Guatemalan judge closes terrorism case against four Indigenous protest leaders

Court declines to send the case to trial

A Guatemalan judge has closed the criminal case against four Indigenous leaders accused of terrorism and related offences over nationwide protests in 2023. The defendants were Luis Pacheco, Héctor Chaclán, Basilio Puac and Esteban Toc. Judge Mynor Moto found that the material presented did not provide a sufficient basis for a public trial. The decision removes a prosecution that had become a prominent test of how Guatemala's justice system treats Indigenous political organisation and peaceful dissent.

Charges grew from the election crisis

The four leaders were associated with demonstrations organised after prosecutors moved against the electoral process that brought President Bernardo Arévalo to office. Indigenous authorities, including the 48 Cantons of Totonicapán, helped sustain roadblocks and public assemblies demanding respect for the result. Prosecutors later treated parts of that mobilisation as terrorism, illicit association, sedition and obstruction of justice. The defendants maintained that the protests were peaceful and intended to defend constitutional government rather than intimidate the public.

Pacheco, who later became a deputy minister in the Energy and Mines Ministry, and Chaclán were arrested in April 2025. They spent more than a year in pretrial detention before being transferred to house arrest in August 2026. The prolonged deprivation of liberty increased scrutiny of both the evidence and the breadth of Guatemala's terrorism provisions. Puac and Toc were prosecuted in connection with the same protest movement, although their procedural circumstances were not identical.

UN experts had challenged the prosecution

United Nations special procedures addressed the case directly in July 2025. Their communication identified Pacheco and Chaclán as former Indigenous authorities and expressed concern that broadly framed terrorism and association charges could criminalise legitimate expression, assembly and human-rights work. The experts also raised alleged deficiencies in access to case material, legal assistance and review of detention. Those concerns did not determine the Guatemalan court's decision, but they establish the international due-process context in which the dismissal occurred.

A ruling with institutional consequences

The immediate effect is that the four defendants will not face the requested public trial on these allegations. The wider significance lies in whether prosecutors review other cases originating during the conflict over the 2023 election and whether courts apply a narrower threshold when political protest is described as terrorism. Indigenous organisations will also watch for any appeal or attempt to revive the allegations. For Arévalo's government, the outcome removes one high-profile case but leaves broader disputes over prosecutorial independence and accountability unresolved.