U.S. Deports Waltham Man Accused Of Guatemalan War Crimes

WALTHAM, MA – A man accused by the Guatemalan government of involvement in massacres and sexual violence against indigenous people in the 1980s was deported Wednesday, Homeland Security officials announced. He had lived in Waltham for years until law enforcement traced him to Robbins Street in April.

Francisco Cuxum Alvarado, also known as Francisco Cuxun-Alvarado, 64, pleaded guilty in September to one count of illegal reentry into the United States. He was sentenced last month to six months in prison, time served.

"Today, human rights violators have been put on notice: There is no safe haven for you in the United States," said Jason Molina, acting special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston, in a statement.

"The people of Guatemala have been given the opportunity to restore a measure of justice to a tragic chapter of their recent history," Molina added. "Cuxum-Alvarado can now be held accountable for his alleged crimes by those who most deserve the opportunity to decide his fate: the people of Guatemala working through their own sovereign system of justice."

On April 30, police found him living in an apartment building on Robbins Street in Waltham and took him into custody.

"He was there and living a quiet, uneventful, unremarkable life," Michael Ronayne of Homeland Security said in court last month, NBC Boston reported at the time.

Cuxum-Alvarado was living in the U.S. illegally. He had previously been deported for entering the country illegally in 2004.

"Of all the reasons to enter the United States illegally, doing so to avoid investigation and prosecution for human rights violations is one of the most serious," Scott Garland of the US Attorney's office wrote in a request to have Cuxum-Alvarado serve a maximum sentence, despite having had no criminal record beyond the two illegal entries.

Here's what he was accused of in Guatemala:

During the early 1980s in Guatemala, a series of attacks were committed against the indigenous people of Rio Negro, in a town called Rabinal. During these massacres, Guatemalan armed forces, assisted by civilian militias known as the Civil Defense Patrols, forcibly removed the Maya Achi people from their land, attacking and killing more than 400 of them. There were also mass sexual assaults carried out against Achi-Mayan women.

Cuxum-Alvarado was a member of the militia in Rabinal, and in 1998, was also named as a suspect in the March 13, 1982, massacre of women and children in a separate incident, according to court documents.

In 2018, the Guatemalan government charged him with crimes against humanity for his role in the attacks, after charging several others in the same militia. The Guatemalan government then sent out an "INTERPOL Red Notice," which is a request to law enforcement worldwide to help find and provisionally arrest suspects pending extradition.

Cuxum-Alvarado told law enforcement that he was a member of the Rabinal militia. In Homeland Security affidavits, the man said he had been watching news about recent arrests of former militia in Guatemala and that God should be the final judge of what happened.

Convinction on the charge of living in the U.S. illegally carries a sentence of up to two years in prison, one year of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. In December, U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani sentenced Cuxum-Alvarado to six months in prison, time served and a $100 fine.

Previously:

Waltham Man Wanted In Connection To Guatemalan Massacres

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).