“We touched the monster. Now the monster is fighting back.” Anti-impunity efforts in post-genocide Guatemala

For many years, Guatemala was in the international spotlight for leading a successful campaign against impunity, focused on grand corruption and organized crime as well as serious human rights violations during one of Latin America’s bloodiest internal armed conflicts (1960-1996). Former presidents, senior military officials, and others, have been convicted in dozens of cases representing thousands of victims of the conflict. Today, after an intense backlash by economic elites, far-right politicians, and old guard military officials, anti-impunity efforts have been resoundingly defeated, even after the 2023 electoral victory of Bernardo Arévalo, who promised to restore good governance and resume the anti-impunity campaign. In this presentation, Dr. Burt will take stock of Guatemala’s pursuit of accountability for wartime atrocities and explore how survivor groups are fighting back against the restoration of impunity.