In 2005, 80 million documents were discovered by chance, stacked and rotting in a building in Zone 6 of Guatemala City.

They were found by staff of the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office (PDH), who were carrying out safety procedures relating to the storage of explosives in public security service buildings. 

Now known as the National Police Historical Archive (AHPN), this was the historical-administrative documentation of the now-defunct National Police (PN), from its creation in 1881 to its closure in 1997.

The institution’s participation in the commission of human rights violations during the internal armed conflict was documented by the Historical Clarification Commission (CEH). In its report “Guatemala: Memory of Silence”, CEH affirms that the PN was an operative body for army intelligence, serving as the facade of the G-2 intelligence agency, and acted on its orders in the majority of cases.

During the CEH investigation, various state bodies, including the Interior Ministry and the PN itself, repeatedly denied the existence of any archives or documentary materials that would assist an investigation into human rights violations. 

In October 2010, evidence contained within the Archive began to contribute to the fight against impunity in Guatemala -  two former police agents were convicted for their part in the forced disappearance in 1984 of trade union leader Edgar Fernando García.

PBI has accompanied the AHPN since April 2011. The Archive is a documentary resource for the fight against impunity for human rights violations committed during the internal armed conflict.

The AHPN now forms part of the General Archive of Central America, and is a member of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, as the building which houses it was used as a clandestine detention centre by the PN during the armed conflict.

Online access to the digitised content is now possible via the University of Texas.