- New report examines patterns of criminal prosecution against Indigenous communities by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP).
- Findings are presented in the context of the selection of the next Attorney General, opening a debate on the need to reform criminal policy and the MP’s response to agrarian conflicts.
The Due Process of Law Foundation (DPLF), the Institute for Comparative Studies in Criminal and Social Sciences (INECIP), the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice, Protection International Mesoamerica, the Bufete para Pueblos Indígenas, and Prensa Comunitaria today presented the report “Eviction and Criminalization of Indigenous Peoples in Guatemala: The Role of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.” The report analyzes how the co-optation of the justice system by private interest groups has affected the management of agrarian conflicts in Guatemala.
The report documents patterns of arbitrary prosecution against Indigenous communities and their leaders, particularly through the use of criminal offenses such as usurpation and aggravated usurpation. These charges have been used to promote judicial evictions against communities that have historically possessed their lands or that claim collective ownership rights over them.
“The co-optation of the justice system by corruption networks has enabled criminalization and summary evictions that reproduce historical patterns of territorial dispossession in Guatemala. The intervention of the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the request of agricultural companies and large landowners is the main driver of the displacement of Indigenous and rural communities in the country,” said Daniel Cerqueira, Program Director at DPLF.
The research highlights a series of legal and institutional barriers to the titling of Indigenous territories, leaving communities highly vulnerable to abuses committed by the MP. Several of the evictions examined were carried out violently, without proper notification and without adequate scrutiny of the validity of the private property titles used to support criminal complaints for usurpation.
Cuitlahuac Castillo, Institutional Integrity Advisor at the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice, noted that the report “reveals troubling patterns in the actions of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, where criminal proceedings for usurpation and judicial evictions are used repeatedly without adequate due process guarantees or respect for international standards on Indigenous territorial rights.”
Victoria Llorente, Deputy Executive Director of INECIP, added that “the systematic criminalization of Indigenous communities reflects the most critical expression of a Public Prosecutor’s Office that has replaced conflict management with improper interests. The election of a new Attorney General therefore represents an opportunity to replace arbitrariness with strategic prosecution—one that focuses on criminal phenomena, combats impunity, and restores legitimacy through effective protection of victims.”
The report was presented during the discussion event “The Next Attorney General and Territorial Conflict in Guatemala,” where national and international experts reflected on the challenges surrounding the selection process for the next Attorney General. Participants also highlighted priorities that candidates should adopt to address the abuses identified in the report.
The organizations hope the report will contribute to the public debate on the role of the MP in cases related to agrarian conflict and encourage legislative and criminal policy reforms consistent with human rights and the rule of law.
The report is available for download here.
Press contact:
Karen Arita, DPLF: karita@dplf.org | (+504) 3373-5772
Natalie Southwick, Vance Center: NSouthwick@nycbar.org
Laura Pérez Portela, INECIP: prensa@inecip.org
