As Guatemala and the world focused on the trial of former Gen. Jose Efrain Rios Montt for genocide and crimes against humanity, the human rights situation in the country grew increasingly grave, as it has elsewhere in Mesoamerica. Testimony in the trial highlighted the complicity of the US government in Guatemala’s bloody history. Similarly, the current human rights crisis does not exist in a global vacuum and is inextricably entwined with government and private interests in the region, emanating from within Guatemala and its neighbors to the North. Observers fear that current human rights abuses are being eclipsed by the uncertainty and escalating tension surrounding the genocide trial.

As the trial continued on its circuitous path, President Otto Perez Molina declared a State of Siege in four towns in the country’s southeastern region after clashes between security forces and local community groups opposed to the San Rafael mine, also referred to as the El Escobal mine. Tension has been percolating for years, eliciting requests for international attention to, and condemnation of, the human rights situation surrounding opposition to the mine. The confrontation between protesters, who are mostly local indigenous Xinca, and mine owners, Canadian Tahoe Resources, escalated on April 3, when the mine received an operating license, precipitating a peaceful occupation of privately owned land by protesters five days later. Despite violent evictions by the private security guards, demonstrators continued their peaceful resistance to the mine they believe will deplete their water supply and contaminate what remains.

Evincing impatience with the peaceful opposition, private security forces opened fire on protesters last Saturday, injuring six people and triggering an escalation in hostilities. Preliminary reports indicated that the mine’s executive, Alberto Rotondo, ordered security forces to attack the demonstrators, and later to cover up the crime. In response, local groups kidnapped and disarmed 23 security forces. In a tremendous show of force, the government responded by sending over 8,000 government troops to the area. The ensuing operation to free the hostages left one protester and one police officer dead. Subsequent raids by the authorities led to the arrest of at least 15 people. Under the State of Siege, civil liberties are suspended – the rights of peaceful assembly and to bear arms are suspended, homes can be searched without cause, and the state can engage in the indefinite detention of citizens without judicial review and access to counsel. Human rights advocates fear that suspending constitutional rights will unleash further repression and shield the government from accountability for its tactics.

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