Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA

Guatemala's Police Archives

For years Guatemala's police archives sat rotting in an old warehouse. After their discovery in 2005, however, they have been sorted, scanned, and analyzed - most significantly for details about crimes committed during Guatemala's internal armed conflict.

Just last month (March, 2009), Guatemala's human rights ombudsman Sergio Morales released his report analysing some of the millions of documents that exist. The report includes information connecting the Guatemalan National Police to atrocities committed during the war. Significantly, it provided the evidence needed to detain two former members of a police unit linked to death squads that operated during the  internal armed conflict and who are considered responsible for the disappearance of labor leader Fernando García. This is the first time that police officers have been detained for involvement in any of the over 47,000 cases of forced disappearances during the 36 year conflict.

Recent News

Read The Emerging Secrets of Guatemala's Disappeared (The Washington Post, April 11, 2009)

Listen to the BBC World Service documentary, The Atrocity Files (first segment, April 6, 2009)

Past Articles and News

Guatemala: The Secret Files (FRONTLINE, May 27, 2008)

The Atrocity Files: deciphering the archives of Guatemala's dirty war (By Kate Doyle, Harpers, December 2007)

Historic Police Archives in Danger; Judge Involved Receives Threats (GHRC, May 19, 2006)

Mildewed Police Files May Hold Clues to Atrocities in Guatemala (NYT, November 21, 2005)

 

Learn more about the declassified documents at

the National Security Archive's Guatemala Project.

Home | Site Map | Contact Us

3321 12th Street NE, Washington, DC 20017

This site is maintained by the Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA
as a means of informing the general public of the Commission's work
on behalf of the people of Guatemala