Genocide survivors participate in a ceremony commemorating the lives of loved ones lost. 2009

Retired general and former de facto president (1982-1983) José Efraín Ríos Montt in an August 2012 hearing. On May 10, 2013, Ríos Montt was convicted of Genocide against the Maya Ixil people. Ten days later, Guatemala's Constitutional Court ordered that the trial be reverted to an earlier stage, leaving the case in suspense.

Citizens celebrate National Day against Forced Disappearance on June 21, 2011. Truth commissions enacted following the signing of peace accords estimated that upwards of 40,000 were forcibly disappeared during Guatemala's 36-year civil war.

Family members of the disappeared attend the opening of an exhumation of the municipal cemetery of Escuintla. During the civil war, thousands of unidentified bodies were buried in common graves in municipal cemeteries across Guatemala. 2011

Residents of Nebaj, in the Ixil region of Guatemala, gather to view a memorial to those massacred and disappeared by the armed forces during Guatemala's Civil War. The memorial was produced by the Asociación para la Justicia y Reconciliación, plaintiffs in the Genocide case. 2012

Gustavo Meoño, director of the Historical Archive of the National Police (AHPHN) speaks in front of a poster depicting bishop Juan Gerardi, assassinated in 1998 following the publication of a Church-sponsored truth commission report. The AHPN houses some 80,000 documents pertaining to the inner workings of the National Police, a security body implicated in numerous human rights abuses and disbanded with the peace agreement that put an end to the war in 1996.

Historic archives received from police delegations around the country await restoration and digitalization at the AHPN. A massive trove of documents found by accident in 2005 when an explosion in a police facility prompted an investigation by human rights authorities, the Archive is now independently administered and houses some 80 million documents pertaining to the internal operations of one of Guatemala's most repressive wartime security forces, the National Police. Documents from the archive, digitalized and organized into a central database, have proven key in the effort to hold security forces accountable for forced disappearances and other wartime human right abuses. 2009

Julia Cortéz, former president of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation, following the suspension of a hearing in the Genocide case against General Héctor Mario López Fuentes, Military Chief of Staff under the now-convicted Efraín Ríos Montt. 2011

Retired General Héctor Mario López Fuentes. Detained in June 2011, López was the first member of the military high command of Efraín Riós Montt to be indicted in the genocide case. Months later, he was found to be insufficient health to stand trial. He died in October 2015, according to medical experts, of a terminal cancer. 2011

The hands of retired General Héctor Mario López Fuentes. 2011

The hands of a Maya Ixil member of the Asociación para la Justicia y Reconciliación, plaintiffs in the Genocide case against the military high command of former de facto president (1982-1983) José Efraín Ríos Montt. 2011

The site of the Escobal silver mine in San Rafael las Flores, Santa Rosa. In referenda held in surrounding municipalities and in community-level plebiscites within San Rafael, an increasing number of residents have expressed their disagreement with the mining project, operated by the Canadian firm Tahoe Resources. In May 2013, in a climate of growing tensions and conflictivity, a state of siege was declared in four municipalities near the mine, including San Rafael Las Flores. 2012

Clodoveo Rodríguez feeds his cow, Mariposa, while workers construct a processing plant a few meters from his house in San Rafael las Flores, Santa Rosa. Having refused to sell his land to the mining company, his plot was left surrounded by the mining operation. 2012

Clodoveo Rodríguez stands on his property while workers construct a processing plant a few meters from his house in San Rafael las Flores, Santa Rosa. Having refused to sell his land to the mining company, his plot was left surrounded by the mining operation. 2012

Diodora Hernández at her home near the Marlin gold mine in San Miguel Ixtahuacán, San Marcos. An outspoken critic of the mining operation, Diodora was shot in the face by unidentified assailants on July 7, 2010. She survived the attack and continues to denounce the effects of mining in her community. 2011

Lolita Chávez of the Council of K’iche’ Peoples speaks before members of Congress and government ministries. On May 5, 2010, a historic delegation from the El Quiché department traveled to the capital to denounce before the authorities the granting, among their communities, of mining and hydroelectric licenses without their free, prior, informed consent. 2010

Young women participate in a ceremony in commemoration of a 2007 referendum in Ixcán, El Quiché in which the population voted massively in rejection of large-scale hydroelectric and petroleum projects proposed for the municipality. 2011

"Let us not be overcome by offers that are not complied with by unscrupulous people who are nothing more than thieves of our natural wealth." Ixcán, El Quiché, 2011

A young boy stands behind a row of tinajas, or water jugs, in his community in Ixcán, El Quiché. His is one of at least 18 communities that would be flooded should plans for construction of the massive Xalalá hydroelectric dam proceed.

Residents of the predominantly Maya Mam municipality of San Martín "Chile Verde" Sacatepéquez, Quetzaltenango, participate in March 2011 a referendum regarding proposed hydroelectric projects in the area. 17,849 voted in rejection of such projects while 63 voted in favor.

A protester walks past a booth vending copies Guatemala's mining law during a march against a proposed bill to regulate the application of Convention 169 of the International Labour Organisation, which requires signatory states to consult indigenous peoples prior to carrying out projects which stand to affect such populations. Current mining legislation in Guatemala, which has been challenged in courts by indigenous organizations, guarantees companies one of the lowest tributary rates in the Americas. 2011

Young K'iche' girls line up to vote in a referendum in San Juan Ostuncalco, Quetzaltenango on February 18, 2011. 33,428 men, women and children voted in rejection of mining in the area while 79 individual voted in favor.

Maya K'iche' and Maya Uspanteko citizens vote in an October 2010 referendum in Uspantán, El Quiché. More than 25,000 residents voted to reject mining and hydroelectric megaprojects in the municipality.

Soldiers and riot police occupy the town center on the day of the referendum in Uspantán, El Quiché. Following negotiations with community leaders, the security forces were removed to a location away from the voting.

Volunteers count the ballots cast in a November 2010 referendum regarding mining licenses granted in the area of Huitán, a small municipality in Quetzaltenango. 6,758 residents in the predominantly Maya Mam municipality voted against mining projects while 30 voted in favor.

On November 29, 2010, representatives of Cabricán (Quetzaltenango), Santa Cruz del Quiché and Uspantán (El Quiché) traveled to the capital to present to the national authorities the results of community referenda held in the three municipalities. Upon exiting the building housing the Guatemalan Congress, community leaders from the three municipalities denounced that officials cited to receive the results of referenda held in their municipalities did not show up.

A community leader shows the Libro de Actas, or official registry, recording the votes cast in his community. On November 29, 2010, representatives of Cabricán (Quetzaltenango), Santa Cruz del Quiché and Uspantán (El Quiché) traveled to the capital to present to the national authorities the results of community referenda held in the three municipalities regarding mining and hydroelectric projects.

Community members in Santa Cruz Barillas, Huehuetenango, carry a cross bearing the name of Andrés Francisco Miguel, slain on May 1, 2012, allegedly by private security guards under contract of the Hidro Santa Cruz hydroelectric project. Following the murder, in the face of unclarified acts of vandalism and alleging the robbery of weapons from a local military outpost, the executive government declared state of siege in the municipality. 2012

Children play soccer in the town center of San Martín "Chile Verde" Sacatepéquez, Quetzaltenango, following the referendum in which 17,849 voted in rejection of proposed hydroelectric projects while 63 voted in favor.