Guatemala seeks arrest of ex-guerrilla leader in 1980 blast

A judge in Guatemala has issued an arrest warrant for Gustavo Meoño, a former leftist guerrilla leader and transparency activist, in connection with a 1980 bomb attack

Guatemala 1980 Bombing (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

A judge in Guatemala issued an arrest warrant Wednesday for Gustavo Meoño, a former leftist guerrilla leader and transparency activist, in connection with a 1980 bomb attack.

The bombing in Guatemala City’s main plaza killed several people and was blamed on the rebels of the Guerrilla Army of the Poor. The attack occurred during the country’s 1960-1996 civil war between the army and leftist rebels in which over 200,000 people died, most at the hands of the military.

Meoño was leader of the Army of the Poor at the time of the attack. He later went on to head the National Police Historic Archive, a collection of millions of documents found in a warehouse in 2005 that documented rights abuses during the conflict.

Meoño faces homicide and other charges in the case. He had not been charged until now because the case was based on a complaint filed by citizens in 2017.