Rios Montt Trial is Reason to Celebrate at AGM! (Amnesty International)

[Judi Lynn]

Rios Montt Trial is Reason to Celebrate at AGM!
By Larry Ladutke
March 19, 2013 at 3:41 PM

Tuesday, March 19 marks the beginning of the trial of former Guatemalan dictator Efraín Rios Montt for the deaths of 1,771 individuals and the forced displacement of tens of thousands more from the Ixil triangle region of southern Quiché department.

It is important to remember that the crimes covered in this trial are only a fraction of the widespread, systematic human rights abuses that the Guatemalan military committed under Rios Montt’s brief reign in 1982 and 1983. The military massacred or disappeared tens of thousands of Guatemalan civilians in the months following the coup that brought Rios Montt to power. Furthermore, the Commission on Historical Clarification (CEH) blamed the Guatemalan government for acts of genocide because:

“Between 1981 and 1983, the Army identified groups of the Mayan population as the internal enemy, considering them to be an actual or potential support base for the guerrillas….the Army…defined a concept of internal enemy that went beyond guerrilla sympathizers, combatants or militants to include civilians from specific ethnic groups….the reiteration of destructive acts, directed systematically against groups of the Mayan population, within which can be mentioned the elimination of leaders and criminal acts against minors who could not possibly have been military targets, demonstrates that the only common denominator for all the victims was the fact that they belonged to a specific ethnic group and makes it evident that these acts were committed “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part” these groups.”

This trial offers hope to all the families of tens of thousands Guatemalans killed by Rios Montt’s forces. They have waited 30 years, knowing that Rios Montt could die before ever facing justice – like Augusto Pinochet (Chile), Roberto D’Aubuisson (El Salvador), and Rene Emilio Ponce (El Salvador). Now, he is closer to joining Alberto Fujimori (Peru) and Jorge Rafael Videla (Argentina) on the growing list of convicted human rights abusers.

More:
http://blog.amnestyusa.org/americas/rios-montt-trial-is-reason-to-celebrate-at-agm/

[flamingdem]

1. Yes indeed!!!!

good

[Judi Lynn]

2. Faces covered, rape victims testify at trial of Guatemala’s former military strongman

Faces covered, rape victims testify at trial of Guatemala’s former military strongman
By Associated Press

GUATEMALA CITY — Indigenous women were systematically gang-raped by Guatemala soldiers and members of paramilitary groups during the country’s 36-year civil war, victims testified Tuesday at the trial of the country’s U.S.-backed strongman.

With their faces covered, the witnesses spoke in their native Ixil language on the eighth day of testimony in the trial of former Gen. Jose Efrain Rios Montt on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. The court asked the media not to reveal their names or publish any other identifying information.

One woman testified that she had found four men raping her daughter.

“When they saw me they fled,” she said. “They were soldiers.”

The women’s rights group “We Women” sang and held flowers outside the court in support of the witnesses.

More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/rape-victims-testify-at-trial-of-guatemalas-former-military-strongman/2013/04/02/56c9dce4-9bdf-11e2-9219-51eb8387e8f1_story.html

[idwiyo]

3. This definitely calls for celebration! Next would be nice if someone prosecutes Blair the Poodle.

[naaman fletcher]

4. Be careful

Amnesty is known for making "exceptionally rotten" reports at the behest of its US sponsors.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=405&topic_id=39492&mesg_id=39509

[Bacchus4.0]

5. I guess the take away is that we simply dismiss anything that poster writes

the Revolution was simply a propaganda piece anyway debunked in Xray of a Lie. Even the film community with their broad artistic license for embellishment didn't see fit to recognize that piece of garbage.