Hernandez-Ortiz

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

Guillermo and Florentino are natives of Guatemala and are of Mayan descent. They entered the United States from Mex- ico without documentation in 1991. Florentino applied for asylum on December 5, 1997, Guillermo on February 18, 1998. In 2000, the IJ consolidated their petitions. Evidentiary hearings followed on July 12, 2000, on November 30, 2001, and on September 12, 2002. The brothers submitted numerous documents on country conditions in Guatemala, including the report from the commission established by the Oslo Accord of June 23, 1994 (Comision para el Esclarecimiento Historico or CEH). These background documents were accepted into evidence. The brothers testified to the following events: 9464 HERNANDEZ-ORTIZ v. GONZALES In 1982, the two brothers, then aged nine and seven respec- tively, lived in Gracias a Dios, a village of about 500 families in the northern part of the department of Huehuetenango, Guatemala. The village was inhabited almost exclusively by Mayan Indians. The brothers’ parents were Tomas Hernandez-Perez and Tiburcia Ortiz Enriquez and their older brother, who was in his twenties, was named Humberto. The family lived on corn…