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Allan Nairn / Por Louisa Reynolds / Miércoles 22 Mayo 2013
American journalist Allan Nairn is very familiar with the term “scorched earth”. It wasn’t something he read about in a report, or something that he heard about, he witnessed it with his own eyes during his trips to the Ixil region during the early 1980s. Nairn interviewed former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt and his advisor Francisco Bianchi, who talked about the operations launched against the civilian population in an attempt to destroy support for the guerrillas. He also talked to military commander Guatemalan president Otto Pérez Molina in the days when he used the nom de guerre Tito Arias. Nairn believes that on the day he interviewed him, Pérez Molina tortured four guerrillas to death. He also argues that Pérez Molina, US diplomats and the CIA all took part in the wave of genocidal attacks against civilians that swept over Guatemala. He was called by the prosecution as a witness in the Ríos Montt case but at the last minute he was told that he wouldn’t testify. |
Genocide Trial / Por Oswaldo J. Hernández / Domingo 12 Mayo 2013
It was a damp, hot, almost suffocating courtroom the afternoon of the sentence. The accused Generals Efrain Rios Montt and Jose Mauricio Rodriguez were two diffused silhouettes among the hundreds of reporters and nearly thousand people who awaited to hear the verdict. For the first time in Latin American history, a former strongman was tried for genocide. Many were anxious and others worried that because of pending injunctions the trial would be suspended. But once the panel of three judges finally made their way into the courtroom, it was clear. There would be a verdict and nothing could stop it. |
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GUEST COLUMNIST / Por Rodrigo Rey Rosa / Martes 30 Abr 2013
The inserts that have been circulated in the most recent Sunday editions of national newspaper elPeriódico contain a revealing symbol. The emblem of the Foundation Against Terrorism is a scale of justice. But the central support of the scale is not the conventional rod, but a military dagger. [+] Yo, genocida |
Editorial / Por Plaza Pública / Domingo 28 Abr 2013
During the 20 days the genocide trial has gone on in Guatemala, various accusations have been launched saying it has the potential to divide the country—as if it was united. It seems to have deepened our contradictions and quashed the opportunity for debate with empty threats that it would only lead to violence, like everything else in this country. |
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Visions and versions of a conflict / Por Alejandra Gutiérrez Valdizán / Jueves 25 Abr 2013
For years, Alfred Kaltschmitt has written op-eds for Guatemala’s most conservative newspaper. He is also a journalism professor at the Panamerican University. Kaltschmitt was also the executive director of the Foundation to Help the Indigenous Nation (known by its Spanish acronym FUNDAPI). Testifying as a witness for General Efrain Rios Montt’s defense, he speaks about the support the army gave rural indigenous communities during the 1960-1996 civil war. |
GENOCIDE TRIAL / Por Plaza Pública / Miércoles 24 Abr 2013
The biggest blow to the country’s judicial independence came Tuesday, with full-page advertisements in Guatemalan daily newspapers. The ads, signed by a group of ex-military and peace accord negotiators, accused the tribunals of a “juridical fabrication” and claimed genocide did not occur. They say a guilty verdict could send the country into disarray. Retired Generals Efrain Rios Montt and Jose Rodriguez Sanchez were charged in January 2012 for genocide and crimes against humanity. Prosecutors accuse them of the slaughter by subordinates of at least 1,771 Mayan Ixils. |
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GENOCIDE TRIAL, blogs / Por Edelberto Torres-Rivas / Miércoles 24 Abr 2013
Sociologist Edelberto Torres-Rivas contests the recent ad campaign in Guatemalan daily newspapers to undermine the genocide trial. The ads, signed by a group of ex-military and peace accord negotiators, accused the tribunals of a “juridical fabrication” and claimed genocide did not occur. Retired Generals Efrain Rios Montt and Jose Rodriguez Sanchez were charged in January 2012 for genocide and crimes against humanity. Prosecutors accuse them of the slaughter by subordinates of at least 1,771 Mayan Ixils. Please see the unedited translation of his text below. |
Genocide Trial, Blogs / Por Félix Alvarado / Miércoles 24 Abr 2013
We all want peace. Don’t try to make me feel guilty because I’m asking for the army’s accountability in Guatemala’s 1960-1996 civil war. In the same way our Peace Accords were haphazardly negotiated and then its legacy swept under the rug, it seems we’re trying to do the same with war crimes. |
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Genocide trial / Por Oswaldo J. Hernández, Alejandra Gutiérrez Valdizán / Miércoles 24 Abr 2013
Despite contradicting reports by local and international press outlets, Guatemala’s Constitutional Court has not rule on the fate of the genocide trial against retired General Efrain Rios Montt and his former security chief Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez. Last week a pre-trial judge ordered the trial go back to its evidentiary phase. However, the three-justice panel, presided by Judge Yasmin Barrios rejected the order and placed the fate of Latin America’s first genocide trial in the hands of the country’s top court. |
 Genocide trial / Por Oswaldo J. Hernández / Sábado 20 Abr 2013
Uncertainty loomed in Guatemala on Friday morning as hundreds of indigenous Ixils, diplomats, and international observers made their way into the country’s Supreme Court where trial has been ongoing since March 19. The three-justice panel, presided by Judge Yasmin Barrios vowed to continue acting according to the rule of law and trail-blaze against justices attempting to halt the genocide trial. In an unprecedented turn of events, a judge recently reinstated to the case of former Guatemalan dictator Jose Efrain Rios Montt and Mauricio Rodríguez Sanchez ordered the suspension of the trial. [+] Todo lo anulado |
