Guatemala is taking steps to preserve roughly 60,000 case files containing testimonies about abuses committed during the country’s decades-long armed conflict. Multiple reports say the effort is aimed at safeguarding the records before the end of President Bernardo Arévalo’s term, which is scheduled to finish in January 2028. The files are described as evidence gathered through processes documenting human-rights violations and abuses from that period, and authorities are working to ensure they remain available and intact.
While the accounts focus on the timeline and the volume of records, they present a common theme: avoiding the loss or deterioration of testimony that is relevant to accountability, research, and potential legal processes. The initiative is framed as an administrative and preservation task carried out within a defined political window, suggesting that the state wants continuity of the documentation beyond the current government.
No specific details are provided in the excerpts on the methods, agencies involved, or any technical risks, but the overall reporting aligns on the urgency and the number of case files at stake.
