The recent attack on April 23, 2025, on ancestral Indigenous institutions in Guatemala through the criminalization of two of their former leaders is illegal and contrary to national and international law. Cultural Survival demands respect for ancestral Indigenous mayoral offices and the immediate release of those detained.

As an organization whose mission is to defend the rights of Indigenous Peoples, Cultural Survival supports communities' self-determination, cultures, livelihoods, and political resilience. Cultural Survival strongly denounces the attack by the Corrupt Pact in Guatemala, carried out by the Public Prosecutor's Office, against ancestral K'iche' Indigenous institutions through the arbitrary detention of two of its former leaders, Luis Pacheco (K'iche') and Héctor Chaclán (K'iche'), on terrorism charges for having participated in 106 days of peaceful pro-democracy protests in Guatemala. The arrest of these comrades violates fundamental rights enshrined in both the Guatemalan Constitution and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, signed and endorsed by Guatemala.

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