Survivors Recount Guatemalan Genocide

[HuffingtonPost]

By Mike McDonald                

MEXICO CITY, March 20 (Reuters) - Survivors of Guatemala's  bloody civil war relived the massacre of relatives as they took  the stand on Wednesday to testify against former dictator Efrain  Rios Montt, who is accused of allowing genocide during the  36-year conflict.                

Rios Montt, 86, the first ex-head of state to stand trial  for crimes against humanity in his own country, for years was  not prosecuted for alleged atrocities committed during his  1982-1983 rule, because of his protected status as a  congressman.                

But after leaving Congress last year, Rios Montt was ordered  to face trial by a judge who found sufficient evidence linking  him to the killing of more than 1,700 indigenous people in a  counterinsurgency plan executed under his command.                

On the second day of the landmark trial, civil war victims  recounted horrific tales of watching their family members killed  and their homes torched by soldiers.                

"They came and they massacred my mother, my brother and my  brother-in-law. They burned homes," said Tomas Chavez, 45, in  tears as he recalled the November 1982 massacre in Nebaj in the  northwestern state of Quiche.                

Diego Santiago, 83, echoed Chavez in describing an April  1983 massacre near the same village.                

"We went to hide in the mountains. I managed to escape from  the people who killed my wife," he said, adding the army killed  his 17-year-old son and set fire to homes.                

Prosecutors allege Rios Montt turned a blind eye as soldiers  used rape, torture and arson against leftist insurgents and  targeted indigenous people in a "scorched earth" offensive that  killed at least 1,771 members of the Mayan Ixil group.                

The defense team argues that Rios Montt did not control  battlefield operations and that there was no genocide in  Guatemala.                                

'POLARIZED SOCIETY'                

Humans rights advocates and victims have welcomed the trial  as a sea change for Guatemala.                

"It's a strong voice against impunity and a strong voice in  favor of victims," said Nobel Peace Prize-winning rights  activist Rigoberta Menchu, who attended the trial. "We hope that  from now on, we (the indigenous people) are accepted by  Guatemala's polarized society that carries with it the genocide  of the past."                

Roughly 200,000 civilians, most of them of Mayan descent,  were killed during the 1960-1996 conflict as a string of  right-wing governments attempted to rid Guatemala of leftist  guerilla fighters suspected of being in league with communists.                

An additional 45,000 people went missing.                

A United Nations-backed truth commission report released  after the 1996 peace accords found that the army and  paramilitary groups were responsible for more than 90 percent of  the hundreds of massacres carried out during the war.                

Born in Huehuetenango, a province in Guatemala's rural  western highlands dotted with indigenous communities, Rios Montt  took power in March 1982 when he led a military coup that  toppled President Angel Guevara.                

He remained politically active after being overthrown in a  coup in August 1983, serving in Guatemala's legislature and  launching an unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 2003.                

Genocide trials have been rare for ex-leaders in Latin  America, which was scarred by bloody civil conflicts and  repression. Charges were raised against Chilean ex-dictator  Augusto Pinochet, but he died in 2006 before standing trial.                

A three-judge panel must debate the material and set a date  on whether to sentence or exonerate Rios Montt. A prosecutor has  said that up to 130 victims and 75 experts are expected to  testify during the trial, which could run several months.     (Reporting by Mike McDonald; Writing by Alexandra Alper;  Editing by Eric Beech)

Via: HuffingtonPost