Posted: Thursday, January 26, 2012 - By AFP
The former dictator could face charges for his government's scorched
earth policy that left tens of thousands dead.
GUATEMALA CITY – Guatemala's former strongman Efraín Ríos Montt, 85,
appeared in court Thursday to face accusations of genocide and other
human rights crimes allegedly committed during his 17-month long rule.
Ríos Montt, known for his "scorched earth" campaign against
Guatemala's leftist rebels, may have to answer charges that his regime
was responsible for the massacre of tens of thousands of people.
Thursday's hearing was to determine whether the former dictator should
be formally charged with alleged atrocities that occurred during his
regime from 1982 to 1983, prosecutors said.
The hearing is the first since Ríos Montt lost the congressional
immunity that for years had shielded him from prosecution for human
rights crimes.
Guatemala's truth commission, which has been tasked with investigating
the bloodletting, estimates that there have been some 200,000
casualties from the country's 36-year civil war that ended in 1996.
Some of the worst atrocities are said to have taken place during Ríos
Montt's rule.
The UN-backed group – the Historical Clarification Commission – found
that the government was guilty of a deliberate campaign of genocide
against the mostly poor, indigenous massacre victims, many of whom
were caught in the crossfire as the government battled leftist rebels.
From Wiki:
Given Ríos Montt's staunch anticommunism and ties to the United
States, the Reagan administration continued to support the general and
his regime, paying a visit to Guatemala City in December 1982.[11]
During a meeting with Ríos Montt on December 4, Reagan declared:
"President Ríos Montt is a man of great personal integrity and
commitment. ... I know he wants to improve the quality of life for all
Guatemalans and to promote social justice."1
Reagan claimed Guatemala's human rights conditions were improving and
overturned the arms embargo imposed on Guatemala by president Carter
in 1977, by agreeing, in January 1983, to sell millions of dollars
worth of military hardware, including weapons and vehicles, to the
country's government. The decision was taken in spite of records
concerning human rights violations, by-passing the approval from
Congress.[12][13][14][15][16] Meanwhile, a then-secret 1983 CIA cable
noted a rise in "suspect right-wing violence" and an increasing number
of bodies "appearing in ditches and gullies."[17] In turn, Guatemala
was eager to resurrect the Central American Defense Council, defunct
since 1969, to join forces with the right-wing governments of El
Salvador and Honduras in retaliations against the leftist Sandinista
government of Nicaragua.
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