Report No. 97 (2025) IACHR. Petition No. 2350-23; 2351-23 (Guatemala)

• Court: Inter-American Comission of Human Rights
• Year: 2025
• Case Type: Friendly Settlements
• Respondent State: Guatemala

REPORT No. 97/25

PETITIONS 2350-23 and 2351-23

REPORT ON FRIENDLY SETTLEMENT

ROBERTO ARZU GARCIA GRANADOS AND DAVID ESTEBAN PINEDA BARRIOS

GUATEMALA

OEA/Ser.L/V/II

Doc. 102

24 J. 2025

Original: Spanish

Approved electronically by the Commission on J. 24, 2025.

Cite as: IACHR, Report No. 97/25, Petitions 2350-23 and 2351-23. Friendly Settlement. R.A.G.G. and David Esteban Pineda Barrios. Guatemala. J. 24, 2025.

www.cidh.org

REPORT No. 97/25

PETITIONS 2350-23 AND 2351-23

FRIENDLY SETTLEMENT

ROBERTO ARZU GARCIA GRANADOS AND DAVID ESTEBAN PINEDA BARRIOS

GUATEMALA1

JUNE 24, 2025

1. SUMMARY AND RELEVANT PROCEEDINGS OF THE FRIENDLY SETTLEMENT PROCESS

1. On November 21, 2023, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter, "Commission," "Inter-American Commission," or "IACHR") received petitions P-2350-23, lodged by M.R. on behalf of Roberto Arzu García Granados, and P-2351-23, filed by David Esteban Pineda Barrios, (hereinafter the “petitioners"), alleging the international responsibility of the Republic of Guatemala (hereinafter, "S.," "G. S.," or "Guatemala") for violation of the human rights provided for in Articles 8 (judicial guarantees), 23 (political rights), and 25 (judicial protection) of the American Convention on Human Rights, (hereinafter, "Convention" or "American Convention"), in relation to Article 1(1) (obligation to respect rights) thereof, to the detriment of Roberto Arzu García Granados and D.E.P.B. (hereinafter the "alleged victims"), respectively, owing to a Supreme Electoral Tribunal decision to annul their registration as candidates for president and vice president of the Republic of Guatemala, representing the political party PODEMOS, in the 2023 general elections.

2. On September 25, 2024, the S. expressed interest in initiating a friendly settlement process with respect to petition P-2350-23 and asked the IACHR to join it with petition P-2351-23 and to extend the S.'s consent to initiate a friendly settlement process to both matters jointly. On October 7, 2024, petitioner M.R. indicated her willingness to move forward with the negotiation process pertaining to petition 2350-23.

3. On J. 22, 2025, the S. and Messrs. Roberto Arzu García Granados and D.E.P.B., along with their respective representatives, signed a friendly settlement agreement (hereinafter "FSA") regarding both petitions. T. marked the beginning of a friendly settlement process facilitated by the Commission, which was formally notified in petitions P-2350-23 and P-2351-23 on J. 23 and 27, 2025, respectively. On February 5, 2025, the parties jointly submitted a progress report on compliance with the FSA and requested its official approval.

4. P. to Articles 49 of the American Convention and 40(5) of the Commission's Rules of Procedure, this friendly settlement report includes a summary of the petitioners’ allegations, and a transcription of the friendly settlement agreement signed on J. 22, 2025 between the petitioners and representatives of the G.S.. The Commission hereby approves the agreement signed by the parties and agrees to publish this report in its Annual Report to the General Assembly of the Organization of American S.s.

5. A., in response to the parties’ request and in view of the fact that a single FSA was signed for comprehensive reparations for the alleged victims in the two cases at hand, the Commission decides to join them in this process.

2. THE FACTS ALLEGED

6. According to the petitions, in August 2022, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal’s Citizen Registry sanctioned the political party PODEMOS, preventing it from registering its presidential and vice-presidential candidates. The Citizen Registry deemed certain actions taken by R.A.G.G. to be early campaigning, in violation of Guatemala’s Electoral and Political Parties Law. The petitioners indicated that they appealed the decision and, on J. 19, 2023, a ruling in their favor overturned the sanction.

7. According to the petitioners’ allegations, PODEMOS held a National Proclamation Assembly on December 11, 2022, during which the decision was made to nominate Roberto Arzu García Granados and D.E.P.B. as candidates for the offices of president and vice president of the Republic of Guatemala, respectively, in the 2023 general elections. C., on J. 21, 2023, the PODEMOS Secretary General asked that General Directorate of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal’s Citizen Registry to register this presidential ticket, in accordance with the procedures set forth in the Electoral and Political Parties Law and its regulations. The request was admitted on J. 27, 2023 and notified on J. 28, 2023.

8. Per the initial petition, the National Executive Committee Secretary General of the political party Frente de Convergencia Nacional (FCN-NACIÓN) challenged the above decision, alleging that Roberto Arzu García Granados had engaged in acts or activities that constituted a breach of the electoral process and therefore did not meet the requirements for registration set out in Article 214(g) of the Electoral and Political Parties Law. The petitioners claimed that the Supreme Electoral Tribunal then arbitrarily decided to revoke the alleged victims’ registration on February 6, 2023 upon deciding that the candidate had indeed engaged in early campaigning and that PODEMOS was insolvent due to a fine imposed in 2019. In this regard, the petitioners argued that the Supreme Electoral Tribunal had failed to both analyze the claimant’s standing and exhaust administrative channels with respect to the candidate’s purported actions, bearing in mind that the facts alleged had already been subject to scrutiny in the context of the J. 2023 decision. The petitioners likewise noted that PODEMOS’s alleged insolvency was not part of the challenge and that the fine had been settled in due time.

9. The petitions indicated that the alleged victims had filed a constitutional amparo appeal against the February 6, 2023 decision with the Supreme C. of Justice’s Amparo and Preliminary Proceedings Chamber. Their amparo appeal was dismissed on April 29, 2023. The petitioners then appealed that ruling before the Constitutional C. which, in a May 25, 2023 decision, upheld it.

3. FRIENDLY SETTLEMENT

10. On J. 22, 2025, the parties signed a friendly settlement agreement, the text of which is as follows:

FRIENDLY SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT (FSA)

PERTAINING TO THE VIOLATION OF THE CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS OF ROBERTO ARZU GARCÍA GRANADOS AND DAVID ESTEBAN PINEDA BARRIOS BY THE

STATE OF GUATEMALA

PETITION P-2350-23 AND PETITION P-2351-23

1. APPEARANCE AND WILLINGNESS OF THE PARTIES

1. The S. of Guatemala, in the person of Carlos Federico Amézquita Galindo, fifty-six (56) years of age, single, G., sociologist, domiciled in the department of Guatemala, offering Personal Identification Document (DPI) with Unique Identification Code (CUI) number two thousand four hundred ninety-three space sixty-two thousand three hundred seventeen space zero nine hundred one (2493 62317 0901), issued by the National Registry of Persons of the Republic of Guatemala, Central America, acting in his capacity as EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION FOR PEACE AND HUMAN RIGHTS (COPADEH), as evidenced by Governmental Agreement number one hundred and thirty-eight (138) of September eighteenth, two thousand twenty-four, and the Inauguration Record of September nineteenth, two thousand twenty-four, contained in the proceedings log of the Department of Human Resources, ON BEHALF OF THE STATE OF GUATEMALA declares that for purposes of the present instrument he is duly empowered to appear, sign, and ratify the Friendly Settlement Agreement (FSA) pertaining to the violation of the civil and political rights of R.A.G.G. and David Esteban Pineda Barrios by the S. of Guatemala, pursuant to Article 2(j) of Presidential Governmental Agreement number 27-2024 and per the instructions issued by the President of the Republic of Guatemala, B.A. de León, contained in Official Letter No. 03 dated J. 17, 2025.

2. The petitioners and their representatives: Roberto Arzu García Granados, as a Petitioner, fifty-four years of age, single, G., businessman, here domiciled, with Personal Identification Document (DPI) with Unique...