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Guatemalan students accuse state of rights violations before IACHR
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Crime & Justice

Guatemalan students accuse state of rights violations before IACHR

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources In the courts
  • Nine students from Guatemala's only public university have filed a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
  • They accuse the Guatemalan state of violating freedom of expression and academic freedom after their expulsion for protesting alleged electoral fraud in 2022.
  • The students seek international accountability and reinstatement after exhausting internal legal avenues.

Nine students from Guatemala's sole public university have lodged a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), accusing the state of violating their freedoms of expression and academic life. The students were expelled in 2022 after protesting what they claim was electoral fraud within the university. They assert that their expulsion was illegal and that they have been unable to find justice within Guatemala's legal system.

"We have submitted a petition to the IACHR because we have not been able to receive justice here in Guatemala, and because we are very clear that our expulsion was illegal," stated Andrés García, a former secretary of the University Students' Association and one of the expelled students. He added that his academic life has been "destroyed" by the expulsion.

We have submitted a petition to the IACHR because we have not been able to receive justice here in Guatemala, and because we are very clear that our expulsion was illegal.

— Andrés GarcíaAn expelled student explains the decision to take their case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

The legal team representing the students aims to establish the Guatemalan state's international responsibility for these alleged violations. The case dates back to the administration of Alejandro Giammattei (2020-2024) and involves accusations of a coordinated strategy of criminal persecution by the Public Prosecutor's Office and the courts. The University of San Carlos (USAC), the country's only state university, holds significant influence, as its rectorate holds a key voting position in commissions responsible for selecting high-ranking state officials, including the Attorney General and magistrates for the courts.

The crisis began in March 2022 with rectorate elections at USAC, which the opposition deemed fraudulent. According to the students, state responses included police actions, digital harassment, and the arrest of students Heizel Camey and Sergio Morataya, alongside their own expulsions under what they describe as illegal regulations. Having exhausted all internal legal remedies without success, the students are now demanding reparations and their immediate academic reinstatement from the IACHR.

my academic life has been destroyed.

— Andrés GarcíaAn expelled student describes the impact of the university's decision on his future.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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