Guatemala

The Guatemalan Civil War was fought from 1960 to 1996 between the government of Guatemala and various leftist rebel groups. Its roots trace back to 1954, when Guatemala’s democratically elected president, Jacobo Árbenz, was overthrown in a U.S.-backed coup that installed right-wing military leader Carlos Castillo Armas. This marked the beginning of decades of authoritarian rule, during which political dissent was violently repressed. By the early 1960s, leftist opposition groups frustrated by state violence, rising inequality, and the exclusion of Guatemala’s indigenous majority began to organise armed resistance. Among the first were the Revolutionary Movement 13 November (MR‑13), the Rebel Armed Forces (FAR), and the Guatemalan Party of Labour (PGT). These groups launched guerrilla campaigns against the regime, and in 1982, they united to form the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unit (URNG).

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, military governments continued to target political opponents with assassinations, disappearances, and mass repression. In response, insurgent movements grew more militant, escalating the conflict into a full-scale civil war. The fighting was fuelled by deep-rooted socio-economic inequality, systemic racism, and the historic marginalisation of Guatemala’s indigenous Maya population, who bore the brunt of both state violence and the consequences of armed resistance. The military’s counterinsurgency campaigns intensified over time, particularly in the 1980s, ushering in an era of mass displacement and widespread human rights abuses.

In urban areas, repression was targeted, marked by forced disappearances and illegal detention. Sexual violence took place in military and police headquarters and in clandestine prisons, often against social and student leaders. Sexual violence was also perpetrated during raids on the homes of people accused of being insurgents. In rural areas, sexual violence was exercised as a direct, widespread and indiscriminate attack against the Mayan population. The scenarios were varied, in the communities themselves during or after the massacres, in the military detachments or even in survivors’ homes, when the military came looking for their husbands and, when they did not find them, they were raped as a punishment. The victims were predominantly indigenous women, and, although less documented, children and men were also targeted. The LGBTQIA+ community also suffered systematic violence from armed groups and state forces, as shown by research conducted by the National Police Historical Archive. The Historical Clarification Commission (CEH) documented at least 1,465 cases of rape during the years of greatest political repression, from 1979 to 1994. According to the CEH, of the total number of women who were raped during the conflict, 88.7% were of Mayan origin, 10.3% were Ladina, and 1% identified themselves as belonging to other groups.

In 2022, a Guatemalan court sentenced five former paramilitary patrolmen to 30-year prison terms for the rape of Maya Achi women during the internal armed conflict. The case was initiated by 36 Maya Achi survivors, whose pursuit of justice led to this landmark verdict. In its judgment, the tribunal recognised that the sexual violence committed was systematic in nature and that the paramilitary groups operated under the command of the Guatemalan army.

However, high levels of impunity remain; many perpetrators have never been prosecuted, and survivors, particularly indigenous women, continue to face stigma, poverty and limited access to healthcare and justice. Efforts by women’s groups and human rights advocates have led to specialised courts and laws against gender-based violence. Yet, ongoing femicide and violence against transgender people show that patriarchal structures still prevail.