Corrupted Attorney General’s office in Guatemala continues to undermine precedent setting “Military Diary” crimes against humanity case

Written By Grahame Russell

The government of President Arevalo in Guatemala, that the people of Guatemala battled and protested long and hard for to enable him to take office in January 2024, has not made a dent in the endemic corruption that characterizes much of legal system, and particularly the Attorney General’s office headed by Consuelo Porras.

Below: public letter denouncing latest manipulations by Office of the Attorney General

Military Diary crimes against humanity Case

In response to the most recent actions of the public prosecutor's office to guarantee impunity for serious human rights violations committed during the internal armed conflict, we the undersigned declare:

María Consuelo Porras Argueta, head Attorney General of the Public Ministry (MP) of Guatemala, is working to guarantee impunity to those responsible for serious human rights violations, undermining justice as a guarantee of non-repetition of the events that occurred during the Internal Armed Conflict.

Under the direction of Consuelo Porras, the Human Rights Prosecutor's Office, led by Noé Nehemías Rivera Vásquez, continues to undermine justice struggles in the country. 

For 42 years the Public Prosecutor's Office has been slowly but surely carrying out a legal investigation in the case known as the "Caso Diario Militar" (Military Diary case), including reviewing: 7,000 pieces of evidence; more than 100 witness statements/ testimonies of survivors of torture, sexual violence and forced displacement; more than 20 expert reports; and the remains of eight disappeared ,military detainees, who are registered in the Military Diary document that gives its name to this case, whose bodies were exhumed from clandestine graves inside military installations.

In 2022, the Human Rights Prosecutor's Office filed formal accusations against 10 suspects and requested a public trial for crimes against humanity, including the crimes of forced disappearance, murder and attempted murder.

On October 7, 2025, prosecutor Crisanto Gómez Meléndez, currently assigned the case, ignored almost all of the evidence collected over the past decades and, based on only 2 pieces of evidence, asked the Judge of High-Risk Court “C” of Criminal First Instance, Drug Activity and Crimes against the Environment, "provisional closure" of the Military Diary case, contradicting the formal accusations filed by her own office.

Her stated position and request in court is clearly illegal, favoring defendants Toribio Acevedo Ramírez, Malfred Orlando Pérez Lorenzo, Alix Leonel Barillas Soto and Edgar Virgilio de León Sigüenza. This manoeuver is intended to prevent them from being sent to a public trial which would show their criminal responsibilities. The manouever is intended to ensure continuing impunity for crimes against humanity committed against more than 195 victims of the Guatemalan military regime State terrorism (1970s-1980s) recorded in the intelligence document known as "Military Diary".

Under the command of Consuelo Porras, the Public Prosecutor's Office adds to efforts to once again deny justice and the right to truth to family members who survived forced disappearances during the worst years of the Guatemalan military State terrorism, as well as further denying the family members and survivors to chance to start repair some of the psychological and emotional damages caused more than 40 years ago.

In addition, this undermining of the rule of law disregards the legally binding order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights regarding the obligation of the State of Guatemala to investigate, prosecute, and punish those responsible for the forced disappearance in the Military Diary case.

Eight months before the departure of the current Attorney General Consuleo Porras, this openly illegal action by the Public Prosecutor’s Office contravenes international standards in terms of justice, and serves to perpetuate the ‘Pact of Impunity’ in favor of human rights violators and war criminals. 

Therefore, we make the following call:

  • To the Guatemalan population, to condemn and repudiate the impunity that the Human Rights Prosecutor's Office of the Public Prosecutor's Office is demonstrating;

  • To the judicial system, to ensure that international standards in the field of justice are complied with by the Public Prosecutor's Office and its prosecutors, recalling the preeminence of international law and conventions on human rights, and that the judicial system be the first guarantor of the rights of the victims of the Military Diary;

  • To the Public Prosecutor's Office, the creation of a totally independent Special Prosecutor's Office that will continue with the investigation of the "Military Diary" case; 

  • To the international community and human rights organizations, to accompany and continue to support the Military Diary case, to speak out and condemn the re-victimizing actions of the Public Prosecutor's Office, and to call on the State of Guatemala to ensure that the judicial process be carried out guaranteeing the life and integrity of judges, lawyers, plaintiffs, victims, witnesses and survivors. 

Guatemala, October 2025

Grahame Russell
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