Ex-militiaman arrested in Guatemala in war crimes case

GUATEMALA CITY – A former member of Guatemala’s paramilitary community patrols was arrested Wednesday on charges of crimes against humanity, after he was deported from the United States.

Francisco Cuxum Alvarado allegedly participated in mass rapes of indigenous women between 1981 and 1985, during the country’s 36-year civil war. He was a member of a civil militia that helped government forces violently remove, rape and massacre Maya Achi people from the Rio Negro area.

The 64-year-old Cuxum Alvarado was found in Waltham, Massachusetts, in 2018 working as a landscaper. He was sentenced to six months in prison for illegal reentry into the U.S..