On February 8, Felix Cuc Xo, a community activist from Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, was beaten in front of his family and taken away by soldiers and police. His shadowy detention took place under the cover of Alta Verapaz’s martial law, which was decreed in December as an anti-narcotic operation. The remilitarization of an area hit hard by the country's armed conflict (that ended in 1996) is also quelling social movement organizing in the region.