IACHR completes working visit to Guatemala to address precautionary measures and compliance with recommendations

June 13, 2025

Washington, DC—The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) conducted a working visit to Guatemala over the period June 4–6, 2025. This visit included bilateral and other meetings about precautionary measures and cases that are currently in the stage of monitoring compliance with IACHR recommendations, as well as training sessions for public officials and representatives of civil society. The IACHR delegation for this visit was led by IACHR Vice President Andrea Pochak—who is the Commission's country rapporteur for Guatemala—and also featured IACHR Executive Secretary Tania Reneaum Panszi and several members of the Commission's technical staff.

On June 4, 2025, the IACHR met with authorities of Guatemala's Presidential Commission for Peace and Human Rights (COPADEH) and of the country's Public Prosecutor's Office (PGN) and Foreign Ministry.

Also on June 4, the IACHR delegation visited Mariscal Zavala Prison, where it met with journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín (a beneficiary of precautionary measures granted by the IACHR); with Stuardo Campo (a former public prosecutor specializing in corruption cases); with Luis Pacheco (a former deputy minister for sustainable development at the Energy and Mining Ministry and former chair of the group Los 48 Cantones); and with Héctor Chaclán (a former treasurer of Los 48 Cantones).

The IACHR delegation also visited the Zona 18 pretrial detention facility, where it met with Eduardo Masaya (a member of Slate 10 in elections to the Board of Guatemala's bar association who is facing corruption charges) and with Jorge Santos (a former head of the IT department at Guatemala's Supreme Electoral Court). The IACHR has repeatedly stressed that criminal investigations against these individuals amount to a politically motivated abuse of criminal law, as the IACHR has abundantly documented in various reports and in the preliminary observations based on its on-site visit to Guatemala in 2024.

On June 5, 2025, the IACHR met with Guatemalan Vice President Karin Herrera, the country's acting president on that day, who stressed Guatemala's commitment to strengthening democracy and protecting the human rights of all individuals on Guatemalan soil.

During this visit, the IACHR held two training sessions—one on protection mechanisms within the inter-American human rights system and their implementation, and another on compliance and implementation with a gender perspective regarding IACHR recommendations aimed at fighting discrimination and violence against women and girls. These two training sessions were held in Guatemala City on June 5–6, 2025, and were attended by State officials and by representatives of civil society.

The IACHR appreciates the invitation it received from the Guatemalan government to conduct this working visit and its support in terms of logistics for IACHR delegation activities. The Commission values this opportunity for open, constructive dialogue at the highest level. The IACHR also thanks representatives of civil society organizations and beneficiaries of precautionary measures for their attendance at various meetings and for the information they shared in those meetings, which provided additional data for a country report on Guatemala that is currently being drafted.

The IACHR is an autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS) whose mandate is based on the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. Its mission is to promote and defend human rights throughout the Americas and to serve as an advisory body to the OAS in this area. The IACHR consists of seven independent members elected by the OAS General Assembly who serve in a personal capacity and do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 120/25

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