CLEVELAND A.I.M.

The trial of Efrain Rios-Montt and Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez is scheduled to resume tomorrow, Tuesday 30 April 2013 at 8.30am. The uncertainty of the trial seems to have been resolved, at least for now. I have included the email message sent to me as verification. This news has yet to hit the wire services. For more information on the trial, see the postings in the forum.
-moderator

Judges in the landmark genocide trial of former Guatemalan dictator Rios-Montt asked the country's Constitutional Court to decide if the proceedings should continue, as a move to annul the case brought an international outcry that justice be served in the Central American country's long and bloody civil war. Efrain Rios Montt, 86, is accused of overseeing the deaths of 1,771 Mayan Indians during the military dictatorship he headed. Messages to the US State Department and Senator Brown’s office asking for support for the trial to continue to a conclusion and protection for the witnesses, the prosecutors and the judges are encouraged and needed.

Friends,
For those of you who are interested in Guatemala and know of the work of SEPA, (Santa Elena Project of Accompaniment), there is a remarkable human rights trial that began this past Tuesday [March 19, 2013 -moderator]. SEPA is currently providing funding for an "accompanier" to be with endangered families of victims who are testifying.

The following statement was adopted unanimously by Chiefs in Assembly December 6, 2012.

We, the original peoples of Turtle Island hereby assert our sovereignty as Nations, entrusted to us by the Creator,

As First Nations peoples, we are guided by principles of peace, harmony and respect; we are also bestowed with the responsibility by the Creator to defend our territories, including traditional and Treaty lands,

We have maintained these principles despite the imposition of illegal government legislation and policies against our citizens,

Idle No More began with 4 women, Nina Wilson, Sheelah Mclean, Sylvia McAdam and Jessica Gordon, sharing a vision of bringing together all people to ensure we create ways of protecting Mother Earth, her lands, waters and people. The women began discussing the possible impacts that some of the legislation would carry if people do not do something. It became very evident that the women MUST do something about the colonial, unilateral and paternalistic legislation being pushed through the Government of Canada’s parliamentary system.