Amnesty International announced On Saturday, Guatemala’s judiciary dropped criminal proceedings against four indigenous leaders accused of their role in nationwide protests in Guatemala in October 2023 National strikeand hailed it as a victory for the right to freedom of assembly. The group, which has been campaigning on behalf of the men since their arrest, welcomed the decision.
Astrid Valencia, deputy research director for the Americas at Amnesty International, praised the court’s decision, saying: “Luis Pacheco and Héctor Chaclán should never have been detained. This decision is a first step towards ending the arbitrary measures against them.”
Luis Pacheco, Héctor Chaclán, Basilio Puac and Esteban Toc were charged with unlawful association, terrorism, obstruction of justice, sedition and obstruction of prosecution. Pacheco, Chaclán and Puac are the ancestral authorities of the 48 cantons of Totonicapanand Toc was a leader of the Sololá indigenous community. The allegations against her arose from her participation in protests that indigenous authorities staged across Guatemala in October 2023 to defend the results of that year’s presidential election against prosecutors’ efforts to challenge the transfer of power to current President Bernardo Arévalo.
Pacheco and Chaclán, at the time of their arrest served As president and treasurer of the Maya K’iche’ Council of Community were mayors of the 48 cantons arrested on April 23, 2025 and held in custody for more than 15 months. The charges collectively carried prison sentences of over 30 years.
Amnesty International described the couple as prisoners of conscience in May 2026. Both men were later placed under house arrest, although charges were still pending. Accordingly Human Rights WatchToc, who was separately arrested in August 2025 on similar charges, was also placed under house arrest.
The procedure drew criticism from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which stated in an April 2025 report opinion that the Guatemalan government’s prosecutions targeted indigenous leaders who played a crucial role in maintaining democratic order during the 2023 crisis. The commission described the allegations as a “politically motivated abuse of criminal law” by the public prosecutor’s office.
Although the criminal proceedings against the four leaders have ended with the discontinuation of the proceedings, Amnesty International said it would continue monitoring similar cases against indigenous leaders and human rights defenders who are still pending in Guatemala’s courts. The organization cited broader concerns about the prosecution of Indigenous activists in the country.
