The dismissal of the complaint was announced a few days before the official visit to Guatemala of United Nations Working Group on Forced or Involuntary Disappearances (UN), programmed from June 23 to July 3.
During a summons in Congress this Monday, June 15, the Attorney General’s Office (PGN) reported that it received a resolution from the Public Ministry (MP) through which the investigation related to the alleged illegal adoptions linked to the Home Elisa Martínez and that they reach the former attorney general María Consuelo Porras Argueta.
“Later, approximately three days later, we received a resolution through which we were notified of the dismissal of the investigation, of the complaint practically,” explained Liliana Guzmán, Coordinator of the Criminal Area of the Deputy Attorney General’s Office for Children and Adolescence of the PGN.
According to the official, the prosecution argued that a previous resolution of the Supreme Court of Justice that rejected a request to withdraw immunity against the attorney general, Consuelo Porras, prevented continuing with the investigations. “They considered that as a result of the fact that the complaint had been declared without merit, there was no matter for further investigation and therefore the complaint was dismissed,” he indicated.
PGN challenges resolution
According to the PGN, the resolution that rejected the complaint was promoted by the Prosecutor’s Office against Justice Operators. During the summons it was indicated that the request was signed by prosecutor José Raúl Hernández Rivera and endorsed by prosecutor Leonor Eugenia Morales.
The PGN expressed its disagreement with that decision and confirmed that it filed a judicial opposition. “We were very surprised that they resolved us in this way,” said Ferreira, who added that the complaints promoted by the institution were raised “in a general way” and not against a specific person.
Lucrecia Prera, Deputy Attorney General of the PGN, pointed out that the institution is seeking a judge to review the decision to archive the proceedings and determine if there are elements for the investigation to continue. “We have already presented the opposition before the corresponding court and we are waiting for the corresponding hearing to be scheduled,” he stated.
Deputy José Chic questioned the resolution and assured that there are sufficient elements to deepen the investigations. “There is an entire historical criminal structure here that was operating at that time,” he stated during the meeting.
Chic also criticized the decision to file the case. “Leonor Morales wants to leave the boss unpunished, because that’s how it is,” he declared. Furthermore, he maintained that “the case of illegal adoptions involves a series of crimes committed against Guatemalan families that cannot go unpunished.”
This medium requested a reaction from the Public Ministry regarding the decision to dismiss the complaint; However, at the closing of the note no response was obtained.
UN visit
In the same summons, Claudia Ordóñez, representative of the Presidential Commission for Peace and Human Rights (Copadeh), recalled that the visit of the international mechanism will be done in the next few days. “From June 23 to July 3 we have the visit of the Working Group precisely on forced or involuntary disappearance, which was precisely the special procedure that sent us to the State of Guatemala to begin this investigation,” he said.
In accordance with the official call, the Working Group seeks to collect first-hand information on forced disappearances in Guatemala, evaluate progress in truth, justice, reparation and memory, as well as identify the obstacles that persist to the clarification of these cases.
The Elisa Martínez case
The case gained international relevance after experts from the UN Group expressed concern about possible irregular international adoptions occurred during the 1980s, in the context of the internal armed conflict.
According to reports sent to the State of Guatemala, several indigenous children were victims of kidnapping or forced disappearance before being handed over for adoption to families abroad through allegedly irregular processes.
The complaints also made reference to the Elisa Martínez Temporary Home, an institution that operated for several years as a care center for minors. In this context, questions arose about the participation of officials and operators who were related to the adoption processes of the time. Among them is Attorney General Consuelo Porras, who worked at said institution during the 1980s, according to records mentioned by authorities during legislative subpoenas.
During the legislative summons, the Secretary of Social Welfare reported that in the institution’s archives there are records of 1 thousand 8 files related to the Elisa Martínez Home between 1968 and 1997of which approximately 860 concluded in adoption processes.
Likewise, he confirmed that the Public Ministry has requested documentation related to adoption files, records of domestic workers, information on guardians, notaries and labor records of people linked to the institution.
Read also: IACHR Court condemns Guatemala for facilitating a network of illegal adoptions
Chic maintained that investigations must be deepened to establish the origin of the minors who were given up for adoption during that period. “Those 860 minors did not arrive at Elisa Martínez by the work and art of the Holy Spirit. They arrived because someone took them,” he stated.
The legislator also pointed out that the future UN visit represents an opportunity to advance in clarifying the facts. At the conclusion of the mission, the experts will present preliminary observations on their findings and will subsequently prepare a report that will be sent to the UN Human Rights Council.