Guatemala has detained 14 of its ex-military officials who were charged on human rights abuses during the country's armed conflict, which has spanned more than three decades.

According to a report with the BBC News, one of those arrested was Manuel Benedicto Lucas Garcia. The 83-year-old was a former general, and is the brother of former president Fernando Romeo Lucas Garcia.

Many of those who were detained had allegedly worked where a mass grave was unearthed.

According to the report, Garcia is a former army commander who allegedly founded Guatemala's paramilitary groups.

His brother, the former president, ruled Guatemala from July 1978 to March 1982.

Garcia, along with the other detainees, face charges of crimes against human rights. The detainees are also being charged on being involved in the mass disappearances of indigenous people.

Thelma Aldana, the Guatemalan attorney general, said that Garcia and the others were being charged in connection with the mass disappearance of at least 558 indigenous people between 1981 and 1988.

Aldana said that this case is "one of the largest cases of disappearances in Latin America."

Survivors testified that during one particular massacre, Garcia and his army killed 256 people -- comprised mostly of women, children and the elderly, who were from the Mayan Achi ethnic group.

Military Zone 21 is currently a military training centre. In 2012, four mass graves were excavated and the bodies of "non-combatant civilians identified by survivors" were discovered.

The testimonies from survivors were essential in locating the mass graves at Zone 21. The survivors also connected the killings to the officers.

Mario Polanco, the director of the Mutual Support Group, said that the arrest of Garcia and the others was nothing short of "historic."

Guatemala's 36-year armed conflict ended in 1996 after a peace agreement. During the last 10 years, Guatemala has prosecuted human rights violators, but only a few high-level officials have actually been jailed, PBS reported.

The armed conflict saw right-wing governments at war with left-wing rebels. The conflict claimed nearly 250,000 lives.

U.S. involvement in the country was also one of the key factors contributing to human rights violations, which included training of officers in counterinsurgency techniques and the assisting of the national intelligence apparatus. 

Today, the country is under the regime of President Alejandro Maldonado. After over a decade following the Civil War, violence continues to be a major problem in both political and civilian life. Organized crime groups continue to operate with continued impunity.