Guatemalan Cold Warrior Convicted of Genocide

[Roly Poly Oly-Garch]

Been following this trial on Democracy Now! It's been interesting...

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/05/201351591259267287.html

A Guatemalan court found former dictator and US Cold War ally, Efrain Rios Montt, guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity and sentenced him to 80 years in prison.

The reason why this is so significant is that it's not occurring after some bloody revolution, it's happening right under the noses of the oligarchy that maintained power through this genocide, and a president who, by many accounts, participated in it.

Even after the verdict, President Otto Perez Molina insists that there was no genocide in Guatemala even though, to his credit, his administration issued a statement respecting the court's ruling and the independence of the judicial system.

Of note, Molina threatened to shut down the trial if he was implicated in testimony (again). So I guess it's independence-ish of the judicial system.

[Junkenstein]

Good find, thanks.

I don't know a lot about the region but I'll be looking at this properly tomorrow. Looks like this may have a bit to go yet:

The US supported the strengthening of the country's judicial system through the prosecution of Rios Montt and Rodriguez Sanchez. US Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues Stephen J Rapp travelled to Guatemala to support the proceedings in April when it was unclear whether the trial would continue.

And following the verdict, a spokesman from the US State Department said that, "We see an opportunity for progress toward a true reconciliation in Guatemala, an essential step for the Guatemalan people to continue moving forward as everyone hopes", and "At this time, it is important to remember that Guatemala, as a country, was not on trial." The US' support for the trial was indeed important.

Unfortunately, the US did not take the opportunity to weigh in on whether it agreed with the guilty verdict, how it now views its earlier support for Rios Montt, or how the verdict affects its relationship with the current president. The spokesperson said: "We note the decision of the Guatemalan court and reaffirm the importance of a strong and transparent justice system as an essential component of democracy."

Neither did the US take the opportunity to reaffirm or go beyond President Clinton's 1999 apology. Like some political and economic elite in Guatemala, the US has a hard time accepting that the manner in which it fought communism, or now terrorism for that matter, was often illegal and involved war crimes, crimes against humanity and perhaps, even genocide.

HO HO HO

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Something sane happened somewhere?
In a courtroom?
In a trial having to do with the torture and killing of millions of Indigenous People over the course of decades?

MIND = BLOWN