Expert: 8 out of 10 victims shot in the head Guatemala's ex-strongman

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Expert: 8 out of 10 victims shot in the head Guatemala's ex-strongman
By The Associated Press April 11, 2013 12:04 AM

GUATEMALA CITY - Experts at the trial of a former U.S.-backed Guatemalan dictator have clashed over whether genocide took place during the country's civil war.

Forensic anthropologist Fredy Peccerelli says there is evidence that eight out of 10 Ixil Mayans killed while military strongman Efrain Rios Montt was in power died from gunshot wounds to the head.

Peccerelli told the court Wednesday that those numbers are above what's expected in a combat situation and provide evidence of execution-style killings. Peccerelli was brought in by prosecutors.

The defence expert, Gen. Jose Luis Quilo Ayuso, said he didn't consider what happened in Guatemala genocide because "there were no ethnic problems."

Read more: http://www.canada.com/news/Expert+victims+shot+head+Guatemalas+exstrongman/8224977/story.html

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Former President Efraín Ríos Montt was soundly, publicly supported at every step of the way by former Republican President Ronald Reagan, U.S. American right-wing Congressmen, and U.S. American fundamentalist Christian evangelists Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell.

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. The US government supported that mass murderer.

And people wonder why some of us are a bit cynical about ongoing US interventions and the pretty rhetoric in which they are clothed. We've heard and seen it all before.

[TxVietVet]

3. Usually all Central and South American dictators are usually supported by the US.

American businesses like to exploit cheap labor with the support of a repressive regime. The history of the US is loaded with examples of this. Nicaragua lost that support when the Sandanistas overthrew the Somoza regime.

[formercia]

5. US based Multinationals

that pay little or no taxes.

[idwiyo]

2. K&R THAT'S kind of people US and UK (mine) governments REALLY like.

[ErikJ]

4. I was in Guatemala in 1986 and was lined up

they stopped our bus and made everybody line up for inspection. I dont know what they were looking for exactly but it was kind of scary.

[Comrade Grumpy]

6. Same thing happened to me in 1982.

Soldiers took several young men away. The fear in the air was palpable.

I had crossed into Guatemala from Mexico and knew I was getting somewhere scary when we got to the border post and it was surrounded by machine gun emplacements.