually and collectively. In one instance on 7 July 1975 – one month to

2363-411: A written answer to the application, stating whether it accepts or disputes the facts and claims it contains. Once this answer has been submitted, any of the parties in the case may request the Court president's permission to lodge additional pleadings prior to the commencement of the oral phase. The president sets the date for the start of oral proceedings, for which the Court is considered quorate with

2502-570: Is a push for the OAS to create an independent group in charge of evaluating candidates. Another independent group in charge of overseeing the national processes and ranking the candidates that is separate from OAS is a proposed initiative by scholars to address these criticisms. These would ensure that all candidates have been through two reviews on the National and International level before being able to be elected. Fair representation when it comes to candidates

2641-568: Is also a point of contention. Scholars have stated that State Parties should strive for equal representation in terms of geographic sub-regions, different ethnic and cultural groups, and female and male judges; however, this should be done without straying from the high standards and qualifications required for candidates. "Highest Moral Authority", a requirement for nomination, is often criticized because its vagueness. The necessary qualifications are not clearly defined and vary from country to country. The minimum age ranges from none to 45 years old and

2780-827: Is an international court based in San José, Costa Rica . Together with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights , it was formed by the American Convention on Human Rights , a human rights treaty ratified by members of the Organization of American States (OAS). Pursuant to American Convention, the Inter-American Court works with the Inter-American Commission to uphold and promote basic rights and freedoms. It has jurisdiction within around 20 of

2919-432: Is necessary to turn the country into a cemetery in order to pacify it, I will not hesitate to do so." Despite minimal armed insurgent activity at the time, Arana declared a "state of siege" on 13 November 1970 and imposed a curfew from 9:00 PM to 5:00 AM, during which time all vehicle and pedestrian traffic—including ambulances, fire engines, nurses, and physicians—were forbidden throughout the national territory. The siege

SECTION 20

#1732859292216

3058-423: Is permitted to rule on the relevance of questions asked and to excuse the person asked the question from replying, unless overruled by the Court. After hearing the witnesses and experts and analyzing the evidence presented, the Court issues its judgment. Its deliberations are conducted in private and, once the judgment has been adopted, it is notified to all the parties involved. If the merits judgment does not cover

3197-612: The Guatemalan Civil War . In the aftermath of the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état a series of leftist insurgencies began in the Guatemalan countryside, against the United States-supported military governments of the country. A prominent guerrilla group among these insurgents was the Rebel Armed Forces (Spanish: Fuerzas Armadas Rebeldes, FAR). The FAR was largely crushed by a counter-insurgency campaign carried out by

3336-584: The United Nations as moderator and with the support of the international community, concluded a long negotiating process, by signing the Peace Accords. The URNG plays a current role in Guatemalan politics and is still active today fighting for equal rights. During the elections in 2011, the party entered into a political alliance with Winaq , MNR , the URNG splinter ANN and may other civil society groups to form

3475-455: The 1944-1954 "decade of revolution." Today's guerrilla leadership claims a special tie with the "unfinished revolution" of President Jacobo Arbenz. While the URNG attempts to balance peace, Guatemala, still to this day suffers from extremely high levels of inequality, with the Indigenous populations suffering the worst. Despite representing more than half of the population and participating actively in

3614-479: The 35 member states in the American continent that have taken steps to accede to its authority, the vast majority in Latin America. The court adjudicates claims of human rights violations by governments, and issues advisory opinions on interpretations of certain legal matters. Twenty-nine OAS members are also members of the wider-scale International Criminal Court . The Organization of American States established

3753-473: The ACHR as never having never been convicted of a crime, suspended or expelled from the legal profession, or dismissed from public office. Judges are elected by State Parties to the convention from a list of nominated candidates. Each State Party may nominate up to three candidates, but if nominating three, at least one of the three must be a national of a state other than the nominating state. The Secretary General of

3892-523: The AEU were assassinated. The use of such tactics increased dramatically after the inauguration of President Julio César Méndez Montenegro , who – in a bid to placate right-wing elements in the military – gave it carte blanche to engage in "any means necessary" to pacify the country. The military subsequently ran the counterinsurgency program autonomously from the Presidential House and appointed Vice-Defense Minister, Col. Manuel Francisco Sosa Avila as

4031-639: The Army were well aware that the insurgents’ military capacity did not represent a real threat to Guatemala's political order. The CEH concludes that the State deliberately magnified the military threat of the insurgency, a practice justified by the concept of the internal enemy. The inclusion of all opponents under one banner, democratic or otherwise, pacifist or guerrilla, legal or illegal, communist or non-communist, served to justify numerous and serious crimes. Faced with widespread political, socio-economic and cultural opposition,

4170-504: The Broad Front of the Left. The UNRG is still fighting for political representation but is making an avid effort to be a part of political decisions and regulations. Inter-American Court of Human Rights 9°55′49.58″N 84°3′24.98″W  /  9.9304389°N 84.0569389°W  / 9.9304389; -84.0569389 The Inter-American Court of Human Rights ( I/A Court H.R. )

4309-491: The Catholic Church constituted a major part of the social base of the EGP, the regime also began singling out targets among the catechists. Between November 1976 and December 1977, death squads murdered 143 Catholic Action catechists of the 'Diocese of El Quiche.' Documented cases of killings and forced disappearances during this time represent a small fraction of the true number of killings by government forces, especially in

Guatemalan genocide - Misplaced Pages Continue

4448-464: The Court by either the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights or a state party. In contrast to the European human rights system , individual citizens of the OAS member states are not allowed to take cases directly to the Court. The following conditions must be met: Proceedings before the Court are divided into written and oral phases. In the written phase, the case application is filed, indicating

4587-438: The Court in 1979 to enforce and interpret the provisions of the American Convention on Human Rights . Its two main functions are thus adjudicatory and advisory. Under the former, it hears and rules on the specific cases of human rights violations referred to it. Under the latter, it issues opinions on matters of legal interpretation brought to its attention by other OAS bodies or member states. The adjudicatory function requires

4726-484: The Court to rule on cases brought before it in which a state party to the convention, and thus has accepted its jurisdiction, is accused of a human rights violation. In addition to ratifying the convention, a state party must voluntarily submit to the Court's jurisdiction for it to be competent to hear a case involving that state. Acceptance of contentious jurisdiction can be given on a blanket basis – to date, Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica,

4865-595: The Detective Corps detained eight top leaders and associates of the PGT – half of the Party central committee – in a single raid. All eight were turned over to '4th Corps' squad commander and notorious torturer Juan Antonio "El Chino" Lima Lopez and were never seen again. According to Amnesty International and domestic human rights organizations such as 'Committee of Relatives of Disappeared Persons', over 15,000 civilian opponents of

5004-472: The Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela and Uruguay have done so (though Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela have subsequently withdrawn) – or, alternatively, a state can agree to abide by the Court's jurisdiction in a specific, individual case. Under the convention, cases can be referred to

5143-490: The EGP has been attributed to military aid given to it by Israel and Argentina , as well as by the U.S. government after Ronald Reagan became president in 1981. While Guatemala has made efforts to move beyond its past, the country still remains extremely divided. By 1984, the large-scale massacres were generally over, the army had set up new bases throughout the Mayan heartlands and had accrued unprecedented economic power through

5282-415: The EGP returned to Guatemala on 19 January 1972, and had added a number of recruits by 1975. According to EGP founder Mario Payeras, these included a number of Mayans, from several different tribes. The EGP made its existence public in 1975, by playing a role in the execution of two Ladinos who were seen as the "region's most notorious oppressors". At its height, the EGP had the support of 270,000 people across

5421-469: The EGP, it was its own distinct organization. The CUC works in over 200 communities and six micro-regions of the country to defend the land, water, and food rights of impoverished peasants in Guatemala, primarily in communities facing displacement or environmental damage by mining, dam, and industrial agriculture corporations. The URNG is an umbrella group of Guatemalan political and revolutionary groups that spearheaded peace talks that took place all around

5560-563: The G-2 under Lucas) and the heads of the Treasury Police and the Chief of Migration. It based on meetings of the CRIO that "hit lists" for the death squads were drawn up. Beginning in the mid-1970s, the government began amassing troops in the countryside to supplement existing PMA detachments and local military commissioners in counterinsurgency operations against the EGP. The level of militarization in

5699-579: The Guatemalan government with the help of the U.S. in the late 1960s. Between 2,800 and 8,000 FAR supporters were killed, and hundreds of leftists in urban areas were kidnapped, assassinated, or disappeared . Those of the FAR's leadership that had survived this campaign came together to form the EGP in Mexico City in the 1970s. These leaders included Ricardo Ramírez (whose nom de guerre was Rolando Morán) and Julio César Macías (known as César Montes), both Ladinos , and

Guatemalan genocide - Misplaced Pages Continue

5838-607: The Guatemalan government. One of the most notorious death squads operating during this period was the MANO, also known as the Mano Blanca ("White Hand"); initially formed by the MLN as a paramilitary front in June 1966 to prevent President Méndez Montenegro from taking office, the MANO was quickly taken over by the military and incorporated into the state's counter-terror apparatus. The MANO – while being

5977-461: The I/A Court H.R., the withdrawal would have come into effect the following year. However, the I/A Court H.R. notes that the withdrawal was never legally implemented, and as of its 2017 annual report, the I/A Court H.R. still counted the Dominican Republic as a member. The United States signed but never ratified the American Convention on Human Rights . The court consists of seven judges, held to

6116-551: The Institutional Democratic Party who dominated Guatemalan politics in the 1970s and early 1980s (his predecessor, Julio César Méndez, while dominated by the army, was a civilian). Arana had been elected on a platform promising a crackdown on law and order issues and subversion. Colonel Arana, who had been in charge of the terror campaign in Zacapa, was an anti-communist hardliner and extreme rightist who once stated, "If it

6255-581: The Ixil area was pro-EGP. A major part of Ríos Montt's pacification strategy in El Quiché was "Operation Sofia", which began on 8 July 1982 on orders from Army Chief of Staff Héctor Mario López Fuentes . "Operation Sofia" was planned and executed by the 1st Battalion of the Guatemalan Airborne Troops with the mission to "exterminate the subversive elements in the area – Quiché." During Ríos Montt's tenure,

6394-597: The Lucas García period. The protests, intended as a march against violence, were attended by an estimated 10,000 people. The new minister of the interior under President Lucas García, Donaldo Álvarez Ruiz, promised to break up any protests organized without government permission. The protesters were then met by the Pelotón Modelo ( Model Platoon ) of the Guatemalan National Police, then under the new director-general, Colonel Germán Chupina Barahona (like Gen. Romeo Lucas Garcia,

6533-424: The Maya people for years before committing its first action - in 1975, it assassinated Luís Arenas Barrera, a large landowner known for his cruelty towards the local population. The EGP stressed the importance of the "Indian question" and wanted to create a multiethnic socialist Guatemala, wishing to integrate the concerns regarding ethnic oppression of the indigenous population with class struggle. The combatants of

6672-554: The Military Police returned to Olopa and seized 15 additional villagers. All were subsequently found dead from drowning and hanging. The next day, the Assistant mayor of Amatillo, Francisco García, addressed himself to the Court of Olopa to report on the events and to request identification of the bodies in order to bury them. That very night Garcia was also abducted and murdered. All told, more than 100 villagers of Olopa were murdered by

6811-909: The Mobile Military Police in 1978, including several religious workers, 15 women and more than 40 children. The PMA were reported by peasants to murder small children in Olopa by grabbing them and breaking their backs over the knees. "The Command of the Secret Anti-Communist Army [ESA] is presenting by means of this bulletin an ‘ultimatum’ to the following trade unionists, professionals, workers and students: ... [it] warns them all that it has already located them and knows perfectly well where to find these nefarious communist leaders who are already condemned to DEATH, which will therefore be carried out without mercy..." Bulletin No. 6, 3 January 1979, ESA At

6950-735: The National Police archives which were sent from the COCP to the EMP to notify its agents of "delinquent subversives" and their whereabouts, including exact addresses. At the National Palace, a special group known as the CRIO (Centro de Reunion de Informacion y Operaciones) would convene to review operational intelligence and plan counterinsurgency operations. The CRIO consisted of all of the country's primary intelligence and security chiefs, including Gen. Romeo Lucas Garcia, Col. Chupina, Interior Minister Donaldo Alvarez, Gen. Hector Antonio Callejas y Callejas (Chief of

7089-458: The OAS organizes the candidates alphabetically and forwards it to the State Parties. The election consists of a secret ballot, requiring an absolute majority of the State Parties to the convention. Those who receive the most votes are elected. After the Convention came into force on 18 July 1978, the first election of judges took place on 22 May 1979. The new Court first convened on 29 June 1979 at

SECTION 50

#1732859292216

7228-506: The Organization of American States Headquarters in Washington, D.C. , United States. The Court's behaviour has also been criticized. Among other issues, some authors have criticized the politicization of the Court. Furthermore, the process of nomination and election is a subject of criticism. It is not a transparent or accountable process at both the National and International levels. There

7367-428: The PGT's central committee and peasant federation leader Leonardo Castillo Flores. All subsequently "disappeared" while in the custody of the security force and became known in subsequent months by the Guatemalan press as "the 28". This incident was followed by a wave of unexplained "disappearances" and killings in Guatemala City and in the countryside which were reported by the Guatemala City press. When press censorship

7506-523: The Spanish Embassy by police forces. A number of countries, including Spain, broke diplomatic relations with Guatemala following this incident, damaging the legitimacy of the government, and giving the EGP a chance to intensify its military activities. The EGP released a document proclaiming that the burning was an example of the racial persecution of the Indigenous People and that the EGP's struggle

7645-519: The Spanish acronym EMP) was placed under the command of Col. Héctor Ismael Montalván Batres in 1979. After its formation, the EMP took control of the telecommunications unit La Regional which was renamed Archivo General y Servicios de Apoyo del EMP – AGSAEMP – or Archivo for short. As documented in Amnesty International's 1981 report, the telecommunications annex of the National Palace served as

7784-467: The State resorted to military operations directed towards the physical annihilation or absolute intimidation of this opposition, through a plan of repression carried out mainly by the Army and national security forces. On this basis the CEH explains why the vast majority of the victims of the acts committed by the State were not combatants in guerrilla groups, but civilians. About 35,000 people were to have died from

7923-473: The abuse of the civilian population by the army and the PACs reached unprecedented levels, even when compared to the Army's conduct under Benedicto Lucas. These abuses often amounted to overkill, civilians in "red" areas are reported to have been beheaded, garroted , burned alive, bludgeoned to death, or hacked to death with machetes. At least 250,000 children nationwide were estimated to have lost at least one parent to

8062-514: The applicable reparations for the case, they must be determined at a separate hearing or through some other procedure as decided on by the Court. The reparations the Court orders can be both monetary and non-monetary in nature. The most direct form of redress are cash compensation payments extended to the victims or their next-of-kin. However, the state can also be required to grant benefits in kind, to offer public recognition of its responsibility, to take steps to prevent similar violations occurring in

8201-627: The armed confrontation", but that the US was not directly responsible for any genocidal acts. Former military dictator General Efrain Ríos Montt (1982–1983) was indicted for his role in the most intense stage of the genocide . He was convicted in 2013 of ordering the deaths of 1,771 people of the Ixil Indigenous group, but that sentence was overturned, and his retrial was not completed by the time of his death in 2018. The 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état deposed

8340-767: The armed forces. The death squads operated with impunity – permitted by the government to kill any civilians deemed to be either insurgents or insurgent collaborators. The civilian membership of the army's paramilitary units consisted largely of right-wing fanatics with ties to the MLN , founded and led by Mario Sandoval Alarcón , a former participant in the 1954 coup. By 1967, the Guatemalan army claimed to have 1,800 civilian paramilitaries under its direct control. Blacklists were compiled of suspected guerrilla collaborators and those with communist leanings, as troops and paramilitaries moved through Zacapa systematically arresting suspected insurgents and collaborators; prisoners were either killed on

8479-573: The army was "the institution of the greatest importance at any latitude, representative of Authority, of Order, and of Respect" and that to "attack it, divide it, or to wish its destruction is indisputably treason to the fatherland." With increased military aid from the United States, the 5,000-man Guatemalan Army mounted a large pacification effort in the departments of Zacapa and Izabal in October 1966 dubbed "Operation Guatemala". Col. Carlos Arana Osorio

SECTION 60

#1732859292216

8618-598: The army, including in the Río Negro massacres between 1980 and 1982. A 1984 report by HRW discussed "the murder of thousands by a military government that maintains its authority by terror". An estimated 200,000 Guatemalans were killed during the war, including at least 40,000 persons who " disappeared ". 92% of civilian executions were carried out by government forces. The UN-sponsored Commission for Historical Clarification (CEH) documented 42,275 victims of human rights violations and acts of violence from 7,338 testimonies. 83% of

8757-425: The assassination of prominent landowner José Luis Arenas on the premises of his farm "La Perla" on Saturday, 7 June 1975. In front of his office there were approximately two to three hundred peasant workers to receive payment. Hidden among the workers were four members of the EGP, who destroyed the communication radio of the farm and executed Arenas. Following the assassination, the guerrillas spoke in Ixil language to

8896-409: The bus fare strikes and authored a series of bulletins announcing its intent to murder government opponents. A parallel operation targeting common criminals began at roughly the same time the ESA began its operations. The killings of common "criminals" by the security services were subsequently blamed on a death squad called the "Escuadron de la Muerte" (EM). This new wave of mass killings benefited from

9035-428: The capital for unspecified purposes. Treasury Police and National Police confidenciales could also be contracted either through provincial army commanders or by direct contact with provincial commanders of the police services. The confidenciales assembled in the capital using this system were often used in covert operations involving the use of "death squads". The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has stated that

9174-404: The commander of the Mobile Military Police (PMA) and later chief of the National Police. In July 1970, Colonel Carlos Arana Osorio was inaugurated as president of the republic. Arana, backed by the army, represented an alliance of the MLN – the originators of the MANO death squad – and the Institutional Democratic Party (MLN-PID). Arana was the first of a string of military rulers allied with

9313-413: The country's economy, the Indigenous people's political participation is not equitably reflected. While government-URNG peace talks took place across the world, the Guatemalan government weakened. After years and years of fighting for justice, the parties returned to peace talks facilitated by the United Nations in 1993, which were ultimately successful. The Commission for Historical Clarification, which

9452-410: The countryside increased after 1979 when conservative elders in the Ixil triangle began requesting the Army's support in eliminating communists. Disappearances and killings of peasants in the Ixil region increased in scale during this period. In 1981, General Benedicto Lucas Garcia (the president's brother) became Chief of Staff of the Guatemalan Army and implemented a new counterinsurgency campaign with

9591-431: The countryside most "disappearances" and killings were carried out by uniformed army patrols and by locally known PMA or military commissioners, while in the cities the abductions and "disappearances" were usually carried out by heavily armed men in plainclothes, operating out of army and police installations. The army and police denied responsibility, pointing the finger at right wing paramilitary death squads autonomous from

9730-456: The county seat under military control. Some families obeyed; others took refuge in the mountains. K'iche' who took refuge in the mountains were identified by the Army with the guerrillas and underwent a military siege, and continuous attacks that prevented them from getting food, shelter and medical care. Sources with the human rights office of the Catholic Church estimated the death toll from government repression in 1981 at over 11,000, with most of

9869-419: The date after the assassination of Arenas – a contingent of uniformed army paratroopers arrived in UH-1H helicopters in the marketplace of Ixcán Grande. There they seized 30 men who were members of the Xalbal cooperative and took them away in helicopters; all were subsequently "disappeared". The killings and disappearances were accompanied by a disturbing mimeographed letter sent to Guatemala City cooperatives at

10008-479: The death squads in the city were disposed of in San Juan Comalapa , Chimaltenango Department , which became notorious as a dumping ground for cadavers. In March 1980 the cadavers of student activist Liliana Negreros and some three dozen others were found in a ravine on the outskirts of Comalapa. Most had been killed with a garrote or shot in the back of the head and showed signs of torture. The U.S. embassy called

10147-723: The death toll at 15,000 in Zacapa during the Mendez period. As a result, Colonel Arana Osorio subsequently earned the nickname "The Butcher of Zacapa" for his brutality. Many high-ranking veterans of the terror campaign – who became known as the "Zacapa Group" – went on to hold positions of great power in subsequent military regime. Among those involved in the Zacapa program were four future Guatemalan presidents – Col. Arana Osorio (1970–1974), Gen. Kjell Eugenio Laugerrud Garcia (1974–1978), Gen. Romeo Lucas Garcia (1978–1982) and Gen. Oscar Humberto Mejia Victores (1983–1986). Arana's garrison intelligence chief – Col. German Chupina Barahona – went on to become

10286-626: The democratically elected Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz and marked the end of the Guatemalan Revolution . The coup had the goal of stopping and reverting the increasingly progressive policies of the democratically-elected Guatemalan government, which clashed with the business interests of US companies amidst the Cold War, notably the United Fruit Company (now Chiquita). It installed the military dictatorship of Carlos Castillo Armas ,

10425-555: The discovery "ominous" and suggested that the extreme right was responsible. CIA sources indicated that "Highest levels of the Guatemala government through the National Police hierarchy are fully aware of the background of the burial site. .[It] was a place where the National Police Detective Corps disposed of its victims after interrogations." A new agency known as the Presidential General Staff (known by

10564-566: The earlier campaign in Zacapa, bodies were found floating in rivers. Each day, mutilated, unidentified corpses were displayed in the amphitheater of the General Hospital of Guatemala City for relatives of missing persons to identify. Victims included Arana's critics in the media, members of left-wing political movements, labor unionists and student activists. As in the earlier repression, security agents carried out mass disappearances of entire groups of persons. In one instance on 26 September 1972,

10703-421: The eastern regions left the insurgency without a strong civilian support base and reduced the insurgents capacity to organize and maintain any formidable guerrilla forces. However, popular discontent with human rights violations and social inequality in Guatemala persisted. The insurgency did not remain dormant for long, and a new guerrilla organization calling itself the Guerrilla Army of the Poor (E.G.P.) entered

10842-513: The economic interests of the Izabal Mining Operations Company (EXMIBAL) and Transmetales. In 1978, a military patrol was stationed a few kilometers from the county seat of Panzós, in a place which was known as "K’inich". At that time, the organizational capacity of the peasants was increased by committees which claimed titles to their land, a phenomenon that worried the landlords. Some of these landlords requested protection from

10981-447: The facts of the case, the plaintiffs, the evidence and witnesses the applicant plans to present at trial, and the claims for redress and costs. If the application is ruled admissible by the Court's secretary, notice thereof is served on the judges, the state or the commission (depending on who lodged the application), the victims or their next-of-kin, the other member states, and OAS headquarters. For 30 days following notification, any of

11120-447: The family of one of the victims. It also required Peru: While the Court's decisions admit no appeal, parties can lodge requests for interpretation with the Court secretary within 90 days of judgment being issued. When possible, requests for interpretation are heard by the same panel of judges that ruled on the merits. The Court's advisory function enables it to respond to consultations submitted by OAS agencies and member states regarding

11259-513: The farmers, informing them that they were members of the Guerrilla Army of the Poor and had killed the "Ixcán Tiger" due to his alleged multiple crimes against community members. The attackers then fled towards Chajul , while José Luis Arenas' son, who was in San Luis Ixcán at the time, took refuge in a nearby mountain and awaited the arrival of a plane to take him directly to Guatemala City to

11398-400: The first "civil patrols" of the decade, a feat which was illegal under the Guatemalan constitution at the time. In a matter of months, the army implemented this system on a widespread basis on the countryside. In creating these militias, Gen. Benedicto Lucas effectively created a structure which superseded local government and was directly subservient to white ladino military authority. Under

11537-658: The first half of the 1980s. The military carried out 626 massacres against the Maya during the conflict and acknowledged destroying 440 Mayan villages between 1981 and 1983. In some municipalities, at least one-third of the villages were evacuated or destroyed. A March 1985 study by the Juvenile Division of the Supreme Court estimated that over 200,000 children had lost at least one parent in the war, and that between 45,000 and 60,000 adult Guatemalans were killed between 1980 and 1985. Children were often targets of mass killings by

11676-592: The first in a series of U.S.-backed authoritarian rulers in Guatemala. The coup was largely the result of a CIA covert operation code-named PBSuccess . Guatemalan intelligence was directed and executed mainly by two bodies: One, the Intelligence Section of the Army, subsequently called Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the National Defense and generally known as "G-2" or S-2 . The other,

11815-485: The forced disappearance of her teenage brother. In the remote Guatemalan highlands, where the military classified those most isolated as being more accessible to the guerrillas, it identified many villages and communities as "red" and targeted them for annihilation. This was especially true in El Quiché , where the army had a well-documented belief from the Benedicto Lucas period that the entire indigenous population of

11954-456: The forests of Ixcán to the north of Quiché Department from southern Mexico in January 1972, the same year in which Col. Arana announced the end of the 'state of siege'. Unbeknownst to the Guatemalan intelligence services, the EGP embedded itself among the Indigenous campesinos and operated clandestinely for three years, holding its first conference in 1974. The EGP carried out its first action with

12093-571: The future, and other forms of non-monetary compensation. For example, in its November 2001 judgment in the Barrios Altos case – dealing with the massacre in Lima , Peru , of 15 people at the hands of the state-sponsored Colina Group death squad in November 1991 – the Court ordered payments of US$ 175,000 for the four survivors and for the next-of-kin of the murdered victims and a payment of $ 250,000 for

12232-489: The genocide. The use of terror by the military and police forces in Guatemala emerged in the mid-1960s when the military government began to use "disappearances" as a tactic to dismantle the infrastructure of the PGT and MR-13 guerrillas. On 3 and 5 March 1966, the G-2 and the Judicial Police raided three houses in Guatemala City, capturing twenty-eight trade unionists and members of the PGT. Those captured included most of

12371-467: The governor of Alta Verapaz, including Flavio Monzón, who stated: "Several peasants living in the villages and settlements want to burn urban populations to gain access to private property." On 29 May 1978, peasants from Cahaboncito, Semococh, Rubetzul, Canguachá, Sepacay villages, finca Moyagua and neighborhood La Soledad, decided to hold a public demonstration in the Plaza de Panzós to insist on their claims to

12510-524: The guise of social cleansing groups such as the "Avenging Vulture". Amnesty International mentioned Guatemala as one of several countries under a human rights state of emergency, while citing "the high incidence of disappearances of Guatemalan citizens" as a major and continuing problem in its 1972–1973 annual report. Overall, as many as 42,000 Guatemalan civilians were killed or "disappeared" between 1966 and 1973. The repression in Guatemala City and in

12649-473: The hamlet of La Palma near Rio Hondo, Zacapa, where hundreds of persons suspected of belonging to the FAR were tortured and executed under G-2 bureau chief Hernán Ovidio Morales Páiz in 1966 and 1967. Government forces often dumped the bodies of victims publicly to foment terror; the press regularly contained reports of unrecognizable corpses found floating in the Motagua River, mutilated by torture. Fishermen in

12788-568: The help of the US MilGroup and advisors from Israel and Argentina. Counting on renewed shipments of military supplies from the U.S. (including helicopters and military vehicles), and an aggressive policy of forced conscription, the Army was able to mobilize troops for a large scale sweep operation through the indigenous Altiplano. The sweep operation began on the Pacific coast in August 1981 and advanced into

12927-494: The highest moral judgement who have a high competency in human rights law. These judges are elected to six-year terms by the OAS General Assembly ; each judge may be reelected for an additional six-year term. Recent policy changes state, when serving on the court, judges are expected to act as individuals, not representing their state. They must be OAS member states' nationals; however, they do not need to be individuals of

13066-464: The highlands in subsequent months. At the time, the National Institute of Cooperatives (INACOOP) declared 250 rural cooperatives illegal in Guatemala, due to alleged ties with Marxist subversion. Subsequently, the army used the official membership lists of these cooperatives to ferret out those they believed to be communist sympathizers and many cooperative members within the indigenous community in

13205-421: The highlands were assassinated by army death squads or "disappeared" after being taken into custody. On 1 October 1981, a new "task-force" known as 'Iximche' was deployed on counterinsurgency sweep through Chimaltenango, eventually moving into El Quiché and part of Sololá later in the year. In Rabinal, Baja Verapaz on 20 October 1981, the military seized and armed 1,000 Indigenous men and organized them into one of

13344-453: The impending creation of the "White Hand" or "the hand the will eradicate National Renegades and traitors to the fatherland." In August 1966, MANO leaflets were distributed over Guatemala City by way of light aircraft openly landing in the Air Force section of La Aurora airbase. Their main message was that all patriotic citizens must fully support the army's counterinsurgency initiative and that

13483-498: The indigenous highlands, as many murders of people went unreported. In 1978, the repression against the Indigenous farming cooperatives began to spread from the department of Quiche into other areas which comprise the Northern Transversal Strip (FTN). In Panzos, Alta Verapaz natives began to be subjected to human rights abuses which accompanied their eviction from their land by farmers and local authorities who supported

13622-547: The intelligence services in Guatemala have been responsible for multiple human rights violations. The Truth Commission writes that their activity included the "use of illegal detention centers or 'clandestine prisons', which existed in nearly all Army facilities, in many police installations and even in homes and on other private premises. In these places, victims were not only deprived of their liberty arbitrarily, but they were almost always subjected to interrogation, accompanied by torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment . In

13761-658: The intelligence unit called Presidential Security Department, also known as "Archivo" or AGSAEMP (Archives and Support Services of the Presidential General Staff). Archivo was formed with money and support from US advisers under President Enrique Peralta Azurdia , during which time it was known as the Presidential Intelligence Agency . A telecommunications database known as the Regional Telecommunications Center or La Regional

13900-740: The interpretation of the convention or other instruments governing human rights in the Americas; it also empowers it to give advice on domestic laws and proposed legislation, and to clarify whether or not they are compatible with the convention's provisions. This advisory jurisdiction is available to all OAS member states, not only those that have ratified the convention and accepted the Court's adjudicatory function. The Court's replies to these consultations are published separately from its contentious judgments, as advisory opinions . The American Convention on Human Rights entered into force in 1978. All Latin American countries but Cuba are members, as are Suriname and

14039-401: The judiciary, church leaders and members of centrist and left-leaning political parties. The deaths of these people, labeled as "subversives" by the government, were largely attributed to a new vigilante organization calling itself the "Secret Anticommunist Army" (ESA), a group linked to the offices of Col. Germán Chupina. The ESA had announced its existence on 18 October 1978 in the aftermath of

14178-401: The land and express their discontent which was caused by the arbitrary actions of the landowners and the civil and military authorities. Hundreds of indigenous men, women and children went to the square of the municipal seat of Panzós, carrying their tools, machetes and sticks. One of the people who participated in the demonstration states: "The idea was not to fight with anyone, what was required

14317-430: The leadership of Benedicto Lucas Garcia, what had begun as a campaign of selective repression targeting specific sectors of Guatemalan society began to metamorphose into a policy of extermination. Wholesale massacres of Mayan communities became commonplace, in what was perceived at the time as a marked change in strategy. In some communities of the region's military forced all residents to leave their homes and concentrate in

14456-774: The main "counterinsurgency coordinator". In addition, the Army General Staff and the Ministry of Defense took control of the Presidential Intelligence Agency – which controlled the La Regional annex – and renamed it the Guatemalan National Security Service (Servicio de Seguridad Nacional de Guatemala – SSNG). In the city and in the countryside, persons suspected of leftist sympathies began to disappear or turn up dead at an unprecedented rate. In

14595-457: The majority of cases, the detainees disappeared or were executed." The CEH stated that at no time during the internal armed confrontation did the guerrilla groups have the military potential necessary to pose an imminent threat to the State. The number of insurgent combatants was too small to be able to compete in the military arena with the Army, which had more troops and superior weaponry, as well as better training and co-ordination. The State and

14734-514: The municipality of Gualan reportedly stopped fishing the Motagua on account of the large number of mutilated bodies found in nets. Estimates of the number of victims of the army-led counter-terror in the east run in the thousands to tens of thousands. In a 1976 report, Amnesty International cited estimates that 3,000 to 8,000 peasants were killed by the army and paramilitary organizations in Zacapa between October 1966 and March 1968. Other estimates put

14873-665: The new EGP felt that it had not sufficiently taken into account the racial discrimination experienced by the Indigenous Mayan people in Guatemala, and that this had limited their support. The EGP drew inspiration from the success of the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese army in resisting U.S. forces in the Vietnam War . They saw parallels between Guatemala and Vietnam, in that both countries were largely agrarian, and they both saw

15012-415: The number of years of experience ranges from 10 to 15 years and only Paraguay requires candidates to have a PhD. Some of the latest criticisms come from Peru and Venezuela. Venezuela subsequently withdrew from the system after President Hugo Chávez declared the court's decision to rule Venezuela guilty of holding a prisoner in inhumane jail conditions as invalid. Up to then, Trinidad and Tobago had been

15151-417: The only death squad formed autonomously from the government – had a largely military membership, and received substantial funding from wealthy landowners. The MANO also received information from military intelligence through La Regional , with which it was linked to the Army General Staff and all of the main security forces. The first leaflets by the MANO appeared on 3 June 1966 in Guatemala City , announcing

15290-416: The parties in the case may submit a brief containing preliminary objections to the application. If it deems necessary, the Court can convene a hearing to deal with the preliminary objections. Otherwise, in the interests of procedural economy , it can deal with the parties' preliminary objections and the merits of the case at the same hearing. Within 60 days following notification, the respondent must supply

15429-433: The peasants, committing rapes and massacres while disguised as guerrillas. One example is the massacre of up to 300 civilians by government soldiers in the village of Las Dos Erres on 7 December 1982. The abuses included "burying some alive in the village well, killing infants by slamming their heads against walls, keeping young women alive to be raped over the course of three days. This was not an isolated incident. Rather it

15568-407: The presence of five judges. During the oral phase, the judges may ask any question they see fit of any of the persons appearing before them. Witnesses, expert witnesses, and other persons admitted to the proceedings may, at the president's discretion, be questioned by the representatives of the commission or the state, or by the victims, their next-of-kin, or their agents, as applicable. The president

15707-434: The presidential palace. There he immediately reported the matter to Minister of Defense, General Fernando Romeo Lucas García . Romeo Lucas replied, "You are mistaken, there are no guerrillas in the area". Despite the denial of Gen. Romeo Lucas, the government retaliated with a wave of repression against those it believed to comprise the civilian support mechanisms of the EGP. The government traditionally viewed cooperatives as

15846-504: The regions of Quiché , Chimaltenango , Huehuetenango , and Verapaces, in the Guatemalan highlands. These supporters included students, poor Ladinos, and a large number of Indigenous people. In early 1980, a strike led by the CUC forced the Guatemalan government to raise minimum wages by 200 percent. In response, the government intensified its persecution of its critics, culminating in the Burning of

15985-418: The same time in Guatemala City, the situation of abductions and disappearances at the hands of the judiciales worsened after Col. German Chupina Barahona was appointed as the chief of the National Police. Chupina openly spoke of the need to "exterminate" leftists. On 4 August 1978, high school and university students, along with other popular movement sectors, organized the mass movement's first urban protest of

16124-423: The same time in the name of the MANO death squad of the ruling MLN party: "We know of your PROCOMMUNIST attitude...We know by experience that all labor organizations and cooperatives always fall into the power of Communist Leaders infiltrated into them. We have the organization and the force to prevent this from happening again... There are THIRTY THOUSAND CLANDESTINE PEASANT GRAVES TO BEAR WITNESS...." The case of

16263-556: The security forces were found dead or "disappeared" between 1970 and 1973. The few survivors of political detention by the security forces described tortures such as suffocation with a rubber "hood" filled with insecticide. Many killings were attributed to groups such as the 'Ojo por Ojo' ( Eye for an Eye ), described in a US State Department intelligence cable as "a largely military membership with some civilian cooperation". Aside from targeting persons labeled as subversives and political foes, security forces also targeted common criminals under

16402-467: The seizure of vast tracts of productive land and a number of key state institutions. An organization the EGP used to mobilize supporters was the Committee for Peasant Unity (Spanish: Comité de Unidad Campesina, CUC). This group was launched on 15 April 1978, and was described by its founder Pablo Ceto as a convergence of the leftist insurgency, and the Indigenous People's movement. Though it had close ties to

16541-416: The soldiers. The mayor at the time, Walter Overdick, said that "people of the middle of the group pushed those who were in front. A witness says that one protester grabbed the gun from a soldier but did not use it and several people say that a military voice yelled: "One, two, three! Fire!" The shooting lasted five minutes, and it came from regulation firearms which were carried by the military as well as from

16680-409: The spot or "disappeared" after being taken to secret detention sites. In villages which the military identified as supportive of the FAR, the Army would publicly execute peasant leaders, threatening to execute more if the villagers did not collaborate with the authorities Among the numerous clandestine sites used by the army for incommunicado detention and torture of suspects, was the army headquarters in

16819-651: The thirty men seized on 7 July, as well as seven other cases of "disappearances" among the same cooperative were named in a sworn statement to General Kjell Laugerud in November 1975. The Ministry of the Interior responded by denying that the "disappeared" persons had been taken by the government. A total of 60 cooperative leaders were confirmed as having been murdered or "disappeared" in Ixcan between June and December 1975. An additional 163 cooperative and village leaders were assassinated by death squads between 1976 and 1978. Believing that

16958-421: The three machine guns which were located on the banks of the square. Between 30 and 106 local inhabitants (figures vary) were killed by the army. Several peasants with machetes wounded several soldiers. No soldier was wounded by gunfire. The square was covered with blood. Immediately, the army closed the main access roads, despite reports that "the indigenous population felt terrified”. An army helicopter flew over

17097-452: The time would occur in Guatemala, the government of General Romeo Lucas Garcia began a large-scale covert program of selective assassination, overseen primarily by Interior Minister Donaldo Alvarez Ruiz and National Police chief Col. German Chupina Barahona, who together controlled all of the military and paramilitary security services. Targets included peasants, trade unionists, cooperative members, student activists, university staff, members of

17236-592: The town before picking up wounded soldiers. After the massacre at Panzós, repression against the indigenous population became increasingly ruthless and a pattern of systematic killings and acts of genocide began to emerge. Several lesser known mass killings occurred during the same time period. On 8 September 1978 the Mobile Military Police of Monteros, Esquipulas, acting on orders from local landowners César Lemus and Domingo Interiano, abducted eight campesinos from Olopa , Chiquimula Department . On 26 September,

17375-412: The units involved have been instructed to destroy all towns and villages which are cooperating with the EGP and eliminate all sources of resistance" Civilian patrols formed by the army perpetrated further human rights abuses, such that when Guerrillas were offered an amnesty by the government in 1983, the EGP asked its local supporters to accept it. The ability of the army to suppress the local support of

17514-408: The victims indigenous peasants of the Guatemalan highlands. In 2018, Benedicto Lucas Garcia and three others would be successfully convicted for the 1981 torture and rape of 19-year-old Emma Guadalupe Molina Theissen. Benedicto Lucas Garcia and the other three men captured Theissen at a roadblock and then exploited her detention as political propaganda during this time. They were also found guilty of

17653-475: The victims were Maya and 17% Ladino . 91% of victims were killed in 1978 through 1984, 81% in 1981 through 1983, with 48% of deaths occurring in 1982 alone. In its final report in 1999, the CEH concluded that a genocide had taken place at the hands of the Armed Forces of Guatemala , and that US training of the officer corps in counterinsurgency techniques "had a significant bearing on human rights violations during

17792-560: The violence; in El Quiché province alone these children numbered 24,000. In many cases, the Guatemalan military specifically targeted children and the elderly. Soldiers were reported to have killed children in front of their parents by smashing their heads against trees and rocks. Amnesty International documented that the rate of rape of civilian women by the military increased during this period. Soldiers at times raped pregnant women. The Guatemalan military also employed pseudo-operations against

17931-466: The world. The URNG started as a guerrilla movement and was founded on February 7, 1982 and became a legal political party in 1998 after the Peace Process which ended the Guatemalan Civil War . The primary function of the URNG was to support the leftist beliefs of the Guatemalan civilians and to negotiate peace with the Guatemalan government. The Guatemalan insurgents of the 1980s traced their roots to

18070-525: Was a group that was created to clarify human rights violations related to the thirty-six year internal conflict from 1960 to the United Nation's brokered peace agreement of 1996, was established on June 23, 1994, as a part of a peace agreement between the Guatemalan government and the URNG . At the end of 1996, the Government of President Alvaro Arzu Irigoyen, together with the URNG , with the participation of

18209-399: Was accompanied by a series of house to house searches by the police, which reportedly led to 1,600 detentions in the capital in the first fifteen days of the "State of Siege." High government sources were cited at the time by foreign journalists as acknowledging 700 executions by security forces or paramilitary death squads in the first two months of the "State of Siege". This is corroborated by

18348-485: Was appointed commander of the "Zacapa-Izabal Military Zone" and took charge of the counter-terror program with guidance and training from 1,000 US Green Berets . Under Colonel Arana's jurisdiction, military strategists armed and fielded various paramilitary death squads to supplement regular army and police units in clandestine terror operations against the FAR's civilian support base. Personnel, weapons, funds and operational instructions were supplied to these organizations by

18487-594: Was integrated into this agency and served as a vital part of the Guatemalan intelligence network. La Regional provided a link between the Presidential Intelligence Agency and all of the main security bodies, including the National Police, the Treasury Guard, the Judicial Police, by way of a VHF-FM intercity frequency. La Regional was also used as a depository for records and intelligence gathered on suspected "subversives", which would have included leftists, trade unionists, student activists, clergy, etc. This intelligence

18626-523: Was lifted for a period, relatives of "the 28" and of others who had "disappeared" in the Zacapa-Izabal military zone went to the press or to the Association of University Students (AEU). Using its legal department, the AEU subsequently pressed for habeas corpus on behalf of the "disappeared" persons. The government denied any involvement in the killings and disappearances. On 16 July 1966, the AEU published

18765-480: Was one of over 400 massacres documented by the truth commission – some of which, according to the commission, constituted 'acts of genocide. ' " Guerrilla Army of the Poor The Guerrilla Army Of The Poor ( Spanish : Ejército Guerrillero de los Pobres , EGP) was a Guatemalan leftist guerrilla movement, which commanded significant support among indigenous Maya people during

18904-470: Was related to this. This intensification of the EGP's activities led to the Guatemalan army establishing a presence in the area, and using kidnappings and torture to intimidate the population. A declassified CIA document from late February 1982 states that in mid-February 1982 the Guatemalan army had reinforced its existing forces and launched a "sweep operation in the Ixil Triangle. The commanding officers of

19043-436: Was the clarification of the status of the land. People came from various places and they had guns." There are different versions of the account on how the shooting began: some say it began when "Mama Maquín"—an important peasant leader—pushed a soldier who was in her way; others say that it started because people who were trying to get into the municipality kept pushing each other, which was interpreted as an act of aggression by

19182-569: Was used to draw up lists of persons to be assassinated. Orders to carry out assassinations and "disappearances" were passed down the hierarchy to lower level security forces such as the Judicial Police (later renamed as the Detective Corps of the National Police and the DIT) or the Treasury Guard, whose agents – known as confidenciales – could be called from provincial army garrisons to be sent to

19321-522: Was withdrawing its acceptance of the Court's jurisdiction . This decision was reversed by the transitional government of Valentín Paniagua in 2001. Venezuela withdrew from the convention in 2013 under the Nicolás Maduro government. On 15 May 2019, the National Assembly (opposition Guaidó government) nullified the withdrawal. The Dominican Republic stated in 2014 that it was withdrawing from

#215784