The General on trial

A cold evening fog had fallen over the Plaza of Human Rights outside Guatemala City’s Court Tower, where two hundred survivors of massacres perpetrated by the Guatemalan Army waited, exhausted and anxious, for Judge Patricia Flores to deliver the court’s verdict—would former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt be charged with genocide? As Judge Flores called the courtroom to session in the tower above, techie activists in the plaza struggled to provide a clear audio and video feed for the crowd below. Though the nuances of her verdict were lost in echo and feedback, the fragments of words and phrases we did hear raised waves of hope; incomprehensible, almost unbelieving hope.

First, Judge Flores methodically affirmed key principles of humanitarian law drawn from the Geneva Conventions and the U.N. Genocide Convention, asserting Guatemala’s constitutional obligation to abide by international law. Then, a series of firm, direct accusations, punctuated by the repeated emphasis of the formal direct address, “Usted”: “You, Señor Efraín Ríos Montt, had knowledge of military plans which had the objective of exterminating the civilian population.” “You, Señor Efraín Ríos Montt, were the Commander in Chief of the military and had knowledge of the execution of these plans.”

Efraín Ríos Montt in court on charges of genocide. Judge Carol Patricia Flores is reflected in the glass behind Ríos Montt. (Photo: Roderico Yool Diaz)

The Judge described testimony of rape, forced labor, torture, and assassinations. “We can establish,” she said, “that these are acts so degrading, so humiliating, that there is no justification.” “You, Señor Efraín Ríos Montt, could have prevented these crimes.” And, finally, Judge Flores stated that in the Maya-Ixil region of central Guatemala, during the years 1982 to 1983, the State had systematically ordered genocide. “We agree with the prosecutor’s judgment that you, Señor Efraín Ríos Montt, probably participated in these acts of genocide and crimes against humanity.” With that, history was made: Efraín Ríos Montt will be tried for the Guatemalan genocide.

The expectant silence of the plaza below erupted in applause and shouts of “¡Asesino! ¡A la carcel!” tension erased from faces that now shone with exuberant smiles, hugs and handshakes exchanged as a bandolier of firecrackers exploded, scattering the pine needles and carnations of a large ceremonial carpet that spelled out “Impunity: Neither yesterday nor today.” I watched as members of the survivors’ group Association for Justice and Reconciliation reacted to the culmination of their decades long campaign for justice. Don Emilio, a former president of the Association, gripped the hand of current president Don Benjamin, saying, “Tomorrow we will celebrate this historic event. Our struggle has become reality. It has all been worth it.”

Read the rest of the article on NISGUA’s website…

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“…and how good it would have been to meet again someday
to tell tales of where we had been
to look into each others eyes at least
one more time in this life
to gather – who knows -
the flowers that in the meantime
we had grown for each other
in our hearts.
But you know now that it is not worth the pain
trying to be happy in the way we once were.”

- from “On the Enviable life of Feliciano Argueta” by Mario Payeras

Ríos Montt Linked to Genocide Process

The Court has restored hope to Guatemalan society, which has waited nearly 30 years for the atrocities committed against the Mayan people to be recognized. In an historic and momentous act for  thousands of victims, Judge Carol Patricia Flores linked General José Efraín Ríos Montt, who functioned as head of state and one of the authors of the genocide, to the legal process. The members of the military high command in 1982 and 1983 are being held accountable, something that had seemed impossible, but today is a reality in Guatemala.

We applaud without hesitation the judge’s decision to incorporate Ríos Montt in the trial for genocide and crimes against humanity. However, we express our discontent with the house arrest authorized for him, due to the serious nature of his crimes that are of national and international significance.  This decision is also inconsistent, as the other two former members of the military accused of the same crimes are in preventative detention.

These facts show us that although there are judges and judicial officials who act according to the law, structures of power and impunity that favor certain sectors remain embedded within the country’s justice system. The Public Prosecutor detailed to the judge the elements of genocide and planning in which the accused participated – the same acts which were acknowledged by the judge and taken into consideration in the decision. Likewise, the Public Prosecutor justified the application of appropriate coercive measures for the accused, but this line of reasoning was rejected.

In 2001, surviving victims of the genocide filed a legal action against the military high command of 1982-83, comprised of the Head of State, Efraín Ríos Montt, the Minister of Defense, General Oscar Humberto Mejía Víctores, and General Héctor Mario López Fuentes. After almost 10 years of knocking on the doors of justice, the Public Prosecutor requested the first statement from Ríos Montt, linking him to the process.

These processes are a historic opportunity for the Guatemalan justice system to break with impunity, and to show the entire world that we are a country that complies with its law and with international human rights norms. Justice is the cornerstone that guarantees the non-repetition of violence. Therein lies the urgent necessity to apply it, for both the crimes of the past and the present.

The judge set a deadline of two months for the Public Prosecutor to present the indictment, after which a public hearing will be held to decide whether the case merits a public trial. We hope that the rest of the process will continue in accordance with the law; that the system of justice will not be unresponsive because of the significance of this case; and that it will not become complicit to delaying actions and obstructions that have characterized the strategy of the accused in other related cases.

On such a special day – marked on the sacred Mayan calendar by Doce Tz’i’, which symbolizes justice, authority, the guardian of material and spiritual law – Guatemala takes a step forward in a landmark case for the country. We ask that the State respond in accordance with the law and the demands of justice. The State has a debt to the victims and survivors of the internal armed conflict.

TRUTH AND JUSTICE ARE THE ONLY ROAD TO RECONCILIATION.

Guatemala, 26 of January 2012
Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR)
Legal Action Center for Human Rights (CALDH)

Activities around the court appearance will be livestreamed at http://www.paraqueseconozca.blogspot.com/, 9pm CST. Be there.

This poem was written in 2008, when this goal seemed almost beyond reach. The poem’s immediate inspiration was found in two untimely deaths: that of Col. Chupina Barrios, former head of the infamous National Police, who had only months earlier been released from house arrest following the Guatemalan courts’ refusal to allow his extradition to Spain on charges of crimes against humanity; and that of a Maya-Q’eqchi’ massacre survivor whom I never met, and who had passed away in a tragic accident weeks before I began work as a volunteer human rights accompanier in Guatemala.

This poem’s dedication, then, implicitly addresses both parties in the ongoing campaign for justice: those who seek to avoid judgment behind the iron veils of forgetting and impunity, and those whose shining examples of dignity and memory light the path towards a more just future.

“On June 20, 2011, retired General Héctor Mario López Fuentes was indicted for genocide, crimes against humanity and forced disappearance.” Photo by Graham Hunt

Interment (For those who have not lived to see justice)

The General’s sickroom is a cell—
through drapes a glimpse
of bloody bougainvillea,
an elegant spiral of razor wire.
Withering fingers grip the stock of a rifle,
shove home a bayonet to its depths,
grasping at satin sheets.
The voice that severed the raw will of conscripts,
exhorting conquest of coward morality,
is silenced in fevered gasps.
Somatic provinces in open revolt,
its body becomes shadow
of the blood-slicked torture chamber.

His will be an honorable death,
unstained by official infamy.
Military-school comrades will send their condolences,
bouquets stinking with hollow awareness
of their creeping fates.

The General will be congratulated in state
by high society, by the economists,
for a life spent crushing the dreams
of peoples whose dreams mean nothing to their world,
except as things to be crushed,
and feared.
The General yet sleeps fitfully,
suffocating on a goose-down pillow.
Silent men and women come to his bedside,
dressed brightly, as for a carnival procession.
The celebrants carry heavy sacks anchored to their foreheads,
small wooden boxes balanced like crowns.
The lids are lifted with an echo
of laughter disinterred.

A sudden cry—
the notes of laughter crystallize their air,
falling in a rain of shattered bones.
With a sighing of machetes the sacks are slit open—
in the dream of the celebrants
the General drowns
in a torrent of ashes.

“During the early hours of January 26th, residents of Xaxmoxan headed towards the community cemetery where, after more than 20 years in waiting, a dignified burial ceremony awaited the war victims.” Photo MiMundo, 2007

La siguiente carta fue entregada esa semana al Ministerio Público de Guatemala esa semana, con las firmas de las organizaciones nacionales e internacionales abajo mencionadas, además 9 paginas enteras de firmas de individuos de varios paises.  Gracias por la solidaridad de todxs que apoyaron esa acción.

The following letter was delivered this week to the Guatemalan Public Ministry, with the signatures of the national and international organizations listed below, as well as 9 full pages of individual signatures from people from many countries.  Thanks to all those who supported this action for your solidarity.

Guatemala, 4 de Agosto del 2011

Carta abierta dirigida a la Fiscal General de Guatemala, Doctora Claudia Paz y Paz Bailey.

Doctora Claudia Paz y Paz Bailey
Fiscal General de le República de Guatemala
15 Avenida 15‐16 8o. Nivel
Zona 1 Barrio Gerona
Ciudad de Guatemala
Guatemala

Estimada Fiscal General:

El día de hoy, Víctor Leiva hubiera cumplido 25 años. Víctor –conocido como “el mono”– era artista, promotor cultural, defensor de los derechos humanos de la juventud y miembro fundador del colectivo de arte comunitario Caja Lúdica. Víctor actuaba con zancos, era bailarín y también participaba en obras de arte. Asimismo, fungía como maestro de la organización Trasciende que se dedica a la danza. Un amigo lo describió así:

“Era una gran persona, siempre fue una persona muy amorosa, muy alegre, indignada por la realidad y con una gran pasión por realizar procesos artísticos, lo recordamos como un compañero, alegre, lleno de vida e irreverente”.

Sin embargo, hace 6 meses y dos días, el 2 de febrero del 2011, Víctor fue asesinado por arma de fuego cuando salía de su trabajo en el Centro Histórico de la Ciudad Capital, por circunstancias que aún no han sido esclarecidas.

Este lamentable hecho de violencia generó una ola de indignación y rechazo entre la sociedad civil guatemalteca, y fue denunciado por numerosas organizaciones artísticas y de derechos humanos nacionales e internacionales. Esperamos que en el Año Internacional de la Juventud el asesinato del artista Víctor Leiva no quede en la impunidad.

Las organizaciones y personas firmantes de la presente carta nos dirigimos a usted, conociendo su trayectoria de compromiso con los derechos humanos y la justicia, solicitando que se realicen en la mayor brevedad las investigaciones exhaustivas y eficaces necesarias para que se identifique, juzgue y sancione a los responsables de la muerte violenta de nuestro compañero y amigo Víctor Leiva.

Atentamente,

Asociación Civil Caja Lúdica, Guatemala
Asociación Guatemalteca de Jóvenes por la Adolescencia y la Juventud, Guatemala
Asociación Movimiento de Jovenes de la Calle, Guatemala
Asociación Proyecto MIRIAM para la promoción intelectual de la mujer, Guatemala
Biblioteca Comunitaria Rija’tzuul Na’ooj, Guatemala
Centro El Incienso, Guatemala
Colectivo de malabaristas y artistas de circo Guatecirko, Guatemala
Compañia Socio Teatral LA OBRA/  IXCAN CREATIVO, Guatemala
Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo -GAM-, Guatemala
Ixcan Creativo y de la asociación franco-chilena La Obra Sociotetral, Guatemala
PROYECTO LA BODEGUITA CENTRO CULTURAL, Guatemala
Revista Ati y Movimiento Ati, Guatemala
Revista Luna Park, Guatemala
Unidad de Protección a Defensoras y Defensores de Derechos Humanos, Guatemala
CAREA e.V, Alemania
Asociación Elote, Alemania
Red de Comites Oscar A. Romero – Grupo Potsdam, Alemania
Guatemala Solidarität Österreich, Austria
IGLA – Informationsgruppe Lateinamerika, Austria
Projet Accompagnement Québec-Guatemala (PAQG), Canadá
Rompiendo el Silencio, Canada, Canadá
The Atlantic Regional Solidarity, Canadá
Comité Danés de Solidaridad con Mellemamerika Komiteén – Network Centroamérica, Dinamarca
Asociación Afroecuatoriana Carlos Concha, Ecuador
Associació d’Amistat amb el Poble de Guatemala, Barcelona, España
Comite de Solidaridad Internacionalista de Zaragoza, España
Plataforma de Solidaridad con Chiapas y Guatemala de Madrid, España
KGAP – the Kickapoo/Guatemala Accompaniment Project, Estados Unidos
Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA), Estados Unidos
Sister Parish Inc., Estados Unidos
Association Espoir Chiapas / Asociación Esperanza Chiapas, Francia
Association FRAGUA (France-Guatemala), Francia
Association Soleil Maya, Francia
Association Solidarité tamil eelam ASTE, Francia
Collectif Guatemala, Francia
Comité Amérique Latine de l’agglomération caennaise, Francia
Comité de solidarité avec les Indiens des Amériques (CSIA-Nitassinan), Francia
Comité de Solidarité avec les Peuples d’Amérique Latine, Francia
INTI Association de soutien à l’Identité des Nations et Traditions Indigènes, Francia
Liga Internacional de las Mujeres por la Paz y la Libertad (WILPF), Francia
Réseau Sortir du colonialisme / Red Salir del colonialismo, Francia
Plataforma Holandesa contra la Impunidad, Holanda
Impunity Watch, Holanda/Guatemala
Guatemala Solidarity Network (GSN), Reino Unido
Peace Watch Switzerland, Suiza

Cascadian compa Caitlin Payne Roberts, in Honduras on an Alliance for Global Justice delegation, has written an account of the eviction and first-hand update on the state of human rights and civil resistance in Honduras, published by Olympia’s Works in Progress newspaper.  For more information on human rights and land struggles in Honduras, as well as opportunities for international solidarity, please refer to the Honduras Accompaniment Project.

Cascadian compa Jane Applesauce will be travelling North America this summer, playing music as Cowlick and carrying along a suitcase full of fine zines, comics and CDs as part of the brand-new Lovelife Distro. The tour is already on the road and the itinerary will stretch from Bellingham to Bloomington. Jane has graciously re-printed and asked to distribute Cascadia Solidaria’s first poetry zine alongside other excellent items including Paul Brown’s “Eleven Months,” a powerful reflection on working in a Seattle jail; comics by Losing Lies; and the touching comic memoir “Who Loves You More than Anything?” by Jennifer Williams. Send an e-mail to Lovelife distro at cowlick[at]gmail[etc]com for more information.

- Thanks Jane and Lovelife!