Guatemala’s trial of the decade in ten facts
Guatemala’s trial of the decade in ten facts
8 May 2013
The trial against former Guatemalan leader General José Efraín Rios Montt for genocide during his time in office has restarted.
Here are 10 facts that show why the Central American country’s dark past is still relevant today.
1. Guatemala is located in Central America, bordering Mexico. Around half of its population is indigenous, including many Maya peoples. The country is one of the most unequal in the region – with high rates of illiteracy, infant mortality and malnutrition, particularly in the countryside. Organized crime and violence are also widespread.
2. Between 1960 and 1996, Guatemala was immersed in a bloody internal armed conflict that pitted the army against guerrilla groups. More than 200,000 men, women and children were murdered or disappeared during this 36-year-long war, most of them were indigenous.
3. General José Efraín Ríos Montt led the country’s military government between March 1982 and August 1983 – one of the bloodiest periods of the conflict when there was an aggressive campaign targeting anyone deemed to be supporting left-wing guerrillas.
4. The conflict ended in 1996 with the signing of a Peace Accord in which the government pledged to clarify the truth about what had happened in the three decades of violence. In 1999, a report by the UN-sponsored Commission of Historical Clarification concluded that the Guatemalan state was responsible for 93 per cent of abuses. The Commission also said that in 1981 and 1982 genocide was committed by the State in the Ixil, Zacualpa, northern Huehuetenango and Rabinal areas of Guatemala, where between 70 and 90 percent of the communities were wiped out.
More:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/guatemala-s-trial-decade-ten-facts-2013-05-08
