Genocide trial of former Guatemala dictator begins

[Judi Lynn]

2. Trial of an American Ally: Ghosts of Foreign Policy Past in Guatemala

Trial of an American Ally: Ghosts of Foreign Policy Past in Guatemala
by Constantino Diaz-Duran Mar 24, 2013 4:45 AM EDT

Former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt is facing charges of genocide, a first for Latin America. It’s also a reminder of the slaughter that U.S. intelligence agencies decided to ignore.


An historic trial is taking place in Central America. Former military dictator Gen. Efraín Ríos Montt is being tried for genocide in his native Guatemala. This is the first time a Latin American despot has faced trial for such charges in his own country.

I lived in Guatemala during his dictatorship. I was a young child when he seized power in a March 1982 coup, and my recollection of his dictatorship is vague, but I have vivid memories of people reminiscing about his term years later—my parents and other people around me often spoke of the Ríos Montt era as a time when things were not so bad, when crime and violence were under control.

Growing up in Guatemala City in the 1980s, I lived in a bubble. Decades later, having spent most of my adult life in the United States, I see Ríos Montt—who received the support of the U.S. government—more critically. I look at what happened during that time not as a Guatemalan, but as an American. And I look for lessons to draw upon as we (hopefully) continue to debate our nation’s role on the world stage.

The bloodshed that took place during the Ríos Montt presidency seems undeniable. My parents’ view of that time through rose-colored glasses is explained partly by the fact that his coup against General Romeo Lucas García allowed my family to return to Guatemala after a brief exile in Florida. My parents have never been political, and had no ties to any government. But my dad’s successful business enterprises had put him in the sights of Lucas García’s lackeys. They tried to extort money out of him by threatening to kidnap or otherwise harm someone in the family. My dad refused to pay, and in response, a group of gunmen showed up at his office one day, presumably to kill him. He escaped through a window, rushed home, and he and my mom made the decision to move to Miami.

More:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/24/trial-of-an-american-ally-ghosts-of-foreign-policy-past-in-guatemala.html