Luis Pacheco and Héctor Chaclán were released under house arrest after being detained over 2023 protests.
Two Guatemalan Indigenous leaders who led 2023 protests supporting President Bernardo Arévalo’s rise to power were released from prison on Wednesday after more than 15 months in detention without trial or conviction.
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Luis Pacheco and Héctor Chaclán left the Mariscal Zavala Detention Center after a judge granted them house arrest and set bail at 160,000 quetzales (about $21,000).
The two leaders had been held since April 2025, when the Attorney General’s Office, then headed by Consuelo Porras, opened a case against them over the protests that paralyzed Guatemala for more than 20 days in 2023.
Los líderes indígenas de los 48 Cantones, Luis Pacheco y Héctor Chaclán, reciben arresto domiciliario y dejarán la prisión luego de más de 15 meses de encierro. Su reto ahora es reunir los Q160 mil de caución económica c/u que impuso el juez Mynor Moto. pic.twitter.com/4mc9d93SMG
— Jody García (@JodyReporta) August 4, 2026
Text Reads: Indigenous leaders of the 48 Cantons, Luis Pacheco and Héctor Chaclán, are granted house arrest and will leave prison after more than 15 months of confinement. Their challenge now is to raise the Q160 thousand in economic bail each that Judge Mynor Moto imposed.
Pacheco was president of the 48 Cantones de Totonicapán Indigenous organization, one of the country’s largest and most respected Indigenous groups. Chaclán served as its treasurer. Under their leadership, thousands of people took to the streets after allegations that Porras, a judge and some politicians were seeking to prevent Arévalo from taking office.
Family members and supporters embraced Pacheco and Chaclán as they walked out of the detention center, which is located inside a military facility. The two men then traveled to the department of Totonicapán to reunite with relatives.
Pacheco thanked the organization and the communities that had supported them during their time in detention.
“It is an emotion not only as Luis Pacheco, but as a people. We are free again, under certain conditions. Our freedom is still 50%, but we trust in God that we will win. Good always triumphs over evil; it takes time, but it comes,” Pacheco said outside the prison.
Judge Mynor Moto approved the measure on Tuesday, allowing the two leaders to leave prison while restricting their movements to the department where they have their homes under Guatemala’s house arrest system.
The 2023 demonstrations were organized to demand that Arévalo be allowed to take office after a prolonged dispute over the presidential transition.
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