Historic trial against U.S.-backed former Guatemalan dictator Efraín Ríos Montt. He is the first head of state in the Americas to stand trial for genocide. The trial had been suspended but has since been revived. Ríos Montt is charged with overseeing the slaughter of more than 1,700 people in Guatemalas Ixil region after he seized power in 1982. On Wednesday, prosecutors asked for Ríos Montt to be sentenced to 75 years in prison. Ríos Montts defense team is expected to give closing arguments today.
Allan Nairn:
The trialthe trial was killed, essentially, after intervention by Guatemalas president on April 18th, but now it apparently is on the verge of being revived. There was a fierce backlash against the efforts by the president, General Pérez Molina, to stop the trial, resistance from within Guatemala, also internationally. And yesterday afternoon, the trial got back to business. They began closing statements. The prosecutors presented their request for a 75-year sentence Ríos Montt and also that he be taken from house arrest and placed in jail to prevent him from fleeing the country after the verdict.
Its possible a verdict could come today, but its also possible that it could bethe trial could be shut down at the last minute. There have been repeated death threats against judges and prosecutors. Yesterday, Ríos Montts lawyer, in open court, threatened to have the judges thrown in jail. A higher court could be used politically to kill the case at the last moment. So its really hanging in the balance. The case could be finished off today, or it could be allowed to reach a verdict.
Ríos Montt the first former head of state tried within his own country for genocide. this is being done within the domestic court system. Its been a tremendous political struggle. Its been led by the survivors of the massacres. Theyve been fighting for this for decades. And theyre on the brink of getting a verdict, of actually enforcing the murder laws.
But there are many people in the Guatemalan oligarchy, in the military, who dont like it. They see this trial as a threat to their way of life, as a threat to their ability to continue to carry on local assassinations, which still happen in the Guatemalan countryside. In fact, as we speak, the president, General Pérez Molina, has imposed a state of siege in four municipalities to try to put down popular resistance against Canadian-U.S. silver mining projects.
You cant really predict what the verdict will be, but the prosecution has presented a very powerful, well-documented case, with the testimony of dozens upon dozens of massacre survivors, thousands of pages of documents. And Ríos Montts defense has not really put up a factual defense. Ríos Montt has refused to speak. Theyve just used politics, outside intervention, to try to kill the case.
– source democracynow.org
Allan Nairn, investigative journalist. He was asked to testify in Guatemala in the landmark trial against former U.S.-backed dictator Efraín Ríos Montt on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.