Joyce Hackel

Joyce Hackel

Joyce Hackel is a producer at The World.

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Genocide Trial in Guatemala a Tribute to Tenacity of Indigenous Groups

March 21, 2013 ⋅ Post a comment
Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu at the trial of Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt. (Photo: Jorge Dan Lopez / Reuters)

Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu at the trial of Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt. (Photo: Jorge Dan Lopez / Reuters)

Former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Ríos Montt was in court Thursday morning for the second day of his genocide trial.

The retired general listened as a dozen prosecution witnesses described atrocities under his regime, how the Guatemalan Army swept through their villages in the early 1980s, killing their family members.

The trial marks the first and only genocide proceedings against a former head of state ever held in a domestic court.

Kate Doyle of the Guatemala Documentation Project for the National Security Archive has been monitoring the proceedings.

Discussion

3 comments for “Genocide Trial in Guatemala a Tribute to Tenacity of Indigenous Groups”

  • Jose Grioni

    Dear Sir, The comment about this being “the first and only genocide proceeding[s] against a former head of state ever” is incorrect. In Argentina, during the democratically elected government of the now deceased President Dr. Raul Alfonsin, proceedings were held domestically against all military members of the dictatorship which happened during the years of 1976 and 1983. To this day, there are still proceedings against former members and collaborators of the dictatorships of those years, with sentencing as recent as a few months ago on those which were found guilty.

    • http://www.facebook.com/kate.doyle.334 Kate Doyle

      Hello Mr. Grioni, It is true that the groundbreaking Argentine trials of the 1980s and again more recently – as well the legal investigations in Spain – have sometimes invoked the term “genocide” to describe what happened. And it is true that the victims of the Argentine State’s security forces were clearly marked for extinction by their ideology or political affiliation. But the 1948 international convention defines genocide as “the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or
      religious group,” and in that sense the Argentine case does not fall within the legal definition of genocide. It should – but it doesn’t, because the concept as defined 65 years ago excluded groups characterized by shared political affiliation.
      Kate Doyle
      National Security Archive

      • Jose Grioni

        After reading your reply, I now remember a discussion with other argentine citizens in which this was a matter of debate too – and understand the difference that you clarify. The nowaday term used in Argentina to describe these crimes is Crimes Against Humanity. I hope the legal definition of either one does not diminish the importance of civil, domestic trails, nor the horrors perpetuated by those in power at the time. Thank you for your clarification.

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