Guatemalan judge clears deputy minister, three leaders of terrorism charges

A Guatemalan judge has ordered the dismissal of terrorism and related charges against Deputy Minister Luis Pacheco and three former Indigenous authorities who led protests in October 2023. The Third Criminal Court judge Mynor Moto granted the request after prosecutors completed a review and concluded the demonstrations did not amount to criminal conduct.

The four defendants included Pacheco, who now serves at the Ministry of Energy and Mines and previously headed the 48 Cantones of Totonicapán, along with Hector Chaclan, Basilio Puac and Esteban Toc. Prosecutors had accused them of illicit association, terrorism and obstructing justice; Puac and Toc additionally faced sedition charges connected to the protests, which sought the resignation of then-attorney general Consuelo Porras amid accusations she tried to block Bernardo Arévalo’s inauguration.

Pacheco had been suspended from his government post while the case proceeded; the ministry said it welcomed the ruling and anticipated his prompt return to work. The United Nations human rights office said the decision reinforces freedoms of expression and assembly, recognizes lawful forms of Indigenous organizing, and fits into a documented pattern of criminalizing Indigenous leaders in Guatemala.

Observers link the dismissal to the unraveling of prosecutions built under Porras, who was sanctioned by the United States, the European Union, Canada and other governments over allegations of corruption and political persecution. President Arévalo, who assumed office after months of legal challenges from Porras’s office, has prioritized revisiting cases seen as arbitrarily initiated and appointed a new attorney general charged with reviewing such matters.