In 1980 and 1982, the Guatemalan Army and members of the Civil Self-Defense Patrols destroyed the Mayan community of Río Negro, that protested the building of a hydroelectric dam, by means of a series of massacres. The facts of this case fit within a more general context of massacres in Guatemala that were planned by State agents as part of a "scorched earth" policy aimed against the Mayan people, who were characterized as the "internal enemy" in a context of discrimination and racism. Remarkably, the Court found that the State violated almost all provisions of the American Convention on Human Rights, the American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence Against Women, the American Convention on Forced Disappearances of Persons, and the American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture.
Case Summary: Río Negro Massacres v. Guatemala, Case Summary
Update: Massacres of Río Negro v. Guatemala, Addendum
Update: 14 Cases v. Guatemala, Compliance and Follow-Up Addendum