The Indigenous World 2026: Guatemala

Written on 22 April 2026. Posted in Guatemala

By the year 2025, the population of Guatemala is projected to be 18.8 million,^[i] of which 43.75% are Indigenous, belonging to the Mayan peoples (Achi', Akateco, Awakateco, Chalchiteco, Ch'orti', Chuj, Itza', Ixil, Jacalteco, Kaqchikel, K'iche', Mam, Mopan, Poqomam, Poqomchi', Q'anjob'al, Q'eqchi', Sakapulteco, Sipakapense, Tektiteko, Tz'utujil and Uspanteko), as well as the Garífuna, Xinka and Creole or Afro-descendant peoples.

The Political Constitution of the Republic of Guatemala recognizes the existence of Indigenous Peoples and defines the country as a multicultural society. Despite having ratified international agreements on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, in practice there is a wide social, economic and political gap between Indigenous and non-indigenous peoples. For example, the state spends USD 0.4 (approx. EUR 0.3) per day on each Indigenous person and USD 0.9 (approx. EUR 0.7) per day on each non-indigenous person.^[i] In turn, poverty affects 75% of Indigenous and 36% of non-indigenous people,^[ii] and chronic malnutrition affects 58% of Indigenous people compared to 38% of non-indigenous people.^[iii] In terms of political participation, Indigenous people represent no more than 15% of members of parliament and high-ranking public officials.

Although the country has signed up to international instruments such as ILO Convention 169 (approved with constitutional status in 2010), the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), and the UN FAO Policy on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, their implementation continues to present bureaucratic hurdles and legal barriers that hinder progress in the elimination of colonialism and discriminatory practices against Indigenous Peoples.

This article is part of the 40th edition of The Indigenous World, a yearly overview produced by IWGIA that serves to document and report on the developments Indigenous Peoples have experienced. Find The Indigenous World 2026 in full here

Impact of the global context on Indigenous Peoples

The new U.S. government policies introduced in 2025 eliminated development cooperation with Guatemala, estimated at USD 170 million (approx. EUR 144 million)  per year.^[1] Their current priorities are now focused on security, combating drug trafficking, reducing irregular migration, and building strategic infrastructure for international trade.

The main impact of these changes came with the closure of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) operations. This is the U.S.’s main international cooperation agency and resulted in several agencies that were implementing specific projects for Indigenous Peoples having to cease their activities. USAID had established an agenda in support of the exercise of Indigenous Peoples' rights but this has now been abandoned. This represents not only a loss of funding but also a loss of advocacy spaces related to land rights, environmental protection, local economies, the inclusion of women and youth, and climate action.

With the loss of this cooperation, Indigenous Peoples are now more vulnerable and exposed to human trafficking networks, violence from drug cartels, criminalization of human rights defenders, and dispossession of land and natural resources.

Extractive pressures on Indigenous territories

The extractive activities being promoted by transnational companies continued in 2025 with their commercial, political and legal strategies to re-activate operating licences, some of which had been suspended by the national courts due to a failure to comply with consultation and Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). The Cerro Blanco underground mining project, formerly owned by Bluestone, is located in Asunción Mita, Jutiapa, near Lake Güija on the border with El Salvador. The project was suspended years ago due to opposition from the nearby Indigenous Xinka and mestizo communities but was acquired on 13 January 2025 by the Canadian company, Aura Minera, under the name Era Dorada.^[2] The Indigenous communities have denounced these activities as posing serious environmental and social risks in the cross-border basin.

Extractive companies have filed international arbitration proceedings as a means of pressuring the state to pay damages for the court-ordered suspension of their activities. Claims against Guatemala filed with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes amount to USD 843 million (approx. EUR 715 million). This year, Guatemala won the international arbitration case relating to the suspension of the El Tambor (La Puya) project, thus avoiding the payment of the USD 499 million (approx. EUR 423 million) demanded by the plaintiffs.^[3]

After several years of peaceful resistance, the Maya Qeqchi, Garífuna and mestizo communities of the Sierra Santa Cruz de Livingston, in the department of Izabal, succeeded this year in getting the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources to officially cancel 10 nickel mining projects that were affecting more than 43,000 hectares due to environmental non-compliance.^[4]

Persecution and criminalization of Indigenous leaders

As a result of the active participation of Indigenous Peoples in public demonstrations to defend the democratic processes and the results of the 2023 general elections, which led to the elected authorities being sworn in at the start of 2024 (See Guatemala in The Indigenous World 2025), the Public Prosecutor's Office commenced criminal proceedings against various Indigenous leaders in 2025, accusing them of terrorism and obstruction of justice. On 23 April 2025, Luis Pacheco and Héctor Chacán, former members of the Board of Mayors of the Indigenous organization of the 48 Cantons of Totonicapán, were arrested with the clear intention of undermining the ancestral Indigenous institutions and their fight against corruption and impunity.^[5] Both leaders were linked to criminal proceedings and charged with unlawful association, sedition, terrorism, obstruction of criminal proceedings and obstruction of justice. Since their arrest, both leaders have been held in preventive detention, their case is to be heard behind closed doors and the trial in which they can prove their innocence or guilt has not begun. Various national and international entities have spoken out calling for their release, including the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which rejected the continued misuse of criminal proceedings:

The IACHR notes that this case is part of a broader, well-documented pattern of politically motivated misuse of criminal law in Guatemala, as outlined in numerous IACHR reports and the preliminary observations from its 2024 on-site visit. These patterns include the use of vague and disproportionate charges, secrecy in case proceedings, manipulation of public opinion by announcing legal actions through coordinated online misinformation campaigns using so-called netcenter accounts, and widespread abuse of pretrial detention. These tactics highlight the alarming lack of independence of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and its active role in fostering impunity and corruption. ^[6]

The persecution of Indigenous leaders continued with the arrest, on 28 August 2025, of Mr. Esteban Toc, former Indigenous deputy mayor of Sololá,^[7] who was accused of terrorism, sedition and obstruction of criminal proceedings.

Criminalization of defenders of Indigenous land and territories

Throughout the year, the attacks and criminal persecution of Indigenous leaders who are defending their land, territories and natural resources continued. On 13 August 2025, Indigenous peasant leader and former deputy, Leocadio Juracán was arrested at La Aurora International Airport as he was about to travel to South Africa to participate in a conference on equity for peoples. Juracán is accused of aggravated trespass, forest fires and the commercialization of forest products, although in reality he is nationally and internationally recognized for his struggle for Indigenous and peasant access to land, including the support he has provided to Maya Q'eqchi Indigenous communities that have precautionary measures adopted by the IACHR.^[8]

On 19 June 2025, a ruling of the Constitutional Court upheld the eviction of the Plan Grande community from the Sierra Santa Cruz, promoted by private landowners who argued that the community did not have legal title to the land. A court had protected the community since 2019 but the ruling of the Constitutional Court now leaves it unprotected and exposes its members to eviction and criminalization.

In this regard, during his visit to Guatemala from 14-25 July 2025, Mr. Balakrishnan Rajagopal, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, expressed his concern at the violent evictions of Indigenous communities and reiterated the need to provide greater legal certainty to the ancestral land rights of Indigenous Peoples, rather than simply overvaluing the private property rights of a few. In his final declaration, he stated: “Currently what prevails is a complete lack of understanding and recognition of ancestral forms of land ownership, nor has there ever been any reckoning with past violations that left Indigenous Peoples dispossessed and impoverished.”^[9]

In June, a civil court granted an injunction in favour of the Maya Poqomam Indigenous community of Santa Cruz Chinautla, Guatemala department, against the municipality of Chinautla, due to the lack of solid waste treatment, and obliged it to improve its management in order to reduce pollution, close illegal dumps and restore natural ecosystems.^[10]

Spaces for Indigenous Peoples’ participation in the government agenda

This year, the National Assembly for Dialogue with Indigenous and Ancestral Authorities of Indigenous Peoples continued its work with the President of the Republic on strengthening democracy, fighting corruption and community development. Through this forum, work was done to achieve the legal reform of Article 30 bis of the Organic Budget Law, which now means that Indigenous communities are no longer obliged to transfer ownership of their lands to the state for the construction of public works such as schools and health centres. The Communal Lands Roundtable has been formed to address the problem of legal uncertainty and the cessation of arbitrary evictions. An institutional reform of the Indigenous Development Fund (FODIGUA), which had ceased to fulfil its functions due to the politicization of previous governments, has been proposed. Through agreements with cooperatives, the To'banik financing mechanism has been established to support productive processes.^[11] However, despite these achievements, there is still a disconnect from government institutions, as well as manifestations of racism, discrimination and colonialist thinking.

Indigenous women and youth

Indigenous women continue to face problems of discrimination and a lack of social, political and economic inclusion both within their communities and in society in general, as well as persistent gaps in employment, access to education and political representation. In 2025, 57,000 births were registered to mothers between 10 and 19 years of age, with a high percentage in Indigenous areas.^[12] On 25 November 2025, the Congress of the Republic approved Decree 20-2025, Law on the Day of Dignity for Indigenous Women, which recognizes the individual and collective rights of Mayan, Garifuna and Xinca women.^[13]

Outlook for 2026-2027

For the next two years, Indigenous Peoples will face uncertain prospects: the U.S. is expected to scale up the deportation of Guatemalan migrants, many of whom are Indigenous and whose remittances support their families back home; secondary-level elections will be held (Constitutional Court, Public Prosecutor’s Office and Supreme Electoral Tribunal) in which Indigenous Peoples will make their proposals but will also be exposed to criminalization by the so-called corrupt pact; and, in 2027, general elections will be held, which means opportunities for greater political representation but also tensions and conflicts arising from the political powers. The second half of the current government’s term could consolidate the rights of Indigenous Peoples but institutional slowness and bureaucracy could also result in disenchantment due to a failure to fulfil government promises.

Despite the still prevailing colonialism, it is hoped that Indigenous Peoples will continue to contribute to the construction of a more inclusive democracy through their own forms of organization and the representation of their ancestral authorities. This is a legitimate form of community power that acts as a counterweight to the elitist and exclusionary republican democracy.

Silvel Elías is an Indigenous Mayan K'iche, professor and coordinator of the Rural and Territorial Studies Programme (PERT) at the Faculty of Agronomy of the University of San Carlos de Guatemala.

This article is part of the 40th edition of The Indigenous World, a yearly overview produced by IWGIA that serves to document and report on the developments Indigenous Peoples have experienced. Find The Indigenous World 2026 in full here

Notes and references

^[1] “Guatemala es uno de los países más afectados de la región por la suspensión de programas de USAID”. Prensa Comunitaria, 4 February 2025. https://prensacomunitaria.org/2025/02/guatemala-es-uno-de-los-paises-mas-afectados-de-la-region-por-la-suspension-de-programas-de-usaid/

^[2] “La resistencia contra la minería Cerro Blanco continúa por el riesgo de contaminación del agua”. Prensa Comunitaria, 20 November 2025. https://prensacomunitaria.org/2025/11/la-resistencia-contra-la-mineria-cerro-blanco-continua-por-el-riesgo-de-contaminacion-del-agua/

^[3] Urias Gamarro. “Guatemala gana arbitraje internacional y evita pagar US$499 millones”. Prensa Libre, 23 December 2025. https://www.prensalibre.com/economia/guatemala-gana-arbitraje-internacional-y-evita-pagar-us499-millones/

^[4] Comunidades de Izabal logran cancelación de licencias mineras concedidas por el gobierno del expresidente Giammattei. PBI Guatemala, 4 August 2025. https://pbi-guatemala.org/es/noticias/coyuntura-del-julio-de-2025

^[5] IACHR. "Guatemala: IACHR condemns criminalization of Indigenous leaders who defended democracy in Guatemala“. IACHR, 26 April 2025. https://www.oas.org/en/iachr/jsForm/?File=/en/iachr/media_center/preleases/2025/080.asp

^[6] “Cultural Survival condena la reciente criminalización de las autoridades ancestrales K'iche' en Guatemala”. Cultural Survival, 9 May 2025. https://www.culturalsurvival.org/es/news/cultural-survival-condena-la-reciente-criminalizacion-de-las-autoridades-ancestrales-kiche-en#:~:text=Razones%20de%20la%20criminalizaci%C3%B3n%20de,la%20corrupci%C3%B3n%20y%20la%20impunidad

^[7] “Capturan a líder indígena de Sololá señalado de terrorismo”. Soy 502, 9 August 2025. https://www.soy502.com/articulo/capturan-lider-indigena-solola-senalado-terrorismo-102052

^[8] César Pérez Marroquín and Elmer Vargas. “Capturan en el Aeropuerto La Aurora al exdiputado Leocadio Juracán, señalado de usurpación”. Prensa Libre, 13 August 2025. https://www.prensalibre.com/guatemala/justicia/capturan-en-el-aeropuerto-la-aurora-al-exdiputado-leocadio-juracan-senalado-de-usurpacion/

^[9] Guatemala: UN expert calls for urgent moratorium on evictions | OHCHR. 25 July 2025. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/07/guatemala-un-expert-calls-urgent-moratorium-evictions

^[10] Victoria del pueblo Maya Poqomam de Chinautla a favor del medio ambiente y los DDHH Coyuntura del julio de 2025. PBI Guatemala, 4 August 2025. https://pbi-guatemala.org/es/noticias/coyuntura-del-julio-de-2025

^[11] Private Secretariat of the Presidency. “Presidente Arévalo lidera la décimo primera Asamblea de Diálogo Nacional con Autoridades Indígenas y Ancestrales”. Private Secretariat of the Presidency, 7 March 2025.https://www.secretariaprivada.gob.gt/presidente-arevalo-lidera-la-decimo-primera-asamblea-de-dialogo-nacional-con-autoridades-indigenas-y-ancestrales/

^[12] OSAR Guatemala. “Registros de nacimientos de madres entre 10 – 19 años – Año 2025”. OSAR Guatemala.https://osarguatemala.org/registros-de-nacimientos-de-madres-entre-10-19-anos-ano-2025/

^[13] Congress of the Republic, “Dignificación y ponderación a la mujer indígena”. Congress of the Republic, 25 November 2025. https://www.congreso.gob.gt/noticias_congreso/14934/2025/4#gsc.tab=0

Tags: Global governance