“The European Union is deeply concerned about detention on April 23, 2025 of two former leaders of the indigenous authority ’48 Cantones of Totonicapán ‘, including Deputy Minister Luis Pacheco, as well as the issuance of additional detention orders,” said the spokeswoman for the head of community diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, in a statement.
He recalled that the community club has previously expressed his “deep concern for the instrumentalization of the judicial system and the misuse of legal and procedural measures against elected officials, human rights defenders, journalists, indigenous leaders and judicial operators.”
He added that the EU asks the Judiciary and the MP (Prosecutor’s Office) of Guatemala to “defend the rule of law and the right of peaceful meeting, respect due process and guarantee the security and integrity of the arrested.”
“In that context, the EU has already imposed specific restrictive measures (sanctions) against five individuals responsible for actions that undermine democracy, the rule of law and the peaceful transfer of power in Guatemala,” he said.
He also said that the community club “continues to closely monitor any event that threatens democratic principles and the rule of law.”
The Guatemala Prosecutor’s Office points to the Vice Minister of Sustainable Development, Luis Pacheco, of terrorism and sedition for being allegedly responsible, together with four other people, of “violent acts” committed during the civic protests of 2023 in defense of the results of the elections that gave the triumph to President Bernardo Arévalo.
The prosecutor against organized crime, Kalyber Bladimiro, indicated that Vice Minister Pacheco was captured by a complaint that accuses him of “violent acts and blockages” in 2023 that “altered the constitutional order of the country.”
The Prosecutor’s Office of Pacheco and Héctor Chaclán, of the crimes of illicit association, instigation to commit crimes, terrorism, hinder of justice and sedition. Both, who were arrested, were leaders of the indigenous organization 48 cantons of Totonicapán.
The investigating entity said that three other people have arrest warrant and will be included in this same criminal process. EFE