Guatemala video snapshot: Youth protest in Supreme Court during genocide trial

A little iPhone video snapshot I shot during the trial in Guatemala of US-backed military dictator Rios Montt and his then-intelligence chief, Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez.

Ríos Montt and Rodriguez Sanchez are accused of being responsible for the Guatemalan Army's mass killings of more than 1,700 Ixil Maya civilians, systematic rape, and forced displacement.


On April 18, just after the court adjourned, I was walking out of the Supreme Court building when I heard a group shouting "Justice! Justice!"—I walked into the center of the building and saw this group of young people holding signs that said, "So that history will never repeat," and "We young people deserve to know the truth."

I later learned that this "flash mob" of sorts was largely organized on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms popular with youth here in Guatemala.

More coverage of the ongoing trial here in Guatemala in our Boing Boing archives.

Photo: Xeni Jardin

Photo: Xeni Jardin