Efraín Ríos Montt, former dictator and leader of the coup d’etat in 1982, died this past Easter Sunday. He was under house arrest as his case was being heard again regarding the genocide carried out against the Ixil people during… Read More ›
Rios Montt
From civil war to civil protest: A director looks back on three decades of filming Guatemala
Over the past 35 years, Pamela Yates, an American filmmaker, has been visiting Guatemala, documenting the often painful sweep of its history, with particular attention to the indigenous Mayan communities. Her first film, “When the Mountains Tremble” (1983), took viewers… Read More ›
Ríos Montt to Face Second Genocide Trial for the Dos Erres Massacre
A judge in Guatemala has determined that there is sufficient evidence to send former Guatemalan dictator Efraín Ríos Montt to trial for the case of the Las Dos Erres massacre. This is the second trial Ríos Montt will face in… Read More ›
CREOMPAZ: The largest case of forced disappearance in Latin America
With the news that an arrest warrant has been issued for Congressman Edgar Justino Ovalle, in connection with the CREOMPAZ case, it’s a good idea to recap the case in question, from a report by NISGUA. On January 6, 2016,… Read More ›
500 YEARS
“There is joy in dreaming about a new country, a country where we indigenous people, with our culture, our language, our spirituality, our worldview, can exist as part of this country.” – Daniel Pascual, Peasant Leader 500 YEARS is the story… Read More ›
Will Ríos Montt ever stand trial for Dos Erres?
Jo-Marie Burt has been writing about the latest on whether José Efraín Ríos Montt will face trial in relation to the 1982 Dos Erres massacre, in which an elite unit of the Guatemalan army known as Kaibiles slaughtered over 200… Read More ›
Helping to get justice for indigenous women raped and tortured in Guatemala’s civil war
Feliciana Bernal (Credit: Amy Bracken) On PRI’s The Word, Amy Bracken reports on the story of Feliciana Bernal, who was one of the translators in the Ríos Montt Genocide trial. The piece goes on to say that there has been… Read More ›
Appeals Court Upholds Suspension of Ríos Montt Genocide Trial
“The retrial trial against former head of state General José Efraín Ríos Montt and his former chief of intelligence (“G2”) General Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity against the Maya Ixil population has been definitively… Read More ›
Arrests suggest crimes of the past will not be forgotten
Further to this recent post on this blog, the Guatemala Trials website speaks of the arrest of 18 former military officers in relation to crimes committed during Guatemala’s 36-year conflict. According to Sophie Beaudoin, here, “the dramatic arrests came as… Read More ›
Top genocide lawyer assassinated in Guatemala City
The chief lawyer of former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt was gunned down in broad daylight last Wednesday 3 June. Francisco Palomo Tejada, 63, was driving home on a lunch break when two men on a red motorcycle pulled alongside his… Read More ›
Guatemala Solidarity Network 