Juan José Gerardi Conedera (27 December 1922 – 26 April 1998) was a Guatemalan Roman Catholic bishop and human rights defender who was long active in working with the indigenous Mayan peoples of the country.

In the 1970s, he gained government recognition of indigenous languages as official languages, and helped secure permission for radio stations to broadcast in indigenous languages. In 1988 he was appointed to the government's National Reconciliation Commission to begin the process of accounting for abuses during the civil war. He also worked on the associated Recovery of Historical Memory Project, which was sponsored by the Catholic Church.

Two days after he announced the release of the project's report on victims of the Guatemalan Civil War, Guatemala: Nunca Más!, in April 1998, Gerardi was attacked in his garage and beaten to death.

In 2001, in the first trial in a civilian court of members of the military in Guatemalan history, three Army officers were convicted of his death and sentenced to long prison terms. A priest was convicted as an accomplice and also sentenced.

He was declared a martyr by Pope Francis in 2020, clearing the way for his eventual beatification.

Early life

Gerardi Conedera, of partial Italian ancestry, was born in Guatemala City on 27 December 1922. He studied at the city's seminary and won a scholarship to study theology in New Orleans, United States.