In Guatemala today, confusion and concern around what will become of the historic trial that found former US-backed military dictator Ríos Montt guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity. Just 10 days after that trial ended in an 80-year prison sentence for the former general, the nation's Constitutional Court this week overturned the trial and threw out the verdict. Background here and documents here, in previous Boing Boing posts.

Ríos Montt's attorney Francisco García Gudiel (whom critics in Guatemala sometimes refer to as an "abogangster") says the trial must restart: "You have to cancel the whole process and begin a new trial with new judges."

Without saying it, they threw out everything," plaintiff and human rights attorney Hector Reyes told Reuters. "There is no appeals process for their decision."

Reyes is a lawyer with CALDH (Center for Legal Action on Human Rights), the organization that represented Maya Ixil victims in the case. From Elisabeth Malkin's report in the New York Times:

Calling the constitutional court’s ruling “eminently illegal,” he said that the repeated delays caused by endless appeals “are part of the impunity in Guatemala.”

Moisés Galindo, part of the defense team representing General Ríos Montt, agreed that a new trial would probably be necessary. “For all practical effects, the Constitutional Court is saying the debate has to begin again in front of new judges,” he said.

CALDH is organizing a series of events in Guatemala City today and tomorrow, to include a march down the "Path of Impunity" which leads from the Corte Suprema de Justicia (where the genocide trial and conviction took place) to the Constitutional Court (which effectively annulled the case this week). Shown here (click to enlarge), a flyer from CALDH circulating on Facebook.

Related reading: Elisabeth Malkin's NYT report on the United States' role in Guatemala's genocide. She read this previous Boing Boing post, and references its contents in the story:

Back in 1983, Elliott Abrams, the assistant secretary of state for human rights under President Ronald Reagan, once suggested that General Ríos Montt’s rule had “brought considerable progress” on human rights.

Mr. Abrams was defending the Reagan administration’s request to lift a five-year embargo on military aid to Guatemala. Brushing off concern from human rights groups about the rising scale of the massacres in Mayan villages, Mr. Abrams declared that “the amount of killing of innocent civilians is being reduced step by step.”

Speaking on “The MacNeil-Lehrer Report,” he argued, “We think that kind of progress needs to be rewarded and encouraged.”

That archival “The MacNeil-Lehrer Report” video is embedded below.

Also in el Periodico today, another bizarre op-ed by Foundation Against Terrorism director Ricardo Méndez Ruiz. During the trial, his organization published 20-page paid ad campaigns in the Sunday paper describing the trial as a neo-Marxist conspiracy enabled by the Catholic Church, and describing international observers, journalists, and human rights advocates as "enemies of the motherland." His Foundation is closely tied with the extremely conservative military/industrial oligarchy that runs Guatemala. As strange as this narrative may read to outsiders, it's taken very seriously within Guatemala:

The Communists tried to seize power by executive force, and failed, then tried to take over the Legislature with their votes, and failed, then tried to infiltrate the judiciary with their operatives, and they succeeded. The evidence is in the sentence for a genocide that never happened.

NEW YORK CITY:

For Boing Boing readers who will be in New York City today, May 22 2013: "The Rios Montt Trial: Human Rights Accountability in Guatemala," an Open Society Justice Initiative roundtable featuring Helen Mack, sister of slain anthropologist Myrna Mack Chang. Panelists at the event will discuss "how efforts in the domestic criminal justice system and international courts have pressed Guatemala towards greater accountability," but also how these efforts have been challenged in Guatemala's highly polarized climate.

May 22, 2013, 12:15 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.
224 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019
RSVP required, but free of charge.

WASHINGTON DC:

For readers who will be in our nation's capital on May 29, 2013: "Genocide in Our Hemisphere: Justice and Reconciliation in Guatemala Beyond the Conviction of General Ríos Montt," at the New America Foundation. I will be moderating one of the panels at this event. Speakers include Marta Elena Casaus, Professor of History, Autonomous University, Madrid, Spain (an Expert Witness on racism at the genocide trial), Patrick Ball of hrdag.org (whose work focuses on using data to analyze mass human rights abuses), Irma Alicia Velásquez Nimatuj of Support Mechanism for Indigenous Peoples Oxlajuj Tz´ikin, CUNY/Lehman College Anthopologist Victoria Sanford, and Kate Doyle of the National Security Archive.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013 - 2:00pm - 5:00pm
New America Foundation
1899 L Street NW Suite 400, Washington, DC 20036
Sign up here, event is free of charge.]]> http://boingboing.net/2013/05/22/guatemala-justice-events-in-ny.html/feed 0 http://boingboing.net/2013/05/21/guatemala-genocide-trial-annu.html http://boingboing.net/2013/05/21/guatemala-genocide-trial-annu.html#comments Wed, 22 May 2013 01:42:08 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=231610 "I'm distressed. I don't know what's happening. That's how this country is. The powerful people do what they want and we poor and indigenous are devalued. We don't get justice. Justice means nothing for us."— Ana Caba, an Ixil Maya survivor of Guatemala's 36-year internal armed conflict.

She became an internally displaced refugee, living in the mountains for nearly ten years as Army troops raped, murdered, and destroyed villages throughout the Ixil region in the early 1980s. Like many around the world, she was stunned by the Guatemalan Constitutional Court's decision to annul the trial and throw out the verdict and sentence for former US-backed dictator Rios Montt.

Reuters correspondent Mike McDonald reports from Guatemala City today.

Ms. Caba, 51, is one of the women behind this wonderful book project, "Voices and images: Mayan Ixil women of Chajul." ]]> http://boingboing.net/2013/05/21/guatemala-genocide-trial-annu.html/feed 6 http://boingboing.net/2013/05/21/guatemala-archive-of-document.html http://boingboing.net/2013/05/21/guatemala-archive-of-document.html#comments Tue, 21 May 2013 16:40:50 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=231516
May 9, 2013: A public art project in Guatemala City, one block from the courth where Rios Montt was convicted on May 10. "Si hubo genocidio," the sign reads. "Yes, it was genocide." Photo: Xeni Jardin.

As reported last night, the Constitutional Court of Guatemala has effectively tossed out the final phase of the genocide trial of José Efraín Rios Montt. The former US-backed military dictator had been sentenced by another Guatemalan high court just 10 days ago to 80 years in prison for genocide and crimes against humanity, but pressure from the defense team and from the country's deeply conservative oligarchy and ex-military sector led to a historic reversal in what was already a historic trial. It seems likely now that the man who, on May 10, was declared guilty in the deaths of 1,771 Ixil Maya and the mass rapes by Army soldiers of countless indigenous women will be allowed to go free.

What happens with the case here is unclear. Ríos Montt will likely be released today, but many involved with the prosecution (as well as press and international observers) have already fled the country under threats from those who sought to overturn the trial. Justice in Guatemala has a long way to go.

Here are PDF archives of relevant documents in the case, for those who would like to study the courts' rulings and try and understand for themselves.

First, the original verdict and sentence ruling from the court of Judge Yassmin Barrios, which is more than 700 pages long. Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. (thanks, Romina)

And here is a PDF of the Constitutional Court's May 20 ruling, overturning the trial from April 18 onward, and throwing out the verdict and sentence. (via cc.gob.gt).

Related reporting about the CC's annulment: Plaza Publica, New York Times.

From a detailed post offering legal analysis, by Emi MacLean at the Open Society Justice Initiative:

The Constitutional Court, in its judgment on Monday, overturned the verdict and annulled the final days of the trial—sending the trial back to where it was on April 19. (On April 19, the tribunal had heard all prosecution witnesses, but still awaited the presentation of some of the defense witnesses, closing arguments and, of course, the final verdict and sentence.) The Constitutional Court also ordered the official suspension of the trial pending the full resolution of certain legal challenges raised by the defense.

At least for now, the Constitutional Court ordered that the same trial court – Presiding Judge Yassmin Barrios and her associates Pablo Xitumul and Patricia Bustamante – reconvene to consider the case. It gave the tribunal 24 hours to comply “exactly” with these orders or risk dismissal from their posts and the possibility of civil or criminal sanction. In its judgment, the Constitutional Court did not acknowledge explicitly that the trial had already completed, concluding with a conviction.

The decision stemmed from a constitutional challenge (amparo) raised by Rios Montt’s defense attorneys at the very end of the trial. In response to an earlier challenge, both the Constitutional Court and a Guatemalan appeals court ordered the trial court to remedy a due process violation from the opening day of the trial—the expulsion of Rios Montt’s newly-appointed defense attorney on the middle of that first day, leaving him represented only by the attorney for his co-accused for several hours, until his prior defense attorneys returned to his side on the morning of the second day. (See below for more information.)

In the challenge at issue in Monday’s Constitutional Court judgment overturning the verdict, Rios Montt asserted that the trial court had not in fact complied with the orders of the appeals court concerning this due process violation, even though the appeals court had recognized the trial court as having fully complied, in a judgment issued by the appeals court just the day before the release of the verdict. (Rios Montt’s challenge was, in effect, a challenge to the appeals court’s finding that the trial court implemented fully the appellate court’s order.)

Ríos Montt, inside the courtroom during the trial that charged him with genocide and crimes against humanity. Photo: Xeni Jardin.

]]> http://boingboing.net/2013/05/21/guatemala-archive-of-document.html/feed 8 http://boingboing.net/2013/05/20/guatemala-nations-highest-c.html http://boingboing.net/2013/05/20/guatemala-nations-highest-c.html#comments Tue, 21 May 2013 03:15:57 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=231342
Ríos Montt testifying in his defense in Guatemala City, May 2013. Photo: Xeni Jardin.

Late-breaking news from Guatemala City: Impunity reigns in Guatemala tonight.

The Constitutional Court, the highest court in Guatemala (like the US Supreme Court), has just voted to annul the proceedings in the Rios Montt genocide trial from April 19th onward. That was the date on which the trial was temporarily suspended, when defense attorneys initiated a conflict between courts over which judge should oversee the case.

On May 10, Rios Montt was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity, and sentenced to 80 years in prison. That verdict and sentence were today thrown out by the Constitutional Court.

Three Constitutional Court judges voted in favor of the annulment. Two voted against. The court today also upheld the not-guilty verdict in the case of Rios Montt's former head of intelligence (the director of the notorious G-2 unit), José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez.

The language of the Constitutional Court's ruling states that the phase of the trial in which victim testimony was delivered is still intact. But it's possible that this effectively means the whole trial is annulled, and that there must be a new trial, or that there is no posssibility of a guilty verdict. Reporters and international observers I've spoken to aren't exactly sure what is next, as far as whether a trial on the same charges will in fact be re-convened and repeated, or whether Rios Montt, 86, is now guaranteed to be a free man for the rest of his life. The full text of the Constitutional Court's ruling will be available soon, and I'll post more after speaking with people who are still in Guatemala who have a copy of the court documents.

Bottom line: Ríos Montt is a free man tonight. The overturning of the historic guilty verdict in this trial is a huge, though not unexpected blow, to justice.

It is an unimaginable blow to each of the Ixil Maya victims, and others, who suffered abuses during the US-backed military dictator's 17-month reign.

About 100 Ixil survivors testified during the trial.

Rios Montt was charged with genocide and crimes against humanity, and with the deaths of nearly 2,000 Ixil Maya from 1982-1983.

Whatever happens with the trial, however, the world is watching. The world must keep watching. The world has listened to the testimonies of the Ixil Maya victims who spoke in the courtroom, and the world must not forget.

"Si, hubo genocidio," the hashtags and the courtroom chants proclaimed. "Yes, there was genocide."

Elizabeth Malkin in the New York Times:

The attorney general’s office is expected to appeal the court’s 3-2 ruling on Tuesday.

Although the verdict was celebrated by international human rights organizations, it was controversial in Guatemala. The Constitutional Court was the target of a lobbying campaign by opponents of the verdict as it considered several defense injunctions it had failed to rule on during the trial.

Perhaps the most important campaign was by Guatemala’s powerful business federation, known as Cacif for the initials of its Spanish name. Representing the country’s deeply conservative oligarchy, Cacif urged the court to overturn the verdict. The court “has the power in its hands to contribute to the governability and assure an effective rule of law,” the business group said.

Ríos Montt and US President Ronald Reagan, 1982. Reagan lobbied effectively for military and financial support for Rios Montt's military regime, despite reports that the Army was committing gross human rights violations against the country's majority indigenous population.

At the Open Society Justice Initiative's riosmontt-trial.org blog, a good synopsis of the post-genocide-trial verdict legal hijinks in Guatemala. Snip:

Since before the start of the Guatemalan genocide trial, defense counsel filed scores of legal challenges—including some to delay or prevent the proceedings; challenge the impartiality of the presiding judges; or put into question the fairness of the trial. Now, in the week following the guilty verdict of former de facto head of state Efrain Rios Montt, defense counsel seek to overturn the guilty verdict, nullify the entire trial, and impugn the judges. The Constitutional Court has said that it plans to release three judgments in connection with the Rios Montt trial midday on Wednesday.

Rios Montt’s lawyer, Francisco García Gudiel, has informed the media that there are at least 12 legal challenges pending before the Constitutional Court and Supreme Court of Guatemala. Garcia Gudiel claims to have filed at least two new legal challenges before the Constitutional Court, immediately after the trial court’s May 10, 2013 ruling. One legal recourse (an amparo) alleges several procedural irregularities in the trial that violated his client’s constitutional rights to due process, among them that Ríos Montt was denied his right to counsel of choice—himself—during the critical time that evidence was collected in the trial. Using a second recourse (ocurso en queja), Garcia Gudiel alleges that the trial court refused to abide by an appellate court decision (from the Third Chamber), which had ordered the suspension of the trial until some evidentiary matters were resolved by a pre-trial judge Judge Carol Patricia Flores.

Before leaving Guatemala today, I spoke with PBS NewsHour host Hari Sreenivasan about the aftermath and significance of Friday's court decision to convict former US-backed military dictator Rios Montt of genocide and crimes against humanity.

The report is archived here on YouTube, and here on the PBS NewsHour website with a full transcript, also below.

Related: My reporter's notebook on NewsHour from Guatemala, and a full report on the trial I produced with Miles O'Brien.

TRANSCRIPT

HARI SREENIVASAN: Xeni Jardin has been following the story in Guatemala and was the producer on Miles O'Brien's earlier report.

So, Xeni Jardin, give us an idea, how significant was this trial for the people there?

XENI JARDIN, Producer, Boing Boing: This is huge.

This is the first time in modern history that a domestic court has convicted a former head of state on these kinds of charges, genocide, crimes against humanity. But for both sides in this case, for the people who support the military, who support Rios Montt, and for the nation's majority indigenous population, this is huge.

This -- you know, it's fair to state that for many people this reopens old wounds. The country's 36-year civil war is not that long ago. And literally everyone in this country is still touched by that legacy in one way or another, some people very directly.

HARI SREENIVASAN: You were in the courtroom during the verdict. And for those of us not who are following you on Twitter and other social media, what was the scene like?

XENI JARDIN: It was completely surreal, Hari.

The courtroom holds about 400 people. There are seats for 400 people. And I think there were easily 500, possibly 600 people packed into that courtroom. When the verdict was read, you know, Judge Jasmine Barrios began by explaining why Rios Montt was considered by the court to be guilty of genocide, of crimes against humanity.

But then when she actually got to the point of saying that he was guilty, there were claps. There were cheers. And then people kind of calmed down to hear the rest of what the court had to say. And then after -- after she slammed the gavel on the desk, total chaos broke out.

There was, you know, a swarm of cameramen who just encircled the defense table, and specifically Rios Montt, looking for that shot of the century of this man's reaction, this man who -- whose legacy is indelibly imprinted on this country.

And then back in the gallery, behind where I was sitting with members of the press, you know, hundreds and hundreds of people were chanting, "Justice, justice," and, "Yes, it was genocide," which was a rallying cry on Twitter and in the streets in weeks before this verdict arrived.

You could see as you looked around the courtroom, Hari, that people were weeping. There were mothers holding their children and kind of swaying to the rhythm. The Ixil grandmothers who had testified of being gang-raped by 20 soldiers at a time for weeks on end, many of these women, they weren't cheering. They were weeping. It was just such a powerful, powerful moment.

HARI SREENIVASAN: How significant is it that they were even able to reach a verdict?

XENI JARDIN: I think it's extraordinary that the trial came to any conclusion at all.

You know, the U.S. Embassy here in Guatemala issued a statement today urging the society and the Guatemalan government to respect the court's outcome. And I think that everybody -- you know, part of why this matters is because of the question of whether Rios Montt is an individual is guilty.

But part of why this trial matters is that the judicial system here is so fragile. And it's just incredible that any case of this substance could come to a completion in a country where a tiny fraction of murders, just murders of everyday citizens now are ever brought to trial, let alone convicted.

HARI SREENIVASAN: So what happens to these victims now? Is there a compensation? Who pays?

XENI JARDIN: Victims' representatives say that, look, these indigenous campesinos, they were robbed of their land. They were displaced from their land. They are subsistence farmers.

Many, many families in that region lost their breadwinners. Who should be responsible for them? Is that Rios Montt's estate who should pay that out? What about the government of Guatemala?

I almost think that this is the more contentious issue than whether or not Rios Montt as an individual can be found guilty of these crimes. The idea of reparations to victims in this case is something that many people in Guatemala are -- have a very hostile reaction to.

So, you know, I spoke with some of the Ixil observers and querrelantes, which is the word for basically criminal witness in the trial. And I remember one of them said, you know, even assuming that the General Rios Montt stays in jail, "He will be fed every night," this woman said. "What about us? We still have to worry about whether we will die of hunger."

HARI SREENIVASAN: Xeni Jardin joining us from Guatemala, thanks so much.

XENI JARDIN: It's my pleasure, Hari.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And an update from Guatemala.

After Hari's interview, the court ordered reparations for victims, including official apologies by the state and a national day of remembrance. But the victims won't get the land they requested or any monetary compensation from the government.

And late today, the Associated Press reported that Rios Montt had been taken to a military hospital after fainting.

Photo: James Rodriguez, mimundo.org. Xeni live-blogging from the court in Guatemala City where Rios Montt was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity in an historic trial.

PREVIOUSLY ON BOING BOING
• Guatemala coverage archives
• Guatemala: Judges rule on reparations; no land to be returned to Ixil victims
• Rios Montt found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity
•1983 "MacNeil/Lehrer Report" on debate over military aid
• 1982 MacNeil/Lehrer on reports Ríos Montt committed atrocities
• "I am innocent," Ríos Montt tells court in genocide trial
• Ríos Montt trial enters final phase, 75 years sought
• The science behind historic genocide trial of General Ríos Montt: PBS NewsHour video report
• Guatemalan Government declares State of Siege after Mining Protests: PBS NewsHour video report
• PBS NewsHour reporter's notebook: Guatemala—Why We Cannot Turn Away
• Waiting. Snapshots from Ríos Montt genocide trial courtroom
•Guatemala: Rios Montt supporters protest; court considers reparations for genocide victims]]> http://boingboing.net/2013/05/14/xeni-on-pbs-newshour-guatemal.html/feed 3 http://boingboing.net/2013/05/13/xeni-on-pbs-newshour-tonight.html http://boingboing.net/2013/05/13/xeni-on-pbs-newshour-tonight.html#comments Mon, 13 May 2013 22:25:43 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=230092
Xeni live-blogging from the court in Guatemala City where Rios Montt was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity in an historic trial. Photo: James Rodriguez, mimundo.org

On PBS NewsHour tonight, I spoke with Hari Sreenivasan about the aftermath and significance of Friday's court decision to convict former US-backed military dictator Rios Montt of genocide and crimes against humanity.

Tune in live here. The report will be archived here on YouTube, and here on the PBS NewsHour website.]]> http://boingboing.net/2013/05/13/xeni-on-pbs-newshour-tonight.html/feed 1 http://boingboing.net/2013/05/13/guatemala-judges-rule-on-repa.html http://boingboing.net/2013/05/13/guatemala-judges-rule-on-repa.html#comments Mon, 13 May 2013 19:16:35 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=229997
An Ixil woman in the genocide tribunal courtroom, one hour before the guilty verdict was handed down in the trial of Rios Montt. Photo: Xeni Jardin.

Following the conviction of Guatemala's former military dictator Rios Montt on Friday, judges met today to consider reparations for victims. While the genocide will be commemorated and formal apologies made to his victims, property taken from them during the worst years of civil war will not be returned.

The court ruled for 12 forms of reparation, in accordance with Convention 169, ratified by Guatemala in 1996 (same years as peace accords). The Guatemalan state must apologize to victims, and include them in Reparations Law.

But significantly, judges denied plaintiff's request that stolen land be returned.

The sole economic request made by victims was return of land stolen during the seventeen-month '82-'83 Rios Montt regime. Judges denied this, serving a major defeat to the victims.

In a direct response to Rios Montt's defense team, and in an indirect response to statements by conservative, pro-Rios Montt groups, the judges clarified that the state isn’t being condemned in this case.

While the judges said that mechanisms of the Guatemalan state will be used to provide reparations, this will not include giving back stolen land.

The state was also ordered to build monuments and genocide education centers in the Ixil municipalities—locations where people already know very well what happened.

Judges also ordered, however, that ceremonies commemorating the genocide take place in the Palacio National in Guatemala City, the headquarters of the government, and in Ixil communities. March 23, the date Rios Montt seized power in a 1982 coup, was declared “National Day against Genocide."

Judges also ordered that personal apologies be made to Ixil women who survived sexual violence, a symbolically important move.

Plaintiffs have also asked court to require the executive branch of government to consult indigenous people in all actions affecting natural resources and land use.

WHAT'S NEXT:
Follow proceedings and analysis of the legal battle under way to overturn the conviction and annul the trial: NISGUA, Plaza Publica, and the OSJI's trial monitoring account are good places to start. You can follow them and others on this Twitter list. The riosmontt-trial.org site is the best source I've found for legal analysis.

PREVIOUSLY ON BOING BOING
• Guatemala coverage archives
• Rios Montt found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity
•1983 "MacNeil/Lehrer Report" on debate over military aid
• 1982 MacNeil/Lehrer on reports Ríos Montt committed atrocities
• "I am innocent," Ríos Montt tells court in genocide trial
• Ríos Montt trial enters final phase, 75 years sought
• The science behind historic genocide trial of General Ríos Montt: PBS NewsHour video report
• Guatemalan Government declares State of Siege after Mining Protests: PBS NewsHour video report
• PBS NewsHour reporter's notebook: Guatemala—Why We Cannot Turn Away
• Waiting. Snapshots from Ríos Montt genocide trial courtroom
•Guatemala: Rios Montt supporters protest; court considers reparations for genocide victims]]> http://boingboing.net/2013/05/13/guatemala-judges-rule-on-repa.html/feed 3 http://boingboing.net/2013/05/13/guatemala-rios-montt-supporte.html http://boingboing.net/2013/05/13/guatemala-rios-montt-supporte.html#comments Mon, 13 May 2013 14:57:20 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=229897
Photo: James Rodriguez/mimundo.org. View his full photo-essay here.

[Guatemala City] On Friday, a court in Guatemala convicted former US-backed military dictator Rios Montt of genocide and crimes against humanity, in an historic trial: this was the first time a domestic court in any nation has convicted a former head of state for these crimes.

His co-defendant Jose Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez, the head of the G-2 intelligence division under Rios Montt's 17-month regime, was absolved of all charges.

The court's full decision is due to be released today.

The powerful and conservative Guatemalan business lobby CACIF says the trial should be annulled, the judge fired, and that the verdict is dangerous for stability in Guatemala. The US Embassy in Guatemala, which has been targeted as an enemy of the Guatemalan people in a series of publications by pro-Rios Montt groups, released a statement over the weekend urging Guatemalan society to respect the verdict in the Montt trial.

Brigadier General José Efraín Rios Montt (center, in headphones) awaits the verdict of his trial on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. Photo: mimundo.org

On Saturday, a group of military supporters gathered outside Guatemala City's Matamoros prison where the 86-year-old general spent his first night, in a demonstration of support for Rios Montt and the Guatemalan Army. By various estimates, there were between 30 and 50 pro-Rios Montt demonstrators present. The Associated Press erroneously reported "at least 500."

Today, the court of Judge Yassmin Barrios has just reconvened to begin a debate over the highly controversial discussion of reparations to the Ixil victims in this case. Who should pay for the theft of land, destruction of entire communities, murder, torture, forced displacement, and rape, the court will ask: The estate of Rios Montt? The government of Guatemala? And will the state issue a formal apology?

On Friday night, after the verdict, President Otto Perez Molina (who was once an Army commander in the Ixil region under Rios Montt) gave an interview on CNN en Español. The interviewer asked the Guatemalan President about his possible culpability for similar crimes. The transmission signal was cut. From El Periodico, a newspaper in Guatemala:

The interview became more uncomfortable for Perez when the interviewer questioned him about documentary American journalist Allan Nairn, in September 1982, where he declares that "all families are with the guerrillas."

At that time, the signal from Guatemala was cut and the corner had to take a break. After re-establish communication, the president said that the protected witness who identified as responsible for the massacres in Nebaj is false.

And below, one of many memes making the rounds on the Guatemalan internet. This one, created by people who believe the President's role should be questioned. He is immune from prosecution under Guatemalan law while he holds office.

Noted without comment: this meme is making the rounds on the Guatemalan Internet. via @corrupciongt twitter.com/xeni/status/33…

— Xeni Jardin (@xeni) May 11, 2013

WHAT'S NEXT:
Follow proceedings and analysis of the legal battle under way to overturn the conviction and annul the trial: NISGUA, Plaza Publica, and the OSJI's trial monitoring account are good places to start. You can follow them and others on this Twitter list. The riosmontt-trial.org site is the best source I've found for legal analysis.

PREVIOUSLY ON BOING BOING
• Guatemala coverage archives
• Rios Montt found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity
•1983 "MacNeil/Lehrer Report" on debate over military aid
• 1982 MacNeil/Lehrer on reports Ríos Montt committed atrocities
• "I am innocent," Ríos Montt tells court in genocide trial
• Ríos Montt trial enters final phase, 75 years sought
• The science behind historic genocide trial of General Ríos Montt: PBS NewsHour video report
• Guatemalan Government declares State of Siege after Mining Protests: PBS NewsHour video report
• PBS NewsHour reporter's notebook: Guatemala—Why We Cannot Turn Away
• Waiting. Snapshots from Ríos Montt genocide trial courtroom]]> http://boingboing.net/2013/05/13/guatemala-rios-montt-supporte.html/feed 4 http://boingboing.net/2013/05/10/rios-montt-genocide-trial-verd.html http://boingboing.net/2013/05/10/rios-montt-genocide-trial-verd.html#comments Fri, 10 May 2013 22:49:16 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=229608

Brigadier General José Efraín Rios Montt (center, in headphones) awaits the verdict of his trial on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. Photo: mimundo.org

Former Guatemalan dictator José Efraín Rios Montt was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity today at his trial in Guatemala City. He was immediately sentenced to 50 years imprisonment on the genocide charge, with an additional 30 years on the charge of crimes against humanity.

"The damage incurred is irreperable," said Judge Jazmin Barrios, reading the court's verdict to a packed courtroom. "As de facto president, it is logical that he had full knowledge of what was happening and he did nothing to stop it."

The 86-year-old former General and head of state was charged with the crimes over a counterinsurgency campaign in 1982-1983 that resulted in the deaths of 1,771 Maya Ixil.

Prosecutors said the Guatemalan Army's campaign against this indigenous ethnic group included the systematic use of rape, burning of crops, torture, infanticide, and forced displacement.

Rios Montt's 17-month rule was the bloodiest phase of Guatemala's 36-year internal armed conflict. Both he and co-defendant Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez, his former head of military intelligence, denied all charges against them.

Sanchez was acquitted of all charges Friday.

After the verdict was read, Montt's lawyers tried to usher him from the courtroom, only to see him ordered to remain until police arrived to escort him to jail.

Surrounded by a scrum of reporters and photographers at the defense table, Montt tried to make himself heard above the noise. The press refused to move away from Montt, despite the judge's entreaties. The Ixil sang quietly amid the chaos.

Montt was finally taken into custody at about 5:50 p.m. local time.

Montt had remained mostly silent throughout the proceedings, which opened on March 19, 2013. Yesterday, however, he asked to speak in his own defense for the first time and gave a declaration that lasted 55 minutes.

"I am innocent," he told the packed courtroom. "I never had the intent to destroy any national ethnic group."

“I was never in the Ixil area during this time," said co-defendant Rodriguez Sanchez earlier today. "I am innocent of all charges. I am innocent. I have no guilt.”

Separately today in a lower court, Judge Carol Patricial Flores issued a decision reaffirming her earlier mandate that the trial must be suspended. Her ruling, if upheld, would return the proceedings to an earlier point in November, 2011, before any victims testified. The intramural legal conflict between these two courts, and the Constitutional Court—the nation's highest authority—will continue.

WHAT'S NEXT:
Follow proceedings and analysis of the legal battle to follow: NISGUA, Plaza Publica, and the OSJI's trial monitoring account are good places to start. You can follow them and others on this Twitter list. The riosmontt-trial.org site is the best source I've found for legal analysis.

PREVIOUSLY ON BOING BOING
• Guatemala coverage archives
•1983 "MacNeil/Lehrer Report" on debate over military aid
• 1982 MacNeil/Lehrer on reports Ríos Montt committed atrocities
• "I am innocent," Ríos Montt tells court in genocide trial
• Ríos Montt trial enters final phase, 75 years sought
• The science behind historic genocide trial of General Ríos Montt: PBS NewsHour video report
• Guatemalan Government declares State of Siege after Mining Protests: PBS NewsHour video report
• PBS NewsHour reporter's notebook: Guatemala—Why We Cannot Turn Away
• Waiting. Snapshots from Ríos Montt genocide trial courtroom]]> http://boingboing.net/2013/05/10/rios-montt-genocide-trial-verd.html/feed 30 http://boingboing.net/2013/05/10/guatemala-waiting-snapshots.html http://boingboing.net/2013/05/10/guatemala-waiting-snapshots.html#comments Fri, 10 May 2013 20:15:30 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=229570
Photo: Xeni Jardin

[Guatemala City] -- Above: Elena Caba Ijom of Nebaj, El Quiché, Guatemala, reads news about the trial as all of us in the courtroom here await a verdict in the genocide trial of Rios Montt and Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez.

The judges are expected to announce their decision at 4pm local time, despite new calls for annulment from a lower court.

Ms. Caba Ijom told this reporter she was 8 years old when her entire family was killed by the Army in 1982. Soldiers then tied her hands and feet and threw her into a river, breaking her legs.

"I survived," she said.

Photo: Xeni Jardin

There are well over a hundred Ixil here, many reporters from Guatemalan and foreign press, international observers, and supporters of co-defendants Ríos Montt and Rodriguez Sanchez.

The former US-backed dictator and his then-chief of intelligence are charged with genocide and crimes against humanity. Both men say they are innocent.

Photo: Xeni Jardin

Above, Maria Sajiq (L) and Ana Laynez Herrera of Nebaj, Quiché, Guatemala (R). Ms. Sajiq was among the survivors Miles O'Brien and I interviewed in Nebaj recently, for a PBS NewsHour report.

Here are more snapshots I’ve tweeted from the Ríos Montt genocide trial.  And, here are more on Instagram.  

Follow the proceedings with live-tweets from the courtroom by NISGUA, Plaza Publica, and the OSIJ's trial monitoring account.

You can also follow them and others on this Twitter list I made.

Watch live video feed here or listen to live audio feed here.

PREVIOUSLY ON BOING BOING
• Guatemala coverage archives
•1983 "MacNeil/Lehrer Report" on debate over military aid to Ríos Montt's regime
• 1982 MacNeil/Lehrer on reports Ríos Montt committed atrocities against Ixil Maya
• "I am innocent," Ríos Montt tells court in genocide trial, breaking silence
• Ríos Montt trial enters final phase, 75 years sought for genocide, crimes against humanity
• The science behind historic genocide trial of General Ríos Montt: PBS NewsHour video report
• Guatemalan Government declares State of Siege after Mining Protests: PBS NewsHour video report
• PBS NewsHour reporter's notebook: Guatemala—Why We Cannot Turn Away
]]> http://boingboing.net/2013/05/10/guatemala-waiting-snapshots.html/feed 0 http://boingboing.net/2013/05/10/guatemala-1982-macneillehrer.html http://boingboing.net/2013/05/10/guatemala-1982-macneillehrer.html#comments Fri, 10 May 2013 19:25:15 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=229554

[Guatemala City] -- In this 1982 episode of MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour (now PBS NewsHour), Jim Lehrer and Charlene Hunter Gault report on violence and instability across Guatemala and the actions of Efrain Rios Montt, the man at the center of a genocide trial due to reach a verdict today.

This archival episode includes rare footage from Ixil "model villages," which witnesses in this trial described as concentration camps where atrocities took place. The 1982 report also includes footage of General Ríos Montt addressing the nation in his military "sermons" that were transmitted every Sunday night at 7pm.

"Subversives, take note," the General says in the televised address, excerpted in this program. "Only the Guatemalan army will possess weapons. You put yours down. If you don't put them down we'll take them away from you. Listen further and listen well. No more assassinated people will appear on the roadside. Anyone who is outside the law will be executed."

Follow the proceedings with live-tweets from the courtroom by NISGUA, Plaza Publica, and the OSIJ's trial monitoring account.

You can also follow them and others on this Twitter list I made.

Watch live video feed here or listen to live audio feed here.

PREVIOUSLY ON BOING BOING
•1983 "MacNeil/Lehrer Report" on debate over military aid to Ríos Montt's regime
• Guatemala coverage archives
• "I am innocent," Ríos Montt tells court in genocide trial, breaking silence
• Ríos Montt trial enters final phase, 75 years sought for genocide, crimes against humanity
• The science behind historic genocide trial of General Ríos Montt: PBS NewsHour video report
• Guatemalan Government declares State of Siege after Mining Protests: PBS NewsHour video report
• PBS NewsHour reporter's notebook: Guatemala—Why We Cannot Turn Away
]]> http://boingboing.net/2013/05/10/guatemala-1982-macneillehrer.html/feed 1 http://boingboing.net/2013/05/10/guatemala-1983-macneillehr.html http://boingboing.net/2013/05/10/guatemala-1983-macneillehr.html#comments Fri, 10 May 2013 17:46:19 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=229548

Today, May 10, 2013, I am blogging from a courtroom in Guatemala, where a verdict is due for the former head of state and his former head of intelligence. They are charged with genocide and crimes against humanity.

Watch the NewsHour piece I produced with Miles O'Brien about the trial.

Our coverage of the trial on Boing Boing is here.

As NewsHour's Jenny Marder explains,

During the production of the piece, we dug into the vault and found this dusty MacNeil/Lehrer Report video from Nov. 30, 1983, on the debate over the U.S. role in Guatemala. It was filmed just after the Reagan administration announced the end of a five-year embargo on military shipments to Guatemala, citing human rights progress and claiming that Ríos Montt had been given a "bum rap." You'll see in these interviews a split between U.S. administration officials and human rights organizations.

For example, Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights Eliott Abrams tells Jim Lehrer that political killings in Guatemala had reduced under the Rios Montt leadership, from hundreds a month to 40-50 a month and calls that "considerable progress."

"We're not suggesting the number of 40 or 50 a month is good, but it's a lot better," Abrams says. "And we think that kind of progress has to be rewarded and encouraged."

But human rights groups, which did not support the lifting of the embargo, along with some members of Congress told a different story: one of kidnappings, refugees and massacres by government forces.

This for example, came from Robert Goldman from Americas Watch Committee.

"Rios Montt is a dictator who came in with all these promises, and yet, what did he do?" Goldman says. "He abolished all press freedom. There's less press freedom now in Guatemala than there has been for the last 30 years. No political parties are allowed. No union activity. Search and seizure without warrants are conducted. A three-man military tribunal can sentence anybody to anything including death."

PREVIOUSLY ON BOING BOING
• Guatemala coverage archives
• "I am innocent," Ríos Montt tells court in genocide trial, breaking silence
• Ríos Montt trial enters final phase, 75 years sought for genocide, crimes against humanity
• The science behind historic genocide trial of General Ríos Montt: PBS NewsHour video report
• Guatemalan Government declares State of Siege after Mining Protests: PBS NewsHour video report
• PBS NewsHour reporter's notebook: Guatemala—Why We Cannot Turn Away
]]> http://boingboing.net/2013/05/10/guatemala-1983-macneillehr.html/feed 5 http://boingboing.net/2013/05/10/guatemala-likely-sentence-tod.html http://boingboing.net/2013/05/10/guatemala-likely-sentence-tod.html#comments Fri, 10 May 2013 14:13:42 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=229520
Photo: Former de facto head of state Efrain Rios Montt takes the stand, speaking in his defense for the first time since the trial began on March 19, 2013. Photo: James Rodriguez, mimundo.org.

Separately today, Judge Carol Patricial Flores issued a decision reaffirming her earlier mandate, in a lower court, that the trial must be suspended and returned to an earlier point in November, 2011 (before any victims testified). The intramural legal conflict between these two courts, and the Constitutional Court, continues, but so will the trial: Judge Flores' decision does not change Judge Barrios' plan to issue her court's decision.

The 86-year-old former General and head of state is charged with genocide, and crimes against humanity, for a counterinsurgency campaign during his 17-month rule in 1982-1983 that resulted in the deaths of 1,771 Maya Ixil. Prosecutors say the Guatemalan Army's campaign against this indigenous ethnic group included the systematic use of rape, burning of crops, torture, infanticide, and forced displacement—all taking place against the backdrop of the country's 36-year internal armed conflict. Ríos Montt and co-defendant Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez, his former head of military intelligence, deny the charges.

Montt remained mostly silent throughout the trial, which opened on March 19, 2013. Yesterday, however, he asked to speak in his own defense for the first time and gave a declaration that lasted 55 minutes.

"I am innocent," he told the packed courtroom. "I never had the intent to destroy any national ethnic group."

I am blogging from inside the court. Co-defendant Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez, who is wheelchair-bound, was moved by armed guards to the witness stand, where he declared his innocence.

“I was never in the Ixil area during this time," Rodriguez Sanchez said. "I am innocent of all charges. I am innocent. I have no guilt.”

Coverage of yesterday's events:
• A photo-essay by Guatemala-based James Rodriguez
• NISGUA: "Concluding arguments, "You cannot deny the undeniable"
• NISGUA: Benjamin Jerónimo: "I supplicate you to do justice... so the survivors can feel peace"
• Legal analysis at the Open Society Justice Initiative's riosmontt-trial.org blog.

Follow the proceedings with live-tweets from the courtroom by NISGUA, Plaza Publica, and the OSIJ's trial monitoring account.

You can also follow them and others on this Twitter list I made.

Watch live video feed here or listen to live audio feed here.

PREVIOUSLY ON BOING BOING
• "I am innocent," Ríos Montt tells court in genocide trial, breaking silence
• Ríos Montt trial enters final phase, 75 years sought for genocide, crimes against humanity
• Guatemala coverage archives
• The science behind historic genocide trial of General Ríos Montt: PBS NewsHour video report
• Guatemalan Government declares State of Siege after Mining Protests: PBS NewsHour video report
• PBS NewsHour reporter's notebook: Guatemala—Why We Cannot Turn Away
]]> http://boingboing.net/2013/05/10/guatemala-likely-sentence-tod.html/feed 4 http://boingboing.net/2013/05/09/guatemala-i-am-innocent.html http://boingboing.net/2013/05/09/guatemala-i-am-innocent.html#comments Thu, 09 May 2013 20:45:53 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=229357 Photo: A still from iPhone video of Ríos Montt speaking, in his defense, for the first time on Thursday May 9, 2013, in Guatemala City. (Xeni Jardin)

As the trial of Guatemala's former military dictator, José Efraín Ríos Montt, and his then head of intelligence, José Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez, moved toward its conclusion this afternoon in Guatemala City, an unexpected thing happened: Ríos Montt asked to speak. He has remained mostly silent since the trial began on March 19. Today, he spoke in his own defense for the first time.

"I was not a commander," Ríos Montt shouted before the court just now, arguing his innocence, "I was head of state! I never authorized any plan to exterminate the Ixiles. There is no evidence to prove otherwise."

Photo: Xeni Jardin.

The former general and his attorneys asked the judge for permission to speak after the "debate" portion of the trial had closed, and the proceedings moved to closing arguments. Judge Yassmin Barrios first denied the request, stating that it was out of order; the defendant was given many opportunities to speak while the debate portion was open, but chose to remain silent then. After further debate and deliberation, and a tirade of insults directed at the judge and Ministerio Publico from defense attorney Francisco Garcia Gudiel, the judges granted Ríos Montt the right to address the court.

I was in a press crush at the general's feet, and shot video of him speaking a few feet away from me, on my iPhone. I'll publish the video of his 55-minute monologue later. For now, a few screengrabs.

Photo: Xeni Jardin.

“Forgive me, I’m a great-grandfather,” he said to Judge Barrios, smiling, then reaching for water when his throat became dry.

But the man who spoke for nearly an hour just now was a very different Ríos Montt than the elderly gentleman who sat in court silently over these past 26 sessions. He is sharp, forceful, righteously angry, and still very much in charge. At 86, El General is still intimidating—and even frightening—when angry. "I'm going to tell you all a story," he told the court—and as he said this, he was looking at us, the cameramen and photographers gathered at his feet, sitting on the floor like children during a kindergarten story-time.

“I have never ordered genocide,” said Ríos Montt. “I am innocent. ... I never had the intent to destroy any national race, religion, or ethnic group.”

Photo: Xeni Jardin.

"The command line had a structural hierarchy that defined who was in charge of operations," said Ríos Montt. "The commanding officer in charge of the units in the region of El Quiché is accountable for the actions [described in this court]!"

Photo: Xeni Jardin.

Notable in the former head of state's testimony: one could interpret these and related statements as shifting blame towards the man who is now president, Otto Perez Molina—he commanded troops in the Ixil area town of Nebaj during Montt's 17-month reign.

"I will never accept responsibility for the charges," said Ríos Montt. "I was the head of State. What is the head of State and commander-in-chief's job? Command and control and administration of the Army. I was in charge of national TERR-I-TORY. Not the local military zones! The local commanders had autonomy!"

"Each commander is responsible for what happened in their zone, and they just updated me with reports."

"My mission as head of state was to reclaim order, because Guatemala was in ruins."

Photo: Xeni Jardin.

I agree with the observation just posted by Kate Doyle of the National Security Archive, who has been documenting the trial proceedings for riosmontt-trial.org: "It's hard to convey how strange this is. Rios Montt is alternately shouting and whispering, cajoling and ordering, smiling and menacing... a blend of his Sunday sermons and the rant of an aged commander.

Photo: Xeni Jardin.

PREVIOUSLY
• Ríos Montt trial enters final phase, 75 years sought for genocide, crimes against humanity
• Guatemala coverage archives
• The science behind historic genocide trial of General Ríos Montt: PBS NewsHour video report
• Guatemalan Government declares State of Siege after Mining Protests: PBS NewsHour video report
• PBS NewsHour reporter's notebook: Guatemala—Why We Cannot Turn Away
]]> http://boingboing.net/2013/05/09/guatemala-i-am-innocent.html/feed 13 http://boingboing.net/2013/05/09/guatemala-rios-montt-trial-en.html http://boingboing.net/2013/05/09/guatemala-rios-montt-trial-en.html#comments Thu, 09 May 2013 15:39:09 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=229257
Ixil Mayan women read about the trial in today's newspaper, while waiting for day 26 of the proceedings against Ríos Montt and Rodriguez Sanchez to begin in the courtroom. The former de facto dictator and his head of Intelligence are accused of genocide and crimes against humanity committed against the Ixil during a de facto reign from March 1982 to August 1983. Photo: Xeni Jardin, May 9, 2013, Guatemala City.

Here in Guatemala City, the trial of José Efraín Ríos Montt and José Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez has re-opened for the 26th session. The prosecution is delivering closing arguments, revisiting the wrenching testimony of more than 90 Ixil Maya victims who told the court their personal accounts of rape, assassination, torture, and infanticide committed by Guatemalan Army soldiers.

After recounting horrific stories of sexual violence and mass murder, part of the "crimes against humanity" with which the defendants are charged, Francisco Vivar of victims' representation group CALDH (Center for Human Rights Legal Action) told the court that "There are too many stories from the women to share them all."

The trial began on March 19, and has stopped and started in fits and starts over the last month, as lawyers for the defense pursue tactics to delay or halt the proceedings.

The Open Society Justice Initiative has a solid, easy-to-read analysis by Jo-Marie Burt on yesterday's dramatic events, in which an attorney for the defense screamed threats at the Judge and vowed to not rest until she was "behind bars;" the court then moved into the final phase of the trial.

Snip:

Francisco García Gudiel, defense lawyer, goes berserk in the courtroom and declares: "What you are doing here is illegal. It is a shame that you [Judge Barrios] contributes to the impunity in this country. I will not rest until I see you in jail!" Rios Montt genocide trial. Guatemala City, Guatemala. May 08, 2013. James A. Rodríguez/MiMundo.org.

Wednesday’s hearing in the Guatemalan genocide trial of Efrain Rios Montt and Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez saw a dramatic turn of events when, after a tense morning of vitriolic outbursts and veiled threats by defense attorney Francisco Garcia Gudiel, the trial court moved in the afternoon to hear closing arguments.

Representing the Public Ministry, prosecutor Orlando Lopez gave a two and a half hour presentation outlining the case against Rios Montt and Rodriguez Sanchez, who stand accused of genocide and crimes against humanity. The charges refer specifically to the murder of 1,771 Maya Ixils from Quiche department during the 17 months of Rios Montt’s de facto government between March 1982 and August 1983. In his concluding remarks, Lopez asked the court to sentence each of the defendants to 75 years in prison.

It was a remarkable turn from a morning session bogged down in defense lawyers’ efforts to obstruct continuation of the trial, to an afternoon session in which the Public Ministry delivered a comprehensive and crafted presentation outlining military plans, strategies, and command structures, as well as concrete details about the victims, many of whom testified in open court about massacres in their communities, forced displacement, the burning of their homes, the destruction of their crops, and in the case of several women, their rape by soldiers.

Francisco García Gudiel, defense lawyer, yelling at Judge Yassmin Barrios in Rios Montt genocide trial. Guatemala City, Guatemala. May 08, 2013. James A. Rodríguez/MiMundo.org.

FOLLOW THE TRIAL ONLINE:

The closing arguments are ongoing. The courtroom is packed, and there is a sense of intensity and high energy. We may see a conclusion to the trial today.

Follow the proceedings with live-tweets from the courtroom by NISGUA, Plaza Publica, and the OSIJ's trial monitoring account.

You can also follow them and others on this Twitter list I made.

Watch live video feed here or listen to live audio feed here.

RELATED COVERAGE ON BOING BOING:
• Guatemala coverage archives
• The science behind historic genocide trial of General Ríos Montt: PBS NewsHour video report
• Guatemalan Government declares State of Siege after Mining Protests: PBS NewsHour video report
• PBS NewsHour reporter's notebook: Guatemala—Why We Cannot Turn Away

Ixil Mayan women listen in the courtroom during the twenty-fifth day of the historic genocide trial against former de facto dictator Efrain Rios Montt and his head of Intelligence Jose Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez. Both are accused of genocide and crimes against humanity committed against the Ixil Mayan people during their de facto reign from March 1982 to August 1983. Guatemala City, Guatemala. May 08, 2013. Photo: James A. Rodríguez/MiMundo.org.

]]> http://boingboing.net/2013/05/09/guatemala-rios-montt-trial-en.html/feed 2 http://boingboing.net/2013/05/09/guatemala-the-science-behind.html http://boingboing.net/2013/05/09/guatemala-the-science-behind.html#comments Thu, 09 May 2013 15:06:22 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=229238

Video above: "From Guatemalan Soil, Unearthing Evidence of Genocide," a report I produced with Miles O'Brien for PBS NewsHour on the science behind the historic genocide trial that is in its concluding phase today, here in Guatemala City.

Complete transcript of the video report is here.

Forensic science, data analysis, satellite images, and a massive digital archive of records from the regime of José Efraín Ríos Montt are being used to document charges of a genocide against thousands of indigenous Mayans in the 1980s.

Ríos Montt, inside the courtroom where he is being tried for genocide and crimes against humanity. Photo: Xeni Jardin.

RELATED COVERAGE ON BOING BOING:

• Guatemala coverage archives
• Ríos Montt trial enters final phase, 75 years sought for genocide
• Guatemalan Government declares State of Siege after Mining Protests: video report
• Guatemala: Why We Cannot Turn Away
]]> http://boingboing.net/2013/05/09/guatemala-the-science-behind.html/feed 0 http://boingboing.net/2013/05/09/guatemalan-government-declares.html http://boingboing.net/2013/05/09/guatemalan-government-declares.html#comments Thu, 09 May 2013 14:47:54 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=229210

And as the genocide trial entered its final phase, the Public Prosecutor reminded the court in his closing arguments that the 17 months Rios Montt was in power were, at the time, classified as a "State of Siege."

Setting up for the PBS NewsHour cross-talk with Miles at the Army/police checkpoint in Casillas, the first stop in the state of siege zone, as you enter from Guatemala City. Photo and video: Esteban Castaño of Skylight Pictures.

GUATEMALA CITY -- When the trial of Guatemalan General and former de facto head of state José Efraín Ríos Montt and his then chief of intelligence José Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez began on March 19, 2013, I was in Washington D.C., working with PBS NewsHour correspondent Miles O’Brien on some new science reporting projects in a shared office. The first time I went to Guatemala was around 1989, during the country’s 36-year internal armed conflict -- I was a teenager, and the experience was one of the most important and formative of my life. My interest in the peace and justice process following the end of the armed conflict and the lives of the Guatemalan people, has only grown since. So I was happy to learn that Guatemalan independent online media groups were in the courtroom with laptops and modems, live-streaming video and audio of tribunal proceedings.

I tuned in as soon as court opened at 8:30 every morning, Guatemala time. And in our shared D.C. office, over a course of weeks, every day Miles and I worked while listening to audio streaming over the internet from that courtroom far away in Guatemala City. The background audio of our workdays included witness testimonies; defense lawyers yelling at the judges; and elderly Ixil Maya women weeping as they re-told the horrors of being raped, and watching their children, brothers, mothers, and grandfathers be killed.

Both of us were trying to do other work at the time, unrelated to this story. But neither of us could turn away, or turn off the audio, even as the stories grew more graphic, more upsetting, more awful with each witness. Imagine the worst possible thing one human being can do to another. Each testimony was like that, but each in a new and seemingly more horrific way than the last.

The remains of an indigenous person executed in an Army massacre, with multiple close-range bullets to the head, inside the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation (FAFG).

During one of my trips to Guatemala in the 2000’s, I produced a documentary series for National Public Radio about the role science and technology played in some interesting stories related to peace and justice, and related to social and economic development for the country’s majority population who are poor and indigenous. Some of the episodes focused on entities such as the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation (FAFG) and the Project for the Recuperation of the Historic Archives of Guatemala’s National Police (AHPN) -- groups that have produced forensic and documentational evidence that became central to the 2013 Rios Montt genocide tribunal.

Miles and I listened to those 2007 NPR reports together during a long car ride after the genocide trial began. And after we’d listened to the last one together, we agreed that revisiting those projects, those people, and the question of what role science plays in this process -- that all of this would make a really great NewsHour story. And luckily for us, NewsHour agreed.

Within a few days, we were off to New York and Connecticut to interview anthropologist Victoria Sanford, mapping expert Russell Schimmer, and filmmaker Pamela Yates, who famously interviewed Ríos Montt in 1982. That interview was introduced as evidence in the trial, and the General himself watched silently as the video played in the courtroom.

Then, we flew to Guatemala City, to observe the trial, and interview people on both sides of the genocide debate. Miles spoke with Ríos Montt’s daughter Zury Ríos Montt; and with his longtime advisor Harris Whitbeck -- who ran the regime’s “Frijoles y Fusiles” (Beans and Bullets) aid program in the Guatemalan Highlands, and coordinated support with American Evangelical aid groups, including those led by popular television evangelists Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.

An Ixil man prays inside the central Catholic church in Nebaj, El Quiché, Guatemala. During Ríos Montt's regime, Ixil women say Army soldiers held them captive in this church and gang-raped them repeatedly. President Otto Perez Molina, then a General in the Guatemalan Army, held a commanding role in Nebaj at the time.

Ríos Montt was trained at the U.S. Army’s School of The Americas; the Guatemalan government and Army received funding, military training, weapons, and essential equipment such as helicopters directly from the U.S. (and through our allies: Israel and Taiwan, among others). President Ronald Reagan was a staunch ally of Ríos Montt, even as other lawmakers in Congress and the Senate raised concerns about reports of human rights abuses against indigenous populations. In arguing for more military aid for Guatemala, Reagan once famously said at a 1982 press conference in Honduras that the General had received “a bum rap” on human rights.

The question of who is responsible for atrocities that occurred during the Guatemalan civil war is not just a question for Guatemalans.

In Guatemala, we also interviewed people from organizations that produced criminal evidence for the trial, including AHPN and FAFG, and Patrick Ball from the Human Rights Data Analysis Group. Our interviews took place in an increasingly polarized climate in Guatemala; rumors were spreading that some trial witnesses and people involved in the prosecution were receiving threats. Some, we were told, were forced to leave the country out of concerns for safety. Paid 20-page inserts by a pro-Ríos Montt, anti-genocide-tribunal group appeared in each week’s Sunday paper: “The so-called ‘genocide’ trial is a lie perpetrated by neo-Marxist guerrillas enabled by the Catholic Church,” the headlines read.

But the most challenging part of our reporting trip came when we traveled to the Ixil area, to interview Mayan survivors, including a woman who appeared in the tribunal as one of the appoximately 100 “querellantes,” or criminal witnesses for the prosecution. We spoke with José Ceto Cabo, an Ixil civil war survivor who runs a small NGO that works to aid fellow Ixil survivors, and we listened as seven Ixil men and women from Chajul, Cotzal, Nebaj, and other communties at the center of the genocide trial told us the stories of the atrocities they survived. In the courtroom back in Guatemala City, women covered their faces with traditional woven shawls as a gesture of grief and to hide the overwhelming pain and fear they felt as they re-lived their trauma. In the room in Nebaj where our cameras and lights were set up, this group of men and women chose to show their faces, even as some of them wept and trembled, retelling horrors.

Miles O'Brien with Juana Sanchez Toma, at her home in San Juan Cotzal, El Quiché, Guatemala. She is holding a photograph of her mother, with an orphan their family took in during the armed conflict.

We followed one of these war survivors to her home in San Juan Cotzal. Doña Juana Sanchez Toma offered us coffee grown in a nearby field, cooked over a fire in her dirt-floor hut. Her cat curled up nearby, and a war widow named Doña Inez crushed coffee cherries on a stone metate just outside.

Miles asked Doña Juana if she had any photographs of her family that we might be able to film, to help tell the story. She stepped away, and returned with a weathered, faded print: a smiling teenage girl, and an older woman with a sad, empty expression. The girl was a war orphan their family took in; the older woman was Doña Juana’s mother, who was captured and raped not long after her daughter suffered the same.

“They tied her arms and legs and carried her like a dog, when they kidnapped her from our home,” Doña Juana told us, weeping again. “They held her in the church, and the soldiers, all of them, they raped her for two weeks.”

The photograph was taken after. She soon died, Doña Juana told us, after suffering incalculable physical and psychological trauma.

As we write this blog post, the trial is in its 25th day, after being suspended and restarting and re-suspending a number of times. One of Ríos Montt’s attorneys, Garcia Gudiel, has just screamed at Judge Yassmin Barrios, “I will not rest until you are in prison.” I have been in Guatemala reporting on this story now for more than a month, and each day, it takes some new, unexpected, dramatic turn.

One week ago, President Otto Perez Molina (a former General under Ríos Montt, who was implicated by one of the witnesses in the genocide trial) declared an “Estado de Sitio” (State of Siege) in four communities surrounding a U.S./Canadian-owned Escobal silver mine in San Rafael, just east of the capital. By various accounts, more than 8,000 Army and police troops have been sent in to the Siege zone.

I visited the area last Friday, and observed joint military/police checkpoints and interrogations, spoke to guards at the mine, observed sites where violence had taken place, and spoke to members of indigenous and community groups who say that the military occupation is a re-play of the repressive policies of the miltary during the 1980s.

Being in the “estado de sitio” area reminded me of passing through Army checkpoint zones during the war. Camionetas, those brightly colored school-buses, were pulled over by soldiers; all passengers ordered off, all identification checked, some questions asked. Back in the ‘80s, I was one of the bus passengers myself. And I remember observing that some people pulled off by soldiers were not allowed to get back on the bus.

Dozens of indigenous leaders held a dramatic demonstration inside the Guatemalan congress yesterday, as lawmakers met to consider ratifying (or not) the State of Siege. “Justice! Justice!,” they shouted in unison, forcing their way into the congressional chamber, “No to militarization! We have suffered enough under the Army! Get out of our pueblos now!”

Miles has been called back to the U.S., and I must leave Guatemala soon, myself. But I don’t want to. The story of these people continues to unfold, and I cannot turn away from it. When I return home, I will be tuned in, just like we were in the early days of the trial.

And I hope, we hope, and they -- many of the Guatemalan people -- hope that you will, too.

This blog post was cross-published on the PBS NewsHour website. Esteban Castaño of Skylight Pictures contributed to the related video report.

• Guatemala coverage archives
• Ríos Montt trial enters final phase, 75 years sought for genocide
• Guatemalan Government declares State of Siege after Mining Protests (video report)
• Guatemala: The science behind historic genocide trial of General Ríos Montt (video report)
]]> http://boingboing.net/2013/05/09/guatemala-why-we-cannot-turn.html/feed 7 http://boingboing.net/2013/05/08/guatemala-pbs-newshour-report.html http://boingboing.net/2013/05/08/guatemala-pbs-newshour-report.html#comments Wed, 08 May 2013 15:41:33 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=229004 Watch PBS NewsHour tonight (Wednesday, May 8, 2013) for a report that science correspondent Miles O'Brien and I produced from Guatemala on the role forensic science plays in the genocide trial of José Efraín Ríos Montt and José Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez.

Screengrab: Juana Sanchez Toma, of San Juan Cotzal, El Quiché, Guatemala. We interviewed her in her dirt-floor home about her experience as a victim of sexual violence committed by Army troops under Ríos Montt's command in Nebaj in 1982.

Some of the other people we interviewed for this piece said that she and other Ixil Maya "querrelantes" in the trial (criminal witnesses for the prosecution) were making up stories about mass rapes, execution, torture, infanticide, and other atrocities because they were offered financial rewards for participating in a neo-Marxist political plot to unfairly condemn the former General and head of state.

You can watch and decide for yourself.

Check local listings for showtimes. Video will be online this evening, I'll post links when the video is up.

Read more in our Boing Boing archives of reports from Guatemala about the genocide trial.]]> http://boingboing.net/2013/05/08/guatemala-pbs-newshour-report.html/feed 3 http://boingboing.net/2013/05/08/guatemala-day-25-of-genocide.html http://boingboing.net/2013/05/08/guatemala-day-25-of-genocide.html#comments Wed, 08 May 2013 15:01:40 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=228976

Photo: James Rodriguez, mimundo.org. An Ixil Mayan woman listens to Spanish-Ixil translation in the courtroom during the historic genocide trial against former de facto dictator Efrain Rios Montt and his head of Intelligence Jose Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez. Both are accused of genocide and crimes against humanity committed against the Ixil Mayan people during their de facto reign from March 1982 to August 1983.

Here in Guatemala City, the trial of José Efraín Ríos Montt and José Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez re-opened for the 25th session, moments ago. The trial began on March 19, and has stopped and started in fits and starts over the last month, as lawyers for the defense pursue tactics to delay (and, ultimately, stop) the proceedings. The Open Society Justice Initiative has a solid, easy-to-read analysis by Jo-Marie Burt on where things stand (or more specifically, where they stood before doors opened 10 minutes ago).

Snip:

Presiding Judge Yassmin Barrios reconvened the trial of Efrain Rios Montt and Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez Tuesday morning, only to adjourn within 30 minutes on account of the defense lawyer’s absence. Observers were left with lingering uncertainty about how the trial court would respond to Monday’s appeals court ruling. More broadly, observers and parties wondered whether the trial court would be able to hear the final defense witnesses and closing arguments, or whether it would continue to be stymied.

Meanwhile in the afternoon, the Constitutional Court released another trio of judgments related to the trial. The tangle of legal challenges pending before various judicial bodies in Guatemala has stalled the trial even while it is technically on the verge of closing arguments. The Constitutional Court’s judgments did not serve to fully clarify the route for the trial to reach its conclusion. The judgments did, however, demonstrate that there is concern among some Constitutional Court judges about the defense challenges and the delays being permitted by the courts.

The debate was suspended yesterday after only 30 minutes, due to the reported illness of Rios Montt lawyer Francisco Garcia Gudiel. Mr. Gudiel sent a message to Judge Barrios' court saying he wouldn't be able to come because he was not feeling well. He was seen in the Public Ministry later that afternoon, apparently feeling much better. This morning, he is not in court, but another one of Rios Montt's attorneys has shown up.

Follow the proceedings with live-tweets from the courtroom by NISGUA, Plaza Publica, and the OSIJ's trial monitoring account.

You can also follow them and others on this Twitter list I made.

Listen to live audio feed here or here.

Related: Watch PBS NewsHour tonight (Wednesday, May 8, 2013) for a report Miles O'Brien and I produced on the genocide trial. Check local listings for showtimes. Video will be online this evening.

]]> http://boingboing.net/2013/05/08/guatemala-day-25-of-genocide.html/feed 0 http://boingboing.net/2013/05/07/guatemala-genocide-trial-star.html http://boingboing.net/2013/05/07/guatemala-genocide-trial-star.html#comments Tue, 07 May 2013 15:06:23 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=228644

Photo: James Rodriguez, a US-Mexican documentary photographer based in Guatemala since 2006, traveled to the State of Siege zone to document the conditions last week in Jalapa and Santa Rosa Guatemala.

A brief update from Guatemala:

The tribunal of General Jose Efrain Rios Montt, who ruled Guatemala from 1982-1983, and Jose Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez, his former chief of military intelligence, reconvened this morning after a 5-day suspension. The defendants are on trial in Guatemala City for genocide and crimes against humanity. As Jo-Marie Burt at the OSIJ's riosmontt-trial.org blog explained in their most recent analysis, "Responding to the most recent ruling by the Court of Appeals will likely be the first order of business."

I am publishing this post from inside the courtroom, which was less than half full today—there was much confusion over the last 48 hours about whether the trial could be suspended entirely. Rios Montt and Rodriguez Sanchez showed up this morning without attorney Garcia Gudiel, who literally called in sick. Judge Yassmin Barrios briefly responseded to an array of recent court rulings, said "There is no annulment of the trial," then suspended the trial for the day. She indicated to Rios Montt that if Gudiel remains unavailable, he may call back his previous defense team, who walked out of the courtroom in protest on Apr 19.

No one is entirely sure what will happen tomorrow.

Photo: XJ

Meanwhile, four primarily campesino and indigenous communities to the east of Guatemala's capital continue to live under a state of siege. The zone that has been occupied by thousands of Guatemalan Army troops and policemen since last week is near the US/Canadian-owned mining firm Tahoe Resources' El Escobal mine, also known as the San Rafael silver mine. After months of peaceful protests, a series of violent clashes left a number of locals wounded, and one police officer killed.

I visited the State of Siege zone and spoke with soldiers, police officers, and residents. I will post more about what I observed here on Boing Boing soon.

A march organized by indigenous and campesino groups is planned for this morning, in front of the Guatemalan Congress building (flyer at right).

Tomorrow, the PBS NewsHour report I produced on the genocide trial with Miles O'Brien will air. Please do tune in.

Here's a Twitter list with individuals and organizations reporting on the trial (and events surrounding).]]> http://boingboing.net/2013/05/07/guatemala-genocide-trial-star.html/feed 2 http://boingboing.net/2013/05/06/guatemala-an-attempt-to-dec.html http://boingboing.net/2013/05/06/guatemala-an-attempt-to-dec.html#comments Mon, 06 May 2013 22:25:52 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=228650

Here is Episode #10 of their ongoing series of web updates from the trial, "An Attempt to Decimate the Future." In this episode, a Maya Ixil woman testifies before the court about sexual violence she survived. In the audience, women cover their heads in solidarity. The woman displaying this incredible act of courage was one of 98 Ixil survivors, men and women, who testified as criminal witnesses in the trial. Proceedings are due to resume tomorrow after several weeks of legal wrangling between lawyers for the defense and various Guatemalan courts.

View more of Skylight's "Dictator in the Dock" series here.

Below, two additional recent episodes from the series.

Photo: Troops entering the region around a disputed mining site, shortly after the declaration of a State of Siege by the government of Guatemala. Photo: guatemala.gob.gt.

Photo: Carlos Andrino. "Caserío los Lopez. Santa Lucia Xalapan. Jalapa." May 2, 2013, Guatemala.

[Posted from Guatemala City]

Residents of four towns east of Guatemala's capital woke up to news that their communities had been placed under a 30-day State of Siege by the administration of President Otto Perez Molina, following anti-mining protests that turned violent. One policeman was killed, six civilians were wounded by rubber bullets, and a number of police cars were burned and overturned on roadways. Here is the government's official public announcement. Public gatherings in the area are banned for 30 days.

According to Guatemalan Defense Minister Col. Ulises Giron Anzueto Noah (shown at right, photo today by Carlos Andrino), 3,500 total personnel participated in operations to bring the "estado de sitio" (state of siege) into effect. Some soldiers entered the areas in armored personnel vehicles and tanks. Hundreds of police officers were involved, as were private security officers for the Canadian-owned Escobal mine at the center of the controversy.

Escobar (San Rafael) Mine: Fine Crushing Plant, March 2013, courtesy Tahoe Resources.

The mine at San Rafael Las Flores is known locally as the San Rafael Mine, and has been in conflict for years. It is owned by Tahoe Resources Inc. of Vancouver, British Columbia, and is located about 70km (or 40 miles) east of Guatemala City. The communities who live nearby, many from the Xinca ethnic group, have long argued the mining operation threatens to irreversibly contaminate their water sources. The mine is not yet operating, but the Guatemalan government has granted the permits needed to open.

Photo: Carlos Andrino. May 2, 2013, Guatemala.

During a televised press conference this morning, Guatemalan president Otto Perez Molina said the State of Siege was necessary because the protesters—or organized crime groups like the Zeta drug cartel who have taken advantage of instability to operate in the area—are armed with heavy weapons and explosives.

“Investigations have found that a number of crimes have been committed, including homicide, kidnapping, and the destruction of government property,” said Molina in the press conference. He added that ten arrests had been carried out “based on arrest warrants issued days ago against suspects in killings and kidnappings.”

“There are other interests mixing with those of the civil population, ‘other interests’ that are behind this situation,” Molina told reporters today. "[The administration] maintains a neutral position regarding the mine… our goal is to ensure the peace and tranquility of Guatemala. The majority of the population of the municipalities under a state of siege are against these recent acts of delinquency.”

Guatemala's Minister of the Interior Mauricio Lopez Bonilla followed the President in the press conference, explaining that an undeclared number of police and soldiers had been dispatched to the four communities. The state of siege, he said, has "nothing to do with the mine," and any claims that the government is effectively criminalizing protests were "false."

Lopez Bonilla described the anti-mining protest groups in the area as “Merchants of Conflict,” and vowed to reveal "the criminal structures behind this recent activity" in raids to be carried out today.

President Molina heads to Costa Rica tomorrow for the two-day Presidents' Summit of the Central American Integration System, an annual conference for Central American heads of State. United States President Barack Obama will be present, and cooperation between US and Guatemalan security forces around anti-drug trafficking and anti-terrorism efforts is expected to be central to the agenda.

There is precedent for declaration of a "State of Siege" here in Guatemala: In 2010, for instance, the government of former president Alvaro Colom made the same declaration in Alta Verapaz (a "department," or county), claiming it was necessary to restore government control in an area that had been effectively taken over by the Zeta cartel.

During a "State of Siege" in Guatemala, which is more restrictive than a "State of Emergency," law enforcement has a number of broad rights outside of the normal legal framework, and the constitutional rights of affected citizens become limited.

For instance: the government has the right to seize weapons; arrest or detain citizens for unlimited periods of time without appearing before a judge and with no guarantee of an attorney to represent them during interrogation. The state can also restrict or deny access to areas or people.

All public gatherings or protests in the area around the San Rafael mine are understood to be banned, under the emergency declaration.

The mine’s owner told the Associated Press that local protesters "armed with machetes 'turned hostile' at the gate on Saturday, and security guards fired tear gas and rubber bullets to ensure the security of mine personnel."

Other protesters temporarily detained 23 police officers, seizing their firearms before releasing them. Later, in a nearby town, another officer was shot and killed in a confrontation possibly related to the mine clashes. Residents have said they fear the underground mine will dry up local springs and other water sources.

Ira Gostin, vice president of investor relations for Tahoe Resources, said complaints that the mine could affect the springs “are totally unfounded.”

It affects the communities of Jalapa, Mataquescuintla, Casillas and San Rafael Las Rosas, and lasts for one month.

• Here is the government document explaining what an "estado de sitio" means [PDF].

•Also today, US Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) visited with Guatemala's president and other government officials. The senator is on a tour of Central America to review "US counter-terrorism and narcotics efforts," and work with heads of state in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala "to improve Central American security.

• Freelance journalist Sandra Cuffe has analysis here, and a brief history of the Xinca community's efforts to protest the San Rafael (Escobal) mine:

“We fear for the lives of our leaders,” stated a message circulated online by the Xinka People’s Parliament, denouncing the mobilization of armed forces in Jutiapa with the alleged intention of arresting Xinka leaders in Santa María Xalapán, Jalapa. “We’re returning to the 1980s, with the persecution of leaders, extrajudicial execution and forced disappearance.”

• Related Boing Boing coverage today: "Rios Montt genocide trial struggles toward completion as confusion reigns in courtroom."

Escobar (San Rafael) Mine: "First Simba," courtesy Tahoe Resources.

twitter.com/DanielTzoc_eu/…

— Reportero Madrugador (@DanielTzoc_eu) May 2, 2013

En Mataquescuintla Jalapa 2 tanquetas hacen presencia. PNC informa de 9 capturas la mayoría en San Rafael Sta Rosa twitter.com/DanielTzoc_eu/…

— Reportero Madrugador (@DanielTzoc_eu) May 2, 2013

Presencia del Ejército en Casillas Sta Rosa twitter.com/DanielTzoc_eu/…

— Reportero Madrugador (@DanielTzoc_eu) May 2, 2013

Un contingente del Ejército llegó a Jalapa para contribuir con labores del estado de Sitio.(Vía: @danieltzoc_eu) twitter.com/EmisorasUnidas…

— Emisoras Unidas 89.7 (@EmisorasUnidas) May 2, 2013

Presencia de soldados tras decretarse Estado de Sitio, en Santa Rosa y Jalapa. twitter.com/Noti7Guatemala…

— Noti7 (@Noti7Guatemala) May 2, 2013

Vehículos quemados obstruyen la ruta que conduce a la mina San Rafael. twitter.com/Noti7Guatemala…

— Noti7 (@Noti7Guatemala) May 2, 2013

A 1982 photograph by Jean-Marie Simon of Otto Perez Molina; he commanded the Guatemalan Army in Nebaj, Quiché, Guatemala at the time, and is now President. Nebaj is part of the region at issue in a genocide trial against former head of state Ríos Montt. The military hat in this photo indicates status as a Kaibil.

[UPDATE, 2pm Guatemala time: Judge Yassmin Barrios has suspended the trial for five days, at the request of the defense. The trial is scheduled to re-open on May 7, 2013.]

A brief update from Guatemala, where the genocide trial of General Efraín Ríos Montt and his former head of intelligence Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez continues today. The trial is historic not only for Guatemala: never before has a domestic court in any nation tried a former head of state for genocide.

The OSIJ blog riosmontt-trial.org has an excellent explainer on the strange state of confusion the trial is in today; here's a previous update from them.

Judge Yassmin Barrios' courtroom in Guatemala City is packed with press, witnesses, the accused, and attorneys. At the time of this blog post, a new de facto defense team that consists of one lawyer previously expelled for bad behavior in the courtroom, and a public defender who asked the court to remove him from the casel—well, they're currently playing a video titled simply "Guerrilla," and displaying a slideshow with graphic images of wounded soldiers. If you can figure out what's going on, you're a few steps ahead of me.

An Ixil girl, 1982. Photo: Jean-Marie Simon.

• Follow this Twitter list for live-tweets from the courtroom.

• An excerpt from today's riosmontt-trial.org proceedings update by Dr. Amy Ross:

As the trial advances toward a conclusion, some have also noted the significance of the public statements of President Otto Perez Molina. In the weeks and months before the trial began, Perez Molina said little publicly in relation to the charges, the trial, or its likely impact. However, at the start of the trial, the president expressed the opinion that “there was no genocide in Guatemala.”

On April 4, a prosecution witness told the court that Perez Molina—then the officer of military installations in Salquil Grande, Nebaj and, according to the witness, known as Tito Arias—had ordered soldiers to burn and loot villages. The president reportedly complained that his rights had been violated by the testimony presented in court. On April 25, President Perez Molina acknowledged that he had operated under the pseudonym Tito Arias during the war, but denied that he was responsible for atrocities.

Perez Molina had previously acknowledged his pseudonym and role, including in a 2000 column in Prensa Libre. In that column, he identified that, under the name “Tito,” he was stationed in Santa Cruz del Quiché commanding troops in the Ixil Triangle. He asserted that his military commands to his troops during the war were to “win the confidence of the population” in order to defend them and secure their collaboration and respect.

In the Prensa Libre column, Perez Molina also described a population afraid of both the guerrillas and the military, and living in “subhuman conditions” (condiciones infrahumanas). He stated that part of the military strategy of the Guerrilla Army of the Poor (Ejercito Guerrillero de los Pobres, or EGP) was to “involve the whole family, that is to say, not just the young people of fighting age, but also women, children and the elderly” (involucrar a la familia completa, es decir, no solo a los jovenes de edad de combatir, sino tambien a mujeres, ninos y ancianos).

Recently, with the trial enmeshed in the legal quagmire of competing legal challenges, President Perez Molina has expressed support for due process, the rule of law, and support for the independence of the judiciary. He affirmed that he would not interfere in the process, and described it as “a very emblematic case which has polarized Guatemalan society and revived the period of the armed conflict” (un caso muy emblematico que ha polarizado a la sociedad guatemalteca y ha revivido el momento del enfrentamiento armado).

• There's a related piece in the Guatemalan news daily El Periodico today about President Molina's role in the trial, and in the military history of Guatemala during the years at issue in the trial: "Otto Pérez Molina, an emerging protagonist in the genocide trial." The photo below ran with the article, with the following caption: "Major Tito Arias, the nom de guerre of Otto Pérez when he commanded the Army in Nebaj, Quiché, in 1982." Photo by Jean-Marie Simon.

• The government has arrested a man identified as "a former guerilla," and he will face crimes against humanity charges. The timing of the arrest is conspicuous, in the context of the genocide trial.

• As the proceedings continue inside the court, another significant news event is taking place about an hour away from Guatemala City. The government has declared a state of siege ("estado de sitio") in four communities near the disputed San Rafael Mine. President Molina just gave a press conference: 3,500 Army troops are participating in the military operation to bring "peace and stability" to the areas after civil unrest involving community groups opposed to the mine—and, according to the government, after organized crime groups including Los Zetas "took advantage of instability" to manipulate vulnerable local communities into participating in crime.

• President Molina heads to Costa Rica tomorrow for the two-day Presidents' Summit of the Central American Integration System (SICA). Also in attendance at this annual conference for Central American heads of State: United States President Barack Obama.

• A related read: Kendra Wergin was part of a National Lawyers Guild delegation at the Ríos Montt trial, in recent weeks. She wrote this editorial about her experience, and the reasons she believes the trial should continue unimpeded:

When we asked how we could help, we always heard the same answer: “It means so much just that you are here.” Throughout the week of frenzied speculation about the future of the trial, our friends in Guatemala urged us to continue sharing our experience with people in the United States. They believe that international pressure can still help them to finish what has been a fair, impartial trial. Ríos Montt’s advanced age means that time is of the essence. If the Constitutional Court decides that the trial must revert back to the beginning, Ríos Montt could well be 88 before any new trial begins. If he dies, the opportunity to establish responsibility for genocide, and possibly the opportunity to establish that genocide took place, will be lost forever.

• Jean-Marie Simon, the photographer whose photographs you see in this post, is the author of "Guatemala: Eternal Spring, Eternal Tyranny." The book contains her photos from Guatemala, during the early 1980s. For Boing Boing readers who are in Guatemala and wish to purchase a copy: the book is currently on sale for Q100 (about half off) at Librería Sophos until May 15. ]]> http://boingboing.net/2013/05/02/guatemala-rios-montt-genocide-3.html/feed 2 http://boingboing.net/2013/04/30/guatemala-rios-genocide-trial.html http://boingboing.net/2013/04/30/guatemala-rios-genocide-trial.html#comments Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:35:42 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=227626

Ixil witnesses inside the courtroom, Tue. Apr. 30, 2013. At center, Maria Sajiq of Nebaj, Quiché, Guatemala. Ms. Sajiq was among the survivors Miles O'Brien and I interviewed in Nebaj recently, for a forthcoming PBS NewsHour report. (Photo: Xeni Jardin)

I am blogging from inside the Supreme Court of Guatemala, where Judge Jazmin Barrios has just re-started the genocide trial of Efrain Rios Montt and Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez after a two-week suspension, during which a series of obscure legal battles took place.

As Amy Ross at the OSIJ's riosmontt-trial.org blog accurately explains, the historic trial reconvenes "in an environment of complex legal challenges, powerful political forces, and intense emotions."

Listen to a live audio stream of today's proceedings here.

My live-tweets from the courtroom are below.

Tue. Apr. 30, 2013: L-R: Co-defendant Sanchez, public defender Otto Ramirez, Rios Montt, and previously-expelled attorney Garcia Gudiel inside courtroom. (Photo: XJ)

Montt and Sanchez are on trial for genocide and crimes against humanity, for violence committed against Ixil Maya communities during Montt’s 17-month regime (March 1982 to August 1983). Montt's government was backed by the US; he received military training in the US, and the US provided weapons, helicopters, funding, training, and other forms of invaluable support for the counterinsurgency campaign his Army led.

The trial is not only historic for Guatemala, but for the world. It is the first time a former head of state has been prosecuted for genocide in a domestic court in the nation where the alleged crimes occurred.

Our archive of Boing Boing dispatches from the courtroom is here.

At riosmontt-trial.org, a good explainer on the case, and an archive of daily proceedings.

The judge's bench, Tue. Apr. 30, 2013. Judge Jazmin Barrios, at center. (Photo: XJ)

The prosecution table, Tue. Apr. 30, 2013. (Photo: XJ)

Here's a Twitter list of observers who have been diligently live-tweeting from the trial. Among them: NISGUA Guate (Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala), Plaza Publica, and Rios Montt Trial (a project of the Open Society Initiative).

Panorama: Front row in Judge Barrios' courtroom, Tue. Apr. 30, 2013. (Photo: XJ)

Below, my live-tweets from courtroom today.

Tweets by @xeni

]]> http://boingboing.net/2013/04/30/guatemala-rios-genocide-trial.html/feed 2 http://boingboing.net/2013/04/29/guatemala-genocide-trial-said.html http://boingboing.net/2013/04/29/guatemala-genocide-trial-said.html#comments Mon, 29 Apr 2013 22:00:41 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=227419 continuing to blog the historic trial for Boing Boing. NISGUA has this update on the past week's legal wranglings that led up to today's news the trial will restart.]]> http://boingboing.net/2013/04/29/guatemala-genocide-trial-said.html/feed 2 http://boingboing.net/2013/04/28/moombahton-in-guatemala-house.html http://boingboing.net/2013/04/28/moombahton-in-guatemala-house.html#comments Sun, 28 Apr 2013 17:09:59 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=227089

DJ Wicho Lopez is the best-known local ambassador of one of the more interesting musical genres to take root here in Guatemala of late: Moombahton, a mix of house and reggaeton and whatever else the DJ feels like throwing in. Moombahton more or less originated with DJ Dave Nada (Twitter, Tumblr, Amazon) in Washington, DC a few years ago; superproducer Diplo popularized it further.

Guatemalan news daily Prensa Libre ran a feature on Guatemala City-based DJ and producer Wicho last week, and I've been enjoying some of his work. He is the Keyboardist, Accordionists and Keytarist of "Malacates Trebol Shop" (Twitter).

Above, "Una Vaina Loca."

Below, a mixtape: "Atomic Boom Bah! (Episode 1) Basics by @WichoLopez @AtomicBoombah."

(Photo: Prensa Libre)

And for those unfamiliar with Moombahton, here are two sets from the man credited with originating the genre: Dave Nada.

Mad decent worldwide radio #37 - Dave Nada: Love In This Bmore Club by Mad Decent on Mixcloud