Additional Context: This information was obtained by Human Rights Watch, or HRW, in an April 2025 interview with Silvia Quan, president of Colectivo Vida Independiente, the grassroots organization that provided this service. Colectivo Vida Independiente was the subawardee of a State Department grant as part of a program supporting similar organizations in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. The organization provided training on the violence experienced by persons with disabilities to advocates supporting their defense and also offered legal assistance. Initial stop-work orders in January 2025 forced the organization to dismiss its team of professional staff, and refrain from accepting new legal support cases.

Devex Researcher Note: The U.S. State Department's 2023 human rights report on Guatemala noted that state and local agencies received no specialized training for working with people with disabilities, leaving law enforcement personnel effectively unequipped to provide them adequate institutional and legal support. Human Rights Watch reported in the same year that this absence was due to Guatemala not having taken action toward passing domestic disability rights legislation.

Source: Human Rights Watch