Guatemala Puts Ex-Soldiers on Trial for Human Rights Abuses

Guatemala will put two former military officers on trial in February for committing crimes against humanity during the 1980s armed conflict.

Lt. Col. Esteelmer Francisco Reyes Giron and former Military Commissioner Heriberto Valdez Azij were both arrested in June in the northern state of Alta Verapaz for crimes committed in the 1980s when the Guatemalan army instituted “Operation Sophia.”

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The violent operation aimed to end guerrilla warfare by destroying the civilian base in which it hid, particularly the Mayan communities who were believed to be hiding the guerrillas. In the first part of the decade, the army destroyed over 600 villages and killed or disappeared some 200,000 civilians.

Valdez Azij was arrested for his involvement in the forced disappearances of seven people in a military operation in 1982, while Reyes Giron is accused of capturing and killing the indigenous family of Dominga Coc and her two daughters Anita Seb and Herlinda Coc between 1982 and 1983.

Both military officials were also accused of committing at least a dozen acts of sexual violence against women from the local Q'eqchi community.

According to government investigations, the women were victims of sexual violence, abuse and slavery between 1982-83 in a special camp between the eastern departments of Izabal and Alta Verapaz. In this time, the region was rife with sex slavery and forced disappearances, according to witness testimony.

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The Public Ministry announced the pending trial of the two former military personnel in a special communique Friday.

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