A vigilante killing by a "civil protector" in Aldea de Buenavista, Chimaltenango, on 10 July 2000; whether such a protector is immune from prosecution and/or works in conjunction with the civil/state authorities (2000) [GTM40476.E]

No information about a vigilante killing by a "civil protector" in Aldea de Buenavista, Chimaltenango, on 10 July 2000 could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate. However, the following information reports on the phenomenon of lynchings in Guatemala (IACHR 6 Apr. 2001; Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2000 Feb. 2001; HRW 2001).

According to the IACHR:

From 1996, when this practice became pronounced, to mid-2000, MINUGUA [UN Verification Mission in Guatemala] registered 310 lynchings or attempted lynchings. In a lynching, mobs of up to hundreds or thousands of local people converge on a suspected delinquent or hunt the person down in their home. The targeted individual is usually tortured prior to being killed for the purpose of forcing him or her to reveal the names of presumed accomplices. The victims -- mostly men, but including women and children -- have been beaten, hacked and stoned to death, shot, and burned alive (6 Apr. 2001).

For 2000, MINUGUA reported 52 lynchings, including 24 lynchings and 28 attempted lynchings, "which resulted in 32 deaths and 83 persons injured" (Country Reports 2000 Feb. 2001, Sec.1 a). Moreover, the IACHR stated that lynchings or attempted lynchings were reported in "at least" 20 Departments or provinces, among them the Department of Chimaltenango (ibid.).

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