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The current trial of Guatemala's former de facto President Gen Efrain Rios Montt is the most significant human rights event in the recent history of that nation. By many accounts, Rios Montt is responsible for the worst human rights abuses committed by the military in Latin America. His trial and eventual punishment can change the political panorama in Guatemala, and be redemption for its military rulers' cruel past.
I became aware of the Guatemalan military's human rights abuses in the early eighties, when I interviewed Nobel Peace laureate Rigoberta Menchu in New York. During our conversation she told me about the terrible things happening in her country. Although some people tried to discredit her testimony saying that it was fabricated, it proved to be correct in its essential details.
Her testimony of the military's genocidal policies was later amply confirmed by two important Truth Commissions, the REMHI report (Proyecto Interdiocesano de Recuperacion de la Memoria Historica) sponsored by the Roman Catholic Church in Guatemala and the CEH report (Historical Clarification Commission) conducted by the United Nations.
Both reports extensively deal with how the military conducted its operations in the countryside, particularly the "scorched earth" policy that caused the indiscriminate death of thousands of civilians, among them a substantial proportion of women and children. That campaign was to a large extent directed against the nation's Mayan population, whom the military had associated with the insurgency.
At the most critical time during Rios Montt's rule there were more than 3,000 killings and disappearances per month. Based on the number of people killed or made to disappear, Rios Montt was the most brutal dictator in Latin America's recent history, surpassing even Augusto Pinochet in Chile, Hugo Banzer in Bolivia or Jorge Rafael Videla in Argentina.
That Rios Montt was supported by the United States at the time of the repression in Guatemala in no way diminishes the extent of his responsibility. While paying a visit to Guatemala City in December of 1982, Ronald Reagan stated, "President Rios Montt is a man of great personal integrity and commitment...I know he wants to improve the quality of life for all Guatemalans and promote social justice."
In March 1999, U.S. President Bill Clinton apologized for the U.S. support for the Rios Montt regime, declaring, "For the United States, it is important I state clearly that support for military forces and intelligence units which engaged in violence and widespread repression was wrong and the United States must not repeat that mistake."
Although guerrilla popular forces confronting the military were also responsible for some human rights violations, an investigation by the Historical Clarification Commission found that Guatemalan state forces and related paramilitary groups were responsible for 93% of the documented violations, including 92% of the arbitrary executions and 91% of forced disappearances.
Years later after our first encounter, I met Rigoberta Menchu again by chance near the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan. She was standing in front of an ATM next to the UN, surrounded by several women. I greeted her and asked how she was doing. She replied that she had been doing well until she tried to get money from the cash machine. Her frustration was evident as she kept trying to do it but was unable to.
Trying to make light of the situation I said to her: "You know, Rigoberta, that machine was probably made by a witch doctor." Without missing a beat, she retorted: "No, Cesar, this machine was made by the white man." Bringing to trial General Rios Montt is perhaps a way for fate to make a white man pay for his barbaric behavior against the Guatemalan Indians.
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The current trial of Guatemala's former de facto President Gen Efrain Rios Montt is the most significant human rights event in the recent history of that nation. By many accounts, Rios Montt is responsible for the worst human rights abuses committed by the military in Latin America. His trial and eventual punishment can change the political panorama in Guatemala, and be redemption for its military rulers' cruel past.
I became aware of the Guatemalan military's human rights abuses in the early eighties, when I interviewed Nobel Peace laureate Rigoberta Menchu in New York. During our conversation she told me about the terrible things happening in her country. Although some people tried to discredit her testimony saying that it was fabricated, it proved to be correct in its essential details.
Her testimony of the military's genocidal policies was later amply confirmed by two important Truth Commissions, the REMHI report (Proyecto Interdiocesano de Recuperacion de la Memoria Historica) sponsored by the Roman Catholic Church in Guatemala and the CEH report (Historical Clarification Commission) conducted by the United Nations.
Both reports extensively deal with how the military conducted its operations in the countryside, particularly the "scorched earth" policy that caused the indiscriminate death of thousands of civilians, among them a substantial proportion of women and children. That campaign was to a large extent directed against the nation's Mayan population, whom the military had associated with the insurgency.
At the most critical time during Rios Montt's rule there were more than 3,000 killings and disappearances per month. Based on the number of people killed or made to disappear, Rios Montt was the most brutal dictator in Latin America's recent history, surpassing even Augusto Pinochet in Chile, Hugo Banzer in Bolivia or Jorge Rafael Videla in Argentina.
That Rios Montt was supported by the United States at the time of the repression in Guatemala in no way diminishes the extent of his responsibility. While paying a visit to Guatemala City in December of 1982, Ronald Reagan stated, "President Rios Montt is a man of great personal integrity and commitment...I know he wants to improve the quality of life for all Guatemalans and promote social justice."
In March 1999, U.S. President Bill Clinton apologized for the U.S. support for the Rios Montt regime, declaring, "For the United States, it is important I state clearly that support for military forces and intelligence units which engaged in violence and widespread repression was wrong and the United States must not repeat that mistake."
Although guerrilla popular forces confronting the military were also responsible for some human rights violations, an investigation by the Historical Clarification Commission found that Guatemalan state forces and related paramilitary groups were responsible for 93% of the documented violations, including 92% of the arbitrary executions and 91% of forced disappearances.
Years later after our first encounter, I met Rigoberta Menchu again by chance near the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan. She was standing in front of an ATM next to the UN, surrounded by several women. I greeted her and asked how she was doing. She replied that she had been doing well until she tried to get money from the cash machine. Her frustration was evident as she kept trying to do it but was unable to.
Trying to make light of the situation I said to her: "You know, Rigoberta, that machine was probably made by a witch doctor." Without missing a beat, she retorted: "No, Cesar, this machine was made by the white man." Bringing to trial General Rios Montt is perhaps a way for fate to make a white man pay for his barbaric behavior against the Guatemalan Indians.
The current trial of Guatemala's former de facto President Gen Efrain Rios Montt is the most significant human rights event in the recent history of that nation. By many accounts, Rios Montt is responsible for the worst human rights abuses committed by the military in Latin America. His trial and eventual punishment can change the political panorama in Guatemala, and be redemption for its military rulers' cruel past.
I became aware of the Guatemalan military's human rights abuses in the early eighties, when I interviewed Nobel Peace laureate Rigoberta Menchu in New York. During our conversation she told me about the terrible things happening in her country. Although some people tried to discredit her testimony saying that it was fabricated, it proved to be correct in its essential details.
Her testimony of the military's genocidal policies was later amply confirmed by two important Truth Commissions, the REMHI report (Proyecto Interdiocesano de Recuperacion de la Memoria Historica) sponsored by the Roman Catholic Church in Guatemala and the CEH report (Historical Clarification Commission) conducted by the United Nations.
Both reports extensively deal with how the military conducted its operations in the countryside, particularly the "scorched earth" policy that caused the indiscriminate death of thousands of civilians, among them a substantial proportion of women and children. That campaign was to a large extent directed against the nation's Mayan population, whom the military had associated with the insurgency.
At the most critical time during Rios Montt's rule there were more than 3,000 killings and disappearances per month. Based on the number of people killed or made to disappear, Rios Montt was the most brutal dictator in Latin America's recent history, surpassing even Augusto Pinochet in Chile, Hugo Banzer in Bolivia or Jorge Rafael Videla in Argentina.
That Rios Montt was supported by the United States at the time of the repression in Guatemala in no way diminishes the extent of his responsibility. While paying a visit to Guatemala City in December of 1982, Ronald Reagan stated, "President Rios Montt is a man of great personal integrity and commitment...I know he wants to improve the quality of life for all Guatemalans and promote social justice."
In March 1999, U.S. President Bill Clinton apologized for the U.S. support for the Rios Montt regime, declaring, "For the United States, it is important I state clearly that support for military forces and intelligence units which engaged in violence and widespread repression was wrong and the United States must not repeat that mistake."
Although guerrilla popular forces confronting the military were also responsible for some human rights violations, an investigation by the Historical Clarification Commission found that Guatemalan state forces and related paramilitary groups were responsible for 93% of the documented violations, including 92% of the arbitrary executions and 91% of forced disappearances.
Years later after our first encounter, I met Rigoberta Menchu again by chance near the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan. She was standing in front of an ATM next to the UN, surrounded by several women. I greeted her and asked how she was doing. She replied that she had been doing well until she tried to get money from the cash machine. Her frustration was evident as she kept trying to do it but was unable to.
Trying to make light of the situation I said to her: "You know, Rigoberta, that machine was probably made by a witch doctor." Without missing a beat, she retorted: "No, Cesar, this machine was made by the white man." Bringing to trial General Rios Montt is perhaps a way for fate to make a white man pay for his barbaric behavior against the Guatemalan Indians.