Call to human rights organizations, social movements and academic institutions to publicize the #CasoDiarioMilitar (Guatemala)

The “Military Diary” is a document from the Guatemalan Armed Forces that records 183 people who were victims of enforced disappearance. Most are listed as having been executed. It was compiled during the dictatorship of Óscar Mejía Víctores (1983-1985), a period in which enforced disappearance as a form of political repression was systematic in Guatemala, and the most committed intelligence experts were trained by Argentinians.

On May 27, after a very long struggle by relatives of victims and human rights organizations, the Human Rights Prosecutor's Office of the Public Ministry of Guatemala arrested 11 people accused of forced disappearances, torture, rapes and murders recorded in that document "Military Diary".

After 37 years, if the State of Guatemala complies with the instructions of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling, commits to investigating the case and combating impunity, ensuring the safety of those involved and upholding the rule of law, a process will begin that will bring truth and justice not only to the direct victims of the atrocities committed and to the people of Guatemala, but also to the Latin American community that, through action or omission, endorsed and fostered these abhorrent crimes.

From the CLACSO Working Group on Anti-Imperialism: Transnational Perspectives in the Global South, we call upon Latin American human rights organizations, social movements, and academic institutions to assist in disseminating this information internationally through their social media networks. The preliminary hearing in the #DiarioMilitarCase comes amidst a series of political arrests, including the imprisonment of anti-extractive activist Bernardo Caal. We urge the Guatemalan State to punish human rights violators and guarantee due process for those subjected to lawfare.

From different parts of the subcontinent, we stand in solidarity with the families, the human rights prosecutor's office, and the judges who will carry out the trial, and we say: In Latin America, Never Again!

3 June, 2021
CLACSO Working Group
Anti-imperialism: transnational perspectives in the global south

This statement expresses the position of the Working Group on Anti-imperialism: transnational perspectives in the global south and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.