Carlos Mucu Pop, a Q’eqchi’ leader in the Santa Rosa, Sayaxché community in the Department of Petén, was murdered on 16 August, 2020.

Carlos fought to defend the rights of his community and had been a candidate for mayor of Sayaxché. Carlos was also a member of Asociación Comunitaria Multisectorial del Monitoreo Comunitario en Salud y Apoyo a Migrantes, a Guatemala-based organization that works with other groups to monitor violations of migrants’ human rights at the Mexican and Guatemalan borders.

The route through Petén is one of the most used migratory routes in Central America. In recent years, families in these regions have housed migrants, giving them information about other routes, medicine, and a place to regain strength for the rest of their journey to Mexico or the United States.