HISTORIC RULING: RIOS MONTT CHARGED WITH GENOCIDE AND CRIMES AGAINST
HUMANITY
On Thursday,
January 26, 2012, Guatemala's former dictator Efrain Rios Montt sat
in court while the Public Prosecutor read the evidence against
him...and read...and read...until he had summarized the crimes
committed by armed forces under Rios Montt’s command in 1982-83
which constituted acts of genocide in Guatemala’s Ixil Triangle (San
Juan Cotzal, San Gaspar Chajúl and Santa María Nebaj): the forced
displacement of 29,000, the deaths of 1,771 individuals in 11
massacres, as well as torture and 1,485 acts of sexual violence
against women.
For families and communities that have endured decades of fear,
silence and impunity in cases that relate to the internal conflict,
this was a rare day when justice seemed less illusive, even
possible.
Inside and
outside the courtroom, Guatemalans gathered to watch the hearing.
The steps of the court building were decorated with flowers,
photographs of lost loved ones, and a large sawdust carpet
denouncing impunity. Hundreds more - of not thousands - watched via
live-stream.
Rios Montt, who took power in 1982 after a military coup, declared
himself president, dissolved congress, and annulled the
constitution. As leader of the military high command, he
“authorized, created, designed and supervised” the military's
counterinsurgency strategy which targeted the civilian population in
the indigenous highlands, declaring them internal enemies that
needed to be “destroyed.” The scorched earth policy that was carried
out in the following 17 months has become widely recognized as the
most violent period in all of Guatemala’s 36-year conflict.
As the crimes
themselves are not in question, the prosecution focused on Rios
Montt's command responsibility; the idea that, as president and
commander in chief, he was directly in the chain of command with
authority over those who carried out the acts, that he was informed
about what happened, and that he actively oversaw and perpetuated a
state policy of violence that targeted a specific ethnic group.
Human rights lawyer Edgar Pérez, representing victims organizations
CALDH and AJR, spoke eloquently about the cultural and ethnic
destruction caused by Rios Montt's policies. Using military plans
and strategies from the time, including Operación Sofía,
Plan Victoria '82 and Plan Firmenza '83, he described the
how the Rios Montt regime institutionalized the war against the
indigenous, and that the dictator personally received updates as to
the military’s actions.
Their evidence
was convincing to the public, and many waited for hours to hear the
judge’s decision. At 9:30pm, Judge Patricia Flores ruled that there
was sufficient evidence to move forward with a trial.
Rios Montt
declined to speak in his own defense, saying only: "I prefer to
remain silent." It was only on January 14th that the
former dictator left Congress, and lost his immunity. In December,
he had presented himself to the court to “know the charges against
him” and was quickly subpoenaed to appear for Thursday’s hearing.
Despite the official charges against him, the judge ruled, against
protocol, that Rios Montt could post bail and be put under house
arrest instead of going to jail.
The two other members of the military high command from Rios Montt’s
regime, then head of the Military Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mario Lopez
Fuentes and Mejia Víctores, then Defense Minister, were subpoenaed
last year but their evidentiary hearings were both postponed due to
health issues.
The case is far from over, but for many, Thursday’s trial was a
positive first step in Guatemala’s right to truth and justice.
