Bush Must Support Accountability in Guatemala

Bush Must Support Accountability in Guatemala

Washington , March 9, 2007–The Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) today urged President Bush to make justice and accountability for human rights abuses a priority during his upcoming visit to Guatemala, particularly by emphasizing support for the legal cases against General Efraín Ríos Montt and members of his military high command.

“The case against Ríos Montt is not only about addressing some of the worst crimes committed in this hemisphere in the last century. It is also involves tackling the ongoing problem of impunity, and demonstrating that Ríos Montt’s ties to organized crime do not put him above the law,” said NISGUA National Organizer Andrew de Sousa.

Legal proceedings in both Guatemalaand Spainare attempting to hold the former dictator and his military high command responsible for genocide and other gross human rights violations. President Bush’s visit to Guatemalathis weekend comes at a pivotal time in these cases, with Ríos Montt planning to launch a run for the Guatemalan Congress on May 2 in a bid to gain immunity from prosecution in the national court system. Although holding a seat in Congress will not legally block the extradition of Ríos Montt to Spain, it will likely kill any political will to bring such a powerful figure to justice.

“Ríos Montt serves as a highly visible example of the fact that if you are corrupt and brutal enough, you are guaranteed impunity in Guatemala. We see the consequences of this phenomenon play out every day, as continued threats and attacks against civil society leaders are never investigated or prosecuted by the authorities,” said Catherine Norris of NISGUA’s Guatemala Accompaniment Project.

President Bush’s tour of Latin America is intended to reestablish U.S. influence in the region, but serious conflicts remain between the image the Bush Administration is trying to portray this week and its actual policies over the past six years. In Guatemala, the Administration has been supporting the physical harassment and suspension of civil rights in rural communities under the guise of the Drug War, pushing for Congress to increase training and funding of the deeply corrupt security forces, and limiting economic opportunities and access to affordable medicines through the DR-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA).

While international arrest warrants for Ríos Montt and his military high command have been in effect in the U.S.since last year, the Bush Administration has yet to publicly acknowledge the warrants or show support for legal initiatives in Guatemala. Given the strategic importance of Guatemala’s relationship with the U.S., any message from President Bush supporting anti-impunity efforts and the prosecution of Rios Montt would have a strong impact on the ground in Guatemala.

Background

General Ríos Montt came to power in a military coup in 1982, at the height of the 36-year armed conflict in Guatemala. A UN Truth Commission found his administration to be responsible for acts of genocide against the indigenous Maya people, resulting in an estimated 70,000 deaths during his 17 months in power. Ríos Montt was trained by the U.S.military at the School of the Americasand supported by the Reagan administration. He remains a powerful figure in Guatemala, leading one of the largest political parties, the FRG. His daughter, who represents the FRG in the Guatemalan Congress, is married to U.S. Representative Jerry Weller (R-IL).

In 2000 and 2001, a group of war survivors filed charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against former military dictators Lucas García and Efraín Ríos Montt and their military high commands in the Guatemalan legal system. Seven years later, these cases remain in the investigative phase due to a lack of political will to bring the accused to justice.

In 1999, Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchú Tum and other genocide survivors began a similar legal case in Spain, and on July 7, 2006, a Spanish judge issued international arrest warrants against Ríos Montt and other former officials, including orders to freezing their financial assets.

In recent months there has been a push for the Attorney General to call on Ríos Montt to testify in the domestic case. Spainhas also filed an extradition request for the former dictator, which is being stalled through legal appeals. These developments have resulted in multiple threats against lawyers and human rights activists working on the cases.

President Bush will be visiting Guatemalafrom March 11-12. Various sectors of Guatemalan society have been protesting against his visit for the past two weeks, voicing displeasure with U.S.migration, economic and other policies towards their country.

The Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) was formed in 1981 to coordinate local activism on Guatemalain the United States. With members across the U.S., NISGUA continues to be one of the strongest and steadiest grassroots voices for responsible U.S.policy in the region.

ENDS

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