GENOCIDE

The trial of General José Efrain Ríos-Montt in Guatemala has ended and he has been found guilty! This trial was historic for being the first time in which a head of state was tried by the judicial system of his own country (not an international tribunal) for genocide. This process, which began in 1999, is a milestone for indigenous people everywhere and a victory for the Ixil Maya who suffered torture, disappearances, displacement and mass-murder during his brief but brutal reign of terror.

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.