Guatemala Illuminates its Dark History With a Stunning Guilty Verdict for Rios Montt

[marmar]

Guatemala Illuminates its Dark History With a Stunning Guilty Verdict for Rios Montt

Monday, 13 May 2013 10:27
By Lauren Carasik, Truthout | Op-Ed


After years of tireless effort and weeks of proceedings in the trial of US-supported former Guatemalan dictator Jose Efrain Rios Montt for genocide and crimes against humanity, Judge Jazmin Barrios delivered a stunning victory for truth and justice. Though her voice quivered initially under the gravity of her charge, as she detailed the court’s findings, Judge Barrios was eloquent, forceful and righteous, vindicating all those who toiled for years and risked their lives to shed light on the bloody past.

Declaring Rios Montt guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity and sentencing him to 80 years in prison, Judge Barrios echoed the voices of the victims: "For there to be peace in Guatemala, first there must be justice." This historic verdict will reverberate from the packed courtroom to the highlands where the rivers ran red with blood, to the global community, to send an unmistakable message that justice can prevail over the most ardent efforts of those whose ruthless acts are cloaked by impunity.

The process was fraught with delay, vitriol and unexpected turns, caused by relentless defense efforts to delegitimize the tribunal rather than present a substantive rebuttal to the charges. It was uncertain whether the Guatemala genocide trial would ever reach its dramatic conclusion many years after survivors first availed themselves of the legal system to find truth and justice for the unspeakable brutality that claimed over 200,000 lives and devastated countless others. Rios Montt and his chief of military intelligence, Jose Maurico Sanchez Rodriquez, who was ultimately acquitted, were charged were the deaths of 1,771 Maya Ixiles in the Department of Quiche from 1982 to 1983, along with a deliberate campaign of state-sponsored terror intended to destroy the Ixil culture. Weeks of trial included the haunting testimony of survivors, whose palpable grief flowed from newly reopened wounds and the methodical and exhaustive presentation of carefully orchestrated forensic, military and other experts.

Even as the world waited expectantly for the trial to conclude, the legal maneuvering continued to plague the process. Judge Carol Patricia Flores, in charge of preliminary matters before she was recused - after a motion by the defense - and subsequently reinstated, sent the process careening into turmoil with her April decision annulling all trial proceedings that happened after she was removed from the case in November 2011. Amid multiple appeals that engendered confusion and uncertainty, a ruling from the Constitutional Court allowed the trial to move forward. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/16336-guatemala-illuminates-its-dark-history-with-a-stunning-guilty-verdict-for-rios-montt

[SpearthrowerOwl]

1. I feel the need to post in this thread...

... because I'm named after a symbol found in Mayan glphys.

But yeah, this conviction is astounding considering it has not garnered the support (and is actively opposed) by the current president of Guatemala. It's really a pretty interesting situation.

[Judi Lynn]

2. President Perez Molina should be on trial himself for his own war crimes.

It's a strange world when a man like him can actually be elected as the President of the country where he personally has tortured and slaughtered indigenous human beings.

Truly hideous. If there's any justice at all, he would be next in line.

Welcome to D.U., SpearthrowerOwl!

[RainDog]

3. k&r n/t