Guatemala: Witnesses Recall Horror and Heartache at Rios Montt Trial

Indigenous survivors of Guatemala’s civil war spoke at the genocide trial against former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt and spoke about abuses committed by the military three decades ago.

57-year-old Miguel C. Sánchez told the court on Thursday that troops in 1982 marched into the town of Trapichitos, murdered villagers including children, and burned down their houses.

“They tied him by his hands and fight and then dragged him away,” said Jacinto Brito who recalled the killing of his father.  “They also took away another four people.  The soldiers came in all directions.  Surely the government ordered them to do this,” added Brito who spoke this morning.

“They came and they massacred my mother, my brother and my brother-in-law. They burned homes," said 45-year-old Tomas Chavez who took the witness stand on Wednesday.

At least 150 members of the indigenous Ixil will testify over the next ten days against Rios Montt and ex-military intelligence chief José Rodríguez who are accused of crimes against humanity and genocide.  These eyewitnesses were determined to speak at the Guatemala City court even though some of them couldn’t speak Spanish and required translators.  In Brito’s case, a translator was provided due to his illiteracy and special headphones were used since he’s partially deaf.

Human rights prosecutors at the trial that started on Tuesday will attempt to prove that Rios Montt and Rodríguez masterminded the murders of 1771 Ixil people during the ex-strongman’s seventeen-month period as de facto president.  The pair is believed to have planned a “scorched earth” offensive aimed at eliminating suspected Marxist insurgents and their alleged collaborators. 

The defense team, who had filed numerous appeals in order to stall proceedings, alleged that Rios Montt was not in charge of battlefield operations. 

The trial has divided Guatemalans with supporters of the former dictator such as former general-turned-President Otto Perez Molina arguing that no genocide occurred in the country.  Yet for some victims of Guatemala’s civil war, the trial is a necessary end to years of impunity enjoyed by Rios Montt:

Weekend World Watch: Remembrance

* Japan: A minute of silence was held on Sunday on the one-year anniversary of a major earthquake and tsunami that killed over 15,800 people, left numerous towns in ruins and raised questions over the Japanese nuclear power industry.

* Uganda: The Kony 2012 campaign has raised plenty of global attention to the abuses committed by the Lord’s Resistance Army but will it help bring positive changes to Uganda?

* Spain: Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in dozens of Spanish cities to protest against government-backed austerity plans.

* Syria: Ex-U.N. secretary general left Syria after failing to broker a deal with the government to end their crackdown on civilian opposition and rebels.

Video Source– YouTube via Associated Press

Online Sources – The Guardian, Christian Science Monitor, The Telegraph, USA TODAY

Daily Headlines: November 23, 2011

* Venezuela: In order to combat high inflation the government introduced additional price controls on eighteen products.

* Mexico: Troops confiscated over $15 million suspected of belonging to Sinaloa drug gang leader Joaquin Guzman.

* Guatemala: Investigators identified the remains of two people suspected of being kidnapped, tortured and murdered by the military nearly thirty years ago.

* Chile: PolitiFact.com labeled as “False” U.S. presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s claim that Chile has a 72% national savings rate.

Image Source – Via Flickr user blmurch (market stall in Merida, Venezuela), (CC BY 2.0)

Online Sources – Bloomberg, PolitiFact, BBC News, Reuters

World Watch: Beyond Gadhafi

Note: The major news headline of today was the death of deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi. There have been other important pieces of news from around the world, however, which we will highlight in today’s “World Watch”.

* Spain: Representatives of militant Basque separatist group ETA claimed that they will halt their decades-long armed campaign.

* Afghanistan: At least 115 suspected insurgents were reportedly killed over the past week by NATO and Afghan forces.

* Philippines: Colleagues of the late Father Fausto Tentorio have accused the army of killing the “great advocate for disadvantaged people.”

* Denmark: A study by Danish researchers has raised doubts over the rumored links between cell phone use and brain cancer.

Video Source – YouTube user europapress

Online Sources- Reuters, MSNBC, Al Jazeera English, ABC News

Daily Headlines: July 26, 2011

* Central America: Four ex-Guatemalan soldiers are on trial for their alleged role in the infamous Dos Erres massacre in 1982, while Canadian immigration officials said that they will deport a Honduran accused of heading a violent army battalion in the early 1980s.

* South America: Scientists concluded that the results of tests performed on the corpse of independence figure Simon Bolivar were inconclusive as to how he died.

* Chile: Workers are expected to continue a sixth day of striking at one of Chile’s main copper mines.

* Mexico: Police uncovered over forty tons of marijuana in a “plantation” covering roughly 148 acres.

Image – AFP via BBC News (“The four suspects (front row) deny having been involved in the massacre” of over 200 people in the Guatemalan village of Dos Erres in 1982).
Online Sources- MSNBC, BBC News, MarketWatch, People’s Daily Online, Vancouver Sun

Daily Headlines: June 10, 2011

* Guatemala: Authorities arrested former police chief Hector Bol de la Cruz who is accused of masterminding the kidnapping and disappearance of a “student union leader” during the Guatemalan civil war.

* Chile: Four imprisoned Mapuche activists protesting Chile’s controversial dictatorship-era, “anti-terrorism” ended their 86-day hunger strike on Thursday.

* Colombia: President Juan Manuel Santos is expected to sign a landmark victims' law days after rights leader Ana Fabricia Cordoba was murdered.

* South America: Over 100 flights throughout Latin America were cancelled as a result of a massive ash cloud from the eruption of Chile’s Puyehue volcano.

Image – AP via BBC News (“More than 200,000 people were killed or disappeared during the Guatemala's 1960-1996 civil war, most at the hands of the security forces.”)
Online Sources- MSNBC, The Latin Americanist, Reuters, Globe and Mail

World Watch: Escape

* Ivory Coast: A humanitarian crisis is rapidly developing on the Ivory Coast as an estimated one million refugees are fleeing the country.

* Portugal: The E.U. is considering a hefty bailout for Portugal after legislators rejected government-backed austerity measures.

* Canada: The Conservative Party-led government was defeated today after a vote of no confidence in the Canadian parliament.

* World: Unrest in Libya and the recent natural disasters in Japan could hurt the global auto industry according to this article.

Image – Reuters via Al Jazeera English (“The UNHCR's estimates of the number of displaced nearly doubled in the past week amid ongoing fighting.”)
Online Sources- USA TODAY, Xinhua, Bloomberg, euronews

World Watch: Another natural disaster

* Asia: Disaster teams from several Asian countries are heading towards Fiji after an untold number of deaths due to Cyclone Tomas.

* Sri Lanka: Is Sri Lanka’s 25-year civil war finally over?

* Iraq: Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi holds a slim lead in parliamentary elections over current PM Nouri al-Maliki.

* Russia: The U.N. has blasted environmental problems in construction projects for the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.

Image – ABC Online (“There is significant damage to schools and hospitals and dozens of homes have been destroyed” as a result of Cyclone Thomas hitting Fiji.)
Online Sources- Guardian UK, BBC News, Times Online, ABC Online

World Watch: Revelations

* U.K.: A British court ordered the release of intelligence information related to a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who claimed that he was tortured.

* Iraq: Officials have ordered the expulsion of 250 people linked to security firm Blackwater.

* Ukraine: Former Prime Minister Victor Yanukovich appears to have won Ukraine’s presidential election.

* Afghanistan: At least 165 people died as a result of a series of avalanches.

Image – MSNBC ("Former Guantanamo detainee Binyam Mohamed in a picture taken in London in 2000, prior to his detention.")
Online Sources- Reuters, Guardian UK, CNN, BBC News

Daily Headlines: February 3, 2010

* Chile: As she enters her last full month in the presidency Michelle Bachelet will leave office with an impressive 83% approval rating.

* Guatemala: While human rights activists welcomed the declassifying of military archives from Guatemala’s 36-year civil war they also worry that little will be done to punish those responsible for atrocities.

* Bolivia: According to a Bolivian newspaper 138 minors have been raped in shelters and administrators in one shelter tried to cover up the abuse of at least 42 children.

* Venezuela: Authorities in Venezuela deported suspected Colombian drug capo Salomon Camacho to the U.S. as well as a wanted paramilitary leader to neighboring Colombia.

Image – CBC (Chilean president Michelle Bachelet is about to leave office wit her highest popularity since being inaugurated in January 2006).
Online Sources- People’s Daily Online, IPS News, LAHT, TVNZ

Daily Headlines: January 18, 2010

* Honduras: While six military commanders await trial for last June’s ouster of President Manuel Zelaya, the Honduran Congress granted an amnesty to Roberto Micheletti and other senior de facto officials.

* Venezuela: Authorities admitted that they plan to deport to the U.S. a suspected Colombian drug capo arrested several days ago.

* El Salvador: President Mauricio Funes publicly apologized for human rights abuses committed by the government during the 1980-1992 civil war.

* Brazil: Ronaldinho’s best days may be behind him but that didn’t stop the Brazilian from scoring a hat trick in Milan’s 4-0 romp over Siena.

Image – CNN
Online Sources- BBC News, Xinhua, CBC, The Latin Americanist, Washington Post,

Daily Headlines: December 3, 2008

* Paraguay: A substance derived from the stevia plant and popular in Paraguay may serve as the “holy grail of sweeteners.”

* Mexico: Will telecom tycoon Carlos Slim make a tidy profit from the global financial crisis?

* El Salvador: Defense minister announced that he will travel to Iraq and decide how much longer Salvadoran troops will be stationed there.

* Argentina: The Argentine peso fell in value for the fifteenth straight day in a move being reportedly managed by the country’s central bank.

Image- Dallas Morning News
Sources- Reuters, Bloomberg, ABC News, IHT

Colombians march for freedom

Thousands of Colombians took to the streets today calling for the liberation of their countrymen in the jungle. Though the turnout was far less than in similar marches held earlier this year, protestors still rallied in solidarity with those held against their will by armed illegal groups.

According to one estimate there are roughly 2800 people held hostage in Colombia; a quarter of which were kidnapped by the FARC guerillas.

Numerous former hostages took part in the rallies that were called for in October by ex-detainee Ingrid Betancourt. At a rally in Madrid, Spain she urged the FARC to lay down their arms and peacefully free the hostages:

“Are thoughts are with those hostages who are probably chained to trees and living in humiliation. We carry their cross and the chains that we hope will soon break…”

“Ours is a chain of love to free the hostages” added Betancourt… - [ed. personal translation]

Aside from Madrid, smaller protests took place in other international locales like Caracas and New York.

Image- El Espectador
Sources- The Latin Americanist, El Tiempo, IHT, Colombia Reports, Bloomberg

Salvadoran archbishop doubtful over massacre probe

Last week we mentioned how activists have campaigned so that those responsible for a 1989 El Salvadoran massacre are brought to justice. Among those accused of wrongdoing includes former army officials and even ex-president Alfredo Cristiani.

Though six Jesuit priests were among the eight murdered in the massacre, several religious leaders in El Salvador are not throwing their support behind seeking prosecution. According to an AP article published yesterday:

The Roman Catholic archbishop of San Salvador opposes reopening the prosecution of Salvadoran officials in the 1989 massacre of six Jesuit priests, the cleric said Sunday…

Archbishop Fernando Saenz Lacalle called the killings at the height of the country's 1980-92 civil war "a frightful crime," but said he was sure that former President Alfredo Cristiani was not involved.

"Opening this case in another country's courts won't help the process of domestic reconciliation," he said. "El Salvador's affairs should be resolved in El Salvador."

The Jesuit order in El Salvador also decided not to participate in the Spanish case, Jesuit university rector Father Jose Maria Tojeira said.

El Salvador’s civil war may have officially ended in 1992, yet for many the wounds remain deep. Though the hope remains that the perpetrators of the 1989 killing pay for their crimes, it will be very difficult to overcome the suffering that continues nearly two decades later.

Image- AP (“People hold candles during a march to commemorate the 19th anniversary of the murder of six Jesuit priests in 1989, in San Salvador, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008.”)
Sources (English)- The Latin Americanist, AP, IHT, BBC News
Sources (Spanish)- El Faro

El Salvador: Seeking justice in ’89 massacre

One of the darkest days in Salvadoran history occurred nineteen years ago this month. Six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter where murdered in cold blood due to the clergymen’s commitment to investigate human rights abuses. The senseless killings brought increased global attention to the horrors of El Salvador’s civil war which would end in 1992.

Brining those responsible for the 1989 massacre to justice has been very difficult. Nevertheless, several human rights groups filed a lawsuit on Thursday against several Salvadorans including former president Alfredo Cristiani. "We hope this case helps to reawaken the memory and the conscience of El Salvador's people," said the lawyer of one of the petitioners who accused Cristiani of orchestrating a government cover up of the massacre.

Most of the murdered priests were Spaniards though that country’s judicial system was chosen for its precedence in international law:

The case was taken to Spain's National Court, because of its involvement in other high-profile human rights cases.

The same Spanish court issued an arrest warrant for former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998, while he was in a London hospital. For the rest of his life he fought legal battles -- first in England and later in Chile -- to avoid convictions.

The Spanish court has also taken on human rights cases from other countries, including Argentina and Guatemala, testing a relatively new international legal principle known as Universal Jurisdiction.

It contends that if justice for human rights abuses is not served in the country where the crime occurred, then a court in another country can intervene.

Image- daylife.com (“The bodies of killed Jesuit priests are seen in this Nov. 16, 1989, file photo in El Salvador.”)
Sources- The Latin Americanist, Tim’s El Salvador Blog, UPI, IHT, CNN

Spanish "citizens group" blasts Ingrid Betancourt

It has been over three months since Ingrid Betancourt was rescued with twelve others from being held captive for years in the Colombian jungle. She has become the de facto spokeswoman for hundreds of hostages still held by the FARC guerillas and has campaigned vigorously on their behalf.

Yet there are those who have tried to unfairly knock her down as was the case earlier today in Spain:

The Ermua Forum - a Spanish citizens group which has repudiated (Basque separatists faction) ETA- requested Wednesday that Ingrid Betancourt return the Prince of Asturias Award. They claim that her award was “unjustifiable” since she declared in favor of negotiating with terrorists.

In a press release, the Ermua Forum differed “radically” from the opinions of the former candidate... [ed. Personal translation]

So what did Betancourt say that so riled up the Ermua Forum? According to the AP:

Betancourt said there are two schools of thought on terrorism: "One says that you don't talk to terrorists. The other, in which I believe, says that precisely because they are terrorists, we must talk"…

Betancourt said it was important not to let terrorist groups become isolated but to constantly demand that they explain what they do.

"The solution is not to close the door but on the contrary to force it open," Betancourt said.

The notion that diplomacy is always equal to appeasement is short-sighted and counterproductive. While Betancourt backed the concept of negotiating with terrorists she also blasted the FARC for holding nearly 3000 hostages and denounced them for repeated death threats against her. She has consistently criticized them after her liberation which ought to cancel out the laughable claim that she has Stockholm syndrome.

Instead of petty critiques why not follow her example and seek a meaningful solution?

Image- PRESS TV
Sources (English)- AP, Plan Colombia and Beyond
Sources (Spanish)- Semana, El Tiempo, El Espectador, Canal Caracol

Daily Headlines: October 9, 2008

* Mexico: Rest in peace Jose Luis Garza; the 992-pound Mexican died yesterday of heart failure.

* Latin America: Organization of American States head José Miguel Insulza warned that violent crime in the region is on the rise and kills more people than AIDS.

* Haiti: U.N. peacekeeping troops will likely remain in Haiti for another year according to one U.N. official.

* Colombia: "Let them (the hostages) rest assured that we will not stop, we will not give up in silence and we will never, never stop taking action until they are freed," pleaded former hostage Ingrid Betancourt at the European Parliament yesterday.

Image- CNN
Sources- Times Online, AP, MSNBC, Guardian UK

Daily Headlines: October 1, 2008

* Latin America: In a worrying trend, the growth in money transfers to Latin America continues to decrease according to an Inter-American Development Bank report.

* Bolivia: The Russian ambassador to Bolivia claimed that both countries will strengthen ties and possibly "approach the level" of its partnership with Venezuela.

* Chile: The Chilean government will supposedly seek compensation from foreign banks that held of accounts of late ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet.

* Colombia: A Bogota-based human rights group claims that at least 270,000 Colombians were displaced due to armed conflict between January and June.

Image- SignOnSanDiego.com (“Jaouad Khadim, manager of Murphy's Market in City Heights, helped Carmen Pavon send money…to family in Veracruz state.”)

Sources- MSNBC, The Latin Americanist, USA TODAY, miamiherald.com, washingtonpost.com

Daily Headlines: September 30, 2008

* Ecuador: As was anticipated, a large number of Ecuadorian voters (roughly 70%) passed the country’s massive new constitution.

* Brazil: The country’s National Institute for Space Research reported an alarming 228% spike in Amazon deforestation between August 2007 and last month.

* Argentina: According to a study published in The Lancet, nearly half of injecting drug users in Argentina are HIV-positive.

* Colombia: Are military commanders pressuring troops to kill people in combat including accidently murdering innocenct civilians?

Image- Christian Science Monitor (“My vote: A supporter of President Rafael Correa showed a new Ecuadorean Constitution autographed by Mr. Correa on Sunday after the country voted in the new charter.”)

Sources- MSNBC, The Latin Americanist, Press Association, Reuters Alertnet

Is there a FARC-Mapuche connection?

Chilean indigenous leaders have strong links to Colombia’s FARC guerillas according to allegations made by Chile’s right-wing opposition.

A report was allegedly leaked by Colombia’s government to a group representing Chilean presidential hopeful Sebastian Piñera during a recent visit to Bogota. The information from the documents reportedly used information from the laptops seized during the deadly operation against Raul Reyes, and detailed how indigenous Chilean leaders reportedly met and were photographed with FARC commanders.

Piñera (the odds-on favorite to succeed President Michelle Bachelet) claimed that the “information is accurate” and that his allies had no choice but to publicize the information. Interior Minister Edmundo Perez Yoma categorically rejected Piñera’s accusations and denied knowing of any links between Mapuche heads and the FARC. One Mapuche leader reacted by blaming both the government and the opposition of “creating a climate” of oppression against Chile’s indigenous people.

Chile’s opposition contended that Colombia’s center-right president Alvaro Uribe was upset with the Bachelet administration over the “leaked dossier.” Yet the Colombian government rebuffed that claim as Uribe tried earlier today to avoid sparking a major diplomatic crisis.

Image- The Telegraph

Sources (English)- The Latin Americanist, Angus Reid Consultants, The Patagonia Times

Sources (Spanish)- El Tiempo, Union Radio, La Nacion, urgnte24.com