Lawyers for Lawyers, the International Observatory for Lawyers in Danger (OIAD), Juezas y Jueces para la Democracia, Asociación de Abogadas y Abogados, Jueces y Fiscales de Derechos Humanos de Latinoamérica y el Caribe, and the Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos de España, which make up the International Mission of Jurists for Guatemala, as well as World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and Fundación Paz y Solidaridad Euskadi, express their deep concern over the detention of lawyer Ramón Cadena, which occurred on November 10, 2025.
Ramón Cadena is a prominent Guatemalan lawyer with extensive experience in the defense of human rights and the strengthening of the rule of law. Between April 2022 and June 2023, Mr. Cadena provided pro bono legal advice to the student, faculty, and administrative movement of the Universidad de San Carlos (USAC) on matters related to the right to protest and university autonomy. He also assisted in the submission of a request for precautionary measures to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on behalf of the student movement and, in June 2023, participated in the public event of peaceful handover of the university’s central campus.
On November 16, 2023, agents from the National Civil Police and the Public Prosecutor’s Office raided his home and issued an arrest warrant against him, as well as against students and university staff. The criminal charges filed against him are: aggravated usurpation, destruction of cultural property, sedition, and illegal association.
The proceedings against him have been marked by serious violations of due process. Mr. Cadena’s initial hearing has been rescheduled repeatedly, in violation of his right to be tried within a reasonable time and to be heard by a competent, independent, and impartial judge. Despite having voluntarily submitted to the process in January 2025, the hearing was successively postponed—first to July, then to October 23, for which the International Mission of Jurists for Guatemala had formally notified the judge of its intention to attend as an impartial observer. Nevertheless, the hearing was again postponed for administrative reasons until January 27, 2026, unjustifiably prolonging legal uncertainty and violating Mr. Cadena’s judicial guarantees and right to defense.
International organizations express concern over detention of lawyer Ramón Cadena in Guatemala
