Guate: Rios Montt genocide trial / 2nd day of conclusions, Prosecution wraps up

[Catherina]

50. Defense points to one British Lord, Viscount Colville de Culross as *proof*

NISGUA ‏@NISGUA_Guate 16m

- #GarciaGudiel: #HR rapporteur, Colville de Culross, says armed activities in GUA were normal, there was virulent conflict.

- "it was as if Lord Colville really hadn't visited Guatemala. He seems to have been only a Government stooge":

....

''Human Rights'' - a production of Thames Television in Britain -stakes out its position early on. It shows us Guatemala. Soldiers in black shirts goose step to kettle drums. A moment later, a priest describes a massacre in an Indian village. A soldier plunged a knife into a 3-year-old boy, and then picked the child up by his ankles and crushed his head against a wall. The priest, who did not see the massacre but was told about it, says that the Guatemalan Army murdered 15,000 to 16,000 Indians from 1982 to 1984.

Go then to Viscount Colville of Culross, a United Nations investigator, examining reports of human rights abuses in Guatemala. In one village, farmers tell him that a band of guerrillas was ''handed over'' to the army or perhaps ''surrendered'' - it is unclear which - and that either eight or 18 were then killed.

Returning to New York, Lord Colville is interviewed on a plane. He says he has found ''some very positive sides'' to the Guatemalan Government, and that conditions seem to be improving. He says he will file a ''balanced'' report.

''Many people would be surprised you can find anything positive in a country run by a junta,'' the unseen reporter-narrator says. He almost sounds amused. Then we see the priest again. He says it was as if Lord Colville really hadn't visited Guatemala. He seems to have been only a Government stooge. The sequence concludes with film of grieving women, although it's uncertain whom they're grieving for.

http://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/29/movies/human-rights-on-pbs-british-documentary.html