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Articles from News and Comments and interviews to
Democracy Now!
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Contents
The Genocide Trial of General Efrain Rios Montt Has Just Been Suspended: ................................................................................ 2
Genocide Trial of Former Dictator Ros Montt Suspended After Intervention by Guatemalan President ............. ............ ............. .. 6
Allan Nairn Exposes Role of U.S. and New Guatemalan President in Indigenous Massacres ............ ............. ............ ............. ..... 11
A Crossing in the Cuchumatanes ................................................................................................................................................... 24
General Perez Molina is Tito ......................................................................................................................................................... 25
On the Margins of the Law -- But Inside the Palace ...................................................................................................................... 26
Guatemala: The decisive moment has arrived ............................................................................................................................... 27
The Guatemala Genocide Case: Testimony Notes Regarding Rios Montt ............. ............. ............. ............ ............. ............. ........ 28
A Formal Legal Mandate for a Criminal Investigation of Guatemala's Current President, Perez Molina ............ ............. ............. 39
Ros Montt Guilty of Genocide: Are Guatemalan President Prez Molina, U.S. Officials Next? ........... ............. ............. ............ . 40
Additional Evidence on Perez Molina ........................................................................................................................................... 49
Still Alive ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 50
Follow Guatemala's Lead: Convene a Genocide Case Grand Jury ................................................................................................ 51
Allan Nairn: After Ros Montt Verdict, Time for U.S. to Account for Its Role in Guatemalan Genocide ........... ............. ............. 53
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Breaking News
The Genocide Trial of General Efrain Rios Montt Has Just Been Suspended: Afirsthand behind-the-scenes account of how Guatemala's current President and
threats of violence killed the case
Allan Nairn
Guatemala City
Thursday, April 18, 2013
For a while it looked like Guatemala was about to deliver justice.
But the genocide case against General Efrain Rios Montt has just been suspended,
hours before a criminal court was poised to deliver a verdict.
The last-second decision to kill the case was technically taken by an appeals court.
But behind the decision stands secret intervention by Guatemala's current president
and death threats delivered to judges and prosecutors by associates of Guatemala's
army.
Many dozens of Mayan massacre survivors risked their lives to testify. But now the
court record they bravely created has been erased from above.
The following account of some of my personal knowledge of the case was written
several days ago. I was asked to keep it private until a trial verdict had been reached:
"It would be mistaken to think that this case redounds to the credit of Guatemala's
rulers.
It was forced upon them from below. The last thing they want is justice.
But they agreed to swallow a partial dose because political forces were such that they
had to, and because they thought that they could get away with sacrificing Rios Montt
to save their own skins.
I was called to testify in the Rios Montt case, was listed by the court as a 'qualifiedwitness,' and was tentatively scheduled to testify on Monday, April 15. But at the last
minute I was kept off the stand 'in order to avoid a confrontation with the
[Guatemalan] executive.'
What that meant, I was given to understand, was that Gen. Otto Perez Molina,
Guatemala's president, would shut down the case if I took the stand because my
testimony could implicate him.
Beyond that, there was fear, concretely stated, that my taking the stand could lead to
violence since given my past statements and writings I would implicate the'institutional army.'
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The bargain under which Perez Molina and the country's elite had let the case go
forward was that it would only touch Rios Montt and his codefendant, Gen. Mauricio
Rodriguez Sanchez. The rest of the army would be spared, and likewise Perez
Molina.
On that basis, Perez Molina, it was understood, would refrain from killing the Rios
Montt trial case, and still more importantly would keep the old officer corps from
killing prosecutors and witnesses, as well as hold off any hit squads that might be
mounted by the the oligarchs of CACIF (the Chambers of Agriculture, Commerce,
Industry and Finance). (Perez Molina has de facto power to kill the case via secret
intervention with the Constitutional and other courts.)
This understanding was seen as vital to the survival of both the case and those
involved in it. Army associates had already threatened the family of one of the lead
prosecutors, and halfway through the trial a death threat had been delivered to one of
the three presiding judges.
In the case of one of those threatened a man had offered him a bribe of one million
US dollars as well as technical assistance with offshore accounts and laundering the
funds. All the lawyer had to do was to agree to stop the Rios Montt case.
When that didn't work, the angle changed: the man put a pistol on the table and stated
that he knew where to find the lawyer's children.
But so far no trial people had actually been killed. Though things were tense, the
bargain was holding.
But to the shock of many and to world headlines in a press that had long under- and
mis- reported Guatemala's terror, everything changed on April 5 when Hugo Ramiro
Leonardo Reyes, a former army mechanic, testified by video from hiding that Perez
Molina had ordered atrocities.
Testifying with his face half-covered by a baseball cap he recounted murders by Rios
Montt's army and then unexpectedly added that one of the main perpetrators has been
Perez Molina who he said had ordered executions and the destruction of villages.
This had occurred, he testified, during the massacres around Nebaj when Perez
Molina was serving there as Rios Montt's field commander in 1982-83.
As it happened, I had also been there at that time and had encountered Perez Molina
who was then living under the code name Major Tito Arias.
I had interviewed him on film several times. On one occasion we stood over the
bodies of four captured guerrillas he had interrogated. Out of his earshot, Perez
Molina's subordinates told me how, acting under orders, they routinely captured,
tortured, and staged multiple executions of civilians.
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The trial witness's broaching of Perez Molina's past evidently angered the President.
He publicly denounced the witness and had him investigated
He then summoned the Attorney General. The word went forth that if the trial case
mentioned Perez Molina again, all previous understandings would be suspended.
Canceling the Rios Montt case would be the least of their worries: there would be hell
to pay.
The case went forward as originally agreed with Perez Molina. My testimony was
cancelled, and the court record was kept clear of any additional evidence that could
have further implicated the President.
Under Guatemalan law, a sitting President cannot be indicted. Perez Molina's term
ends in 2016.
This is one small but revealing aspect of the case. The massacre story is not yet over."
After the above private account was written, Guatemala's army and oligarchy rallied.
They started to feel that they had no political need to sacrifice Rios Montt. As Perez
Molina heard from the elite, his and Rios Montt's interests converged.
On April 16 Perez Molina said publicly that the case was a threat to peace. On April
18, today, the Rios Montt genocide case was suspended.
(Regarding Background Sources: For some of my filmed interviews with Perez
Molina see the documentary Skoop! directed by Mikael Wahlforss. EPIDEM,
Scandinavian television, 1983. Long excerpts from it, under the title Titulares de
Hoy, are available on the website of Jean-Marie Simon who was my colleague on the
film. Also see her photographs and narrative in her book Guatemala: Eternal Spring,
Eternal Tyranny, W.W. Norton, 1988.
For a detailed contemporaneous report of the Rios Montt massacres see my piece in
the April 11, 1983 The New Republic, "The Guns of Guatemala: The merciless
mission of Rios Montt's army." The piece quotes some of Perez Molina's army
subordinates and briefly mentions him as "Major Tito." At the time I wrote it and
worked on the film I did not know his real name.
YouTube excerpts from the film went viral in Guatemala during Perez Molina's 2011
presidential campaign. During the campaign Perez Molina was evasive about whether
he really was "Major Tito," though it later surfaced that he had admitted it years
before but had then attempted to obscure that admission.
Also see my piece in the April 17, 1995 The Nation, "C.I.A. Death Squad: Americans
have been directly involved in Guatemalan Army killings." The piece reports on US
sponsorship of the G-2, the Guatemalan military intelligence unit which picked targets
for assassination and disappearance and often did its own killings and torture. The
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piece names Perez Molina as one of "three of the recent G-2 chiefs [who] have been
paid by the C.I.A., according to U.S. and Guatemalan intelligence sources."
The piece adds that then-Colonel "Perez Molina, who now runs the Presidential
General Staff and oversees the Archivo, was in charge in 1994, when according to the
Archbishop's human rights office, there was evidence of General Staff involvement in
the assassination of Judge Edgar Ramiro Elias Ogaldez."
Likewise, at the time of The Nation article I still did not know that Perez Molina was
Tito.
For one aspect of the US role in supporting Rios Montt see my Washington Post
piece: "Despite Ban, U.S. Captain Trains Guatemalan Military," October 21, 1982,
page 1.
After the 1983 New Republic piece the Guatemalan army sent an emissary whoinvited me to lunch at a fancy hotel and politely told me that I would be killed unless I
retracted the article. The army murdered Guatemalans all the time, but for a US
journalist the threat rang hollow. The man who delivered the threat later became an
excellent source of information.)
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Genocide Trial of Former Dictator Ros Montt Suspended After
Intervention by Guatemalan President
Friday, April 19, 2013
_____________________________________________________________________
A historic trial against former U.S.-backed Guatemalan dictator Efran Ros Montt on
charges of genocide and crimes against humanity came to an abrupt end Thursday
when an appeals court suspended the trial before a criminal court was scheduled to
reach a verdict. Ros Montt on was charged in connection with the slaughter of more
than 1,700 people in Guatemalas Ixil region after he seized power in 1982. His 17-
month rule is seen as one of the bloodiest chapters in Guatemalas decades-long
campaign against Maya indigenous people, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds
of thousands. Thursdays decision is seen as a major blow to indigenous victims.
Investigative journalist Allan Nairn reported last night Guatemalan army associateshad threatened the lives of case judges and prosecutors and that the case had been
annulled after intervention by Guatemalas president, General Otto Prez Molina.
Ros Montt was the first head of state in the Americas to stand trial for genocide.
Nairn flew to Guatemala last week after he was called to testify in Ros Montts trial.
He was listed by the court as a "qualified witness" and was tentatively scheduled to
testify on Monday. But at the last minute, Nairn was kept off the stand "in order," he
was told, "to avoid a confrontation" with the president, General Prez Molina, and for
fear that if he took the stand, military elements might respond with violence. In the
1980s, Nairn extensively documented broad army responsibility for the massacres andwas prepared to present evidence that personally implicated Prez Molina, who was
field commander during the very Mayan Ixil region massacres for which the ex-
dictator, Ros Montt, had been charged with genocide.
_____________________________________________________________________
Juan Gonzalez: An historic trial against former U.S.-backed Guatemalan dictator
Efran Ros Montt on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity came to an
abrupt end Thursday when an appeals court suspended the trial before a criminal court
was scheduled to reach a verdict. Investigative journalist Allan Nairn reported last
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night Guatemalan army associates had threatened the lives of case judges and
prosecutors and that the case had been annulled after intervention by Guatemalas
president, General Otto Prez Molina.
Ros Montt was the first head of state in the Americas to stand trial for genocide.
He was charged in connection with the slaughter of more than 1,700 people in
Guatemalas Ixil region after he seized power in 1982. His 17-month rule is seen as
one of the bloodiest chapters in Guatemalas decades-long campaign against Maya
indigenous people, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands.
On Thursday, survivors of the genocide attempted to approach Ros Montt inside the
courtroom, screaming "Murderer!"
Amy Goodman: The trial took a surprising turn last week when Guatemalas current
president, General Otto Prez Molina, was directly accused of ordering executions. Aformer military mechanic named Hugo Reyes told the court that President Prez, then
serving as an army major and using the name Tito Arias, ordered soldiers to burn and
pillage a Mayan Ixil area in the 1980s.
Were going right now to investigative journalist Allan Nairn. He flew to Guatemala
City last week after wehe was called to testify in Ros Montts trial. He was listed
by the court as a "qualified witness" and was tentatively scheduled to testify Monday.
But at the last minute he was kept off the stand "in order," he was told, "to avoid a
confrontation" with the president, General Prez Molina, and for fear that if he took
the stand, military elements might respond with violence.
In the 80s, Allan Nairn had extensively documented broad army responsibility for the
massacres and was prepared to present evidence that personally implicated Prez
Molina, who was field commander during the very Maya Ixil region massacres for
which the ex-dictator, General Ros Montt, has been charged with genocide.
Allan Nairn, welcome to Democracy Now! Can you talk about the significance of the
latest developments, the annulling of the trial of Ros Montt?
Allan Nairn: Well, this trial was a breakthrough, not just for Guatemala, but for the
world. It was the first time that any nation had been able to use its domestic criminal
courts to try a former head of state for genocide. Dozens upon dozens of Mayan
survivors of the massacres risked their lives to come and testify. A massive
evidentiary record was put together, in my view, to proving a case of genocide against
General Ros Montt and his co-defendant, his former intelligence chief. A verdict was
just hours away. A verdict could have come today in the trial, but yesterday it was all
annulled after intervention by General Prez Molina, the current president, and the
Guatemalan military and oligarchy killed it.
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Juan Gonzalez: And, Allan, can you talk about what you learned in terms of the
threats to the judges andthe judge and the prosecutor and whats been their reaction,
even though theyve been sitting here now for several weeks in this trial?
Allan Nairn: In one case, one ofone of the lawyers involved in pushing the case
forward was approached by a man who offered him a million dollars if he would kill
the case against Ros Montt, a million U.S. dollars. He also said he would help him
launder the money, set up offshore bank accounts. The lawyer rejected that. The man
then took out a pistol, put the pistol on the table and said, "I know where your
children are." Another was approached on the street with awith a direct death
threat. Despite those threats, though, the case went forward. And now, after
[inaudible] to kill the case, the attorney general of Guatemala, the trial judge presiding
in the case are both vowing to try to go forward with it. Theyre vowing to continue
with the court hearing just a couple hours from now, even though theyve been told
they cant. So a direct political confrontation has been set.
Amy Goodman: Were talking to investigative journalist Allan Nairn. Hes in
Guatemala City. Were reaching him by Democracy Now! video stream. Listen
carefully. Its a little difficult to make out what he is saying. But, Allan, we wanted to
ask about why your testimony was canceled before the overall annulment of the trial
yesterday. Why was your testimony considered so dangerous?
Allan Nairn: I was given to understand that if I were called to the stand, two things
would happen. First, President Prez Molina would intervene to shut down the trial.
And secondly, there could be violence, particularly from retired military. The reasonwas that, as you mentioned in the introduction, one witness had already implicated
Prez Molina in the massacres. He was a field commander at that time. After that
testimony, Prez Molina called in the attorney general, and the word went out that if
he was mentioned again in the trial, if his name came up once, he would immediately
shut it down. Soand they knew that I could implicate Prez Molina further, because
I had met him in the highlands during the massacres when he was operating under a
code name. And I interviewed soldiers under his command who described how, under
orders, they executed and tortured civilians.
Juan Gonzalez: And, Allan, in terms of theof Prez Molina himself, you have asituation here, obviously, after the Central America accords, when some sort of
relative peace came to the region. How did Prez Molina rise to power, being one of
the underlings of Ros Montt and the military that visited such carnage and such
destruction on the people of Guatemala?
Allan Nairn: Well, the reason the military was doing those massacres in the first
place was to preserve a political and economic system under which there was 80
percent attrition in the area around Nebaj, which is where Prez Molina was stationed
and where, at the same time, there were world-class rich people running the
plantations, the banks, the industries. Those massacres were basically successful in
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crushing the population and crushing any resistance and in maintaining that system.
And within that system, Prez Molina was able to rise. He became a colonel. He
became the head of the G-2 military intelligence service during a time [inaudible]
Amy Goodman: Were having a little trouble hearing, Allan.
Allan Nairn:placed on the CIA payroll. At one point, an office under his control
was implicated in theat one point, an office under Prez Molinas control was
implicated in the assassination of a judge. He rose to general, and he was able to
become president. Thats thethats the Guatemalan system. Yet, remarkably, even
given that system, this movement from below of massacre survivors who refused to
give up, who insisted on trying to bring generals to justice, was able to generate this
trial, aided by people of integrity who had found their way into the Guatemalan
judiciary and prosecution system, and a trial was begun. They heard massive amounts
of evidence. I believe it was on the verge of giving a verdict, but then, at the last
minute, Prez Molina and the powers that be intervened.
Amy Goodman: Very quickly, Allan, we just have less than a minute, the attorney
general is a woman. The judge is a woman. They are saying theyre going to move
forward with this case, although it has been anulled, with a trial today? And what
about protests outside?
Allan Nairn: Well, protests are planned outside the court. The judge, Yassmin
Barrios, and the attorney general, Claudia Paz y Paz, both say theyre going to defy
this order to kill the case, which is extraordinary. You know, this indicates, I think,
that Guatemala has reached a higher level of civilization than the United States has.
Even though this case was killed in the end, its inconceivable that in the United
States a U.S. attorney, say, could indict a former U.S. president, could indict a George
W. Bush for what he did in Iraq and/or Afghanistan, or could indict an Obama, and
that this could proceed to trial and that massive amounts of evidence could be heard.
Thats not yet conceivable in the American legal system, but it happened here in
Guatemala, and it almost succeeded. It came very close. And now theres going to be
a popular reaction to try to continue that fight for law enforcement and justice.
Amy Goodman: And is it possible the trial will continue?
Allan Nairn: Excuse me?
Amy Goodman: Is it possible the trial will continue?
Allan Nairn: Well, I guess its possible, if JudgeJudge Barrios and the prosecutors
are physically allowed into the courtroom, that they could try to have the trial. But the
powers that be above them have now banned it, have now prohibited it. Ros Montt
and his lawyers may not show up. I dont know what will happen. This is a real
political crisis for Guatemala.
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Amy Goodman: Investigative journalist Allan Nairn, speaking to us from Guatemala
City. When we come back, we sat down with Allan before he left to go through the
history of this trial and also play the videotape of his interview with the current
president back more than 20 years ago when he was a major under Ros Montt, on
trial for genocide. Stay with us.
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http://www.democracynow.org/2013/4/19/genocide_trial_of_former_dictator_ros
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Allan Nairn Exposes Role of U.S. and New Guatemalan President
in Indigenous Massacres
Friday, April 19, 2013
_____________________________________________________________________
In 1982, investigative journalist Allan Nairn interviewed a Guatemalan general named
"Tito" on camera during the height of the indigenous massacres. It turns out the man
was actually Otto Prez Molina, the current Guatemalan president. We air the original
interview footage and speak to Nairn about the U.S. role backing the Guatemalan
dictatorship. Last week, Nairn flew to Guatemala where he had been scheduled to
testify in the trial of former U.S.-backed dictator Efran Ros Montt, the first head of
state in the Americas to stand trial for genocide. Ros Montt was charged in
connection with the slaughter of more than 1,700 people in Guatemalas Ixil region
after he seized power in 1982. His 17-month rule is seen as one of the bloodiest
chapters in Guatemalas decades-long campaign against Maya indigenous people,
which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands. The trial took a surprising turn
last week when Guatemala President Gen. Otto Prez Molina was directly accused of
ordering executions. A former military mechanic named Hugo Reyes told the court
that Prez Molina, then serving as an army major and using the name Tito Arias,
ordered soldiers to burn and pillage a Maya Ixil area in the 1980s. Click here to hear
our live update of the trial from Nairn in Guatemala City.
_____________________________________________________________________
Amy Goodman: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace
Report. Im Amy Goodman, with Juan Gonzlez. We continue our coverage of thehistoric trial of former U.S.-backed Guatemalan dictator Efran Ros Montt on charges
of genocide and crimes against humanity. Allan Nairn joined us in our studio last
week before he flew to Guatemala. I began by asking him to describe just who Ros
Montt is.
Allan Nairn: Ros Montt was the dictator of Guatemala during 1982, '83. He seized
power in a military coup. He was trained in the U.S. He had served in Washington as
head of the Inter-American Defense College. And while he was president, he was
embraced by Ronald Reagan as a man of great integrity, someone totally devoted to
democracy. And he killed many tens of thousands of civilians, particularly in the
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Mayan northwest highlands. In this particular trial, he is being charged with 1,771
specific murders in the area of the Ixil Mayans. These charges are being brought
because the prosecutors have the names of each of these victims. They've been able to
dig up the bones of most of them.
Amy Goodman: Talk about how this campaign, this slaughter, was carried out and
how it links to, well, the current government in Guatemala today.
Allan Nairn: The army swept through the northwest highlands. And according to
soldiers who I interviewed at the time, as they were carrying out the sweeps, they
would go into villages, surround them, pull people out of their homes, line them up,
execute them. A forensic witness testified in the trial that 80 percent of the remains
theyve recovered had gunshot wounds to the head. Witnesses havewitnesses and
survivors have described Ros Montts troops beheading people. One talked about an
old woman who was beheaded, and then they kicked her head around the floor. They
ripped the hearts out of children as their bodies were still warm, and they piled them
on a table for their parents to see.
The soldiers I interviewed would describe their interrogation techniques, which they
had been taught at the army general staff. And they said they would ask people, "Who
in the town are the guerrillas?" And if the people would respond, "We dont know,"
then they would strangle them to death. These sweeps were intense. The soldiers said
that often they would kill about a third of a towns population. Another third they
would capture and resettle in army camps. And the rest would flee into the mountains.
There, in the mountains, the military would pursue them using U.S.-suppliedhelicopters, U.S.- and Israeli-supplied planes. They would drop U.S. 50-kilogram
bombs on them, and they would machine-gun them from U.S. Huey and Bell
helicopters, using U.S.-supplied heavy-caliber machine guns.
Amy Goodman: Lets turn to a clip of you interviewing a soldier in the highlands.
This is from a Finnish documentaryis that right? And when was this done? When
were you talking to soldiers there?
Allan Nairn: This was in September of 1982 in the Ixil zone in the area surrounding
the town of Nebaj.
Amy Goodman: Lets go to a clip of this interview.
Guatemalan Soldier: [translated] This is how we are successful. And also, if we
have already interrogated them, the only thing we can do is kill them.
Allan Nairn: [translated] And how many did you kill?
Guatemalan Soldier: [translated] We killed the majority. There is nothing else to do
than kill them.
Allan Nairn: [translated] So you killed them at once?
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Guatemalan Soldier: [translated] Yes. If they do not want to do the right things,
there is nothing more to do than bomb the houses.
Allan Nairn: [translated] Bomb? With what?
Guatemalan Soldier: [translated] Well, with grenades or collective bombs.
Allan Nairn: [translated] What is a collective bomb?
Guatemalan Soldier: [translated] They are like cannons.
Allan Nairn: [translated] Do you use helicopters?
Guatemalan Soldier: [translated] Yes.
Allan Nairn: [translated] What is the largest amount of people you have killed at
once?
Guatemalan Soldier: [translated] Well, really, in Solol, around 500 people.
Allan Nairn: [translated] And how do they react when you arrive?
Guatemalan Soldier: [translated] Who?
Allan Nairn: [translated] The people from the small villages.
Guatemalan Soldier: [translated] When the army arrives, they flee from their houses.
And so, as they flee to the mountains, the army is forced to kill them.
Allan Nairn: [translated] And in which small village did the army do that kind of
thing?
Guatemalan Soldier: [translated] That happened a lot of times.
Allan Nairn: [translated] Specifically, could you give me some examples where these
things happened?
Guatemalan Soldier: [translated] In Salquil, Sumal Chiquito, Sumal Grande, Acul.
Amy Goodman: When did you interview this soldier, Allan?
Allan Nairn: This was in September of 82.
Amy Goodman: What were you doing there?
Allan Nairn: Making a documentary for Scandinavian television.
Amy Goodman: So you have soldiers talking about killing civilians, the brutal
interrogations that they were engaged in. Why would they be telling you this? Youre
a journalist. Theyre talking about crimes theyre committing.
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Allan Nairn: Well, because this is their everyday life. They do this all the time. They
do it under orders from the top of the chain of command, at that time Ros Montt. And
they had hardly ever seen journalists at that time. It was very rare for an outside
journalist or even a local journalist to go into that area.
Amy Goodman: So lets take this to the current day, to the president of Guatemala
today, because at the same time you were interviewing these soldiers, you interviewed
the Guatemalan presidentat least the Guatemalan president today in 2013.
Allan Nairn: Yes, the senior officer, the commander in Nebaj, was a man who used
the code name "Mayor Tito," Major Tito. It turns out that that mans real name was
Otto Prez Molina. Otto Prez Molina later ascended to general, and today he is the
president of Guatemala. So he is the one who was the local implementer of the
program of genocide which Ros Montt is accused of carrying out.
Amy Goodman: This is a huge charge. I mean, right now, its an historic trial whenits 25 years after a past president is now being charged. Lets go to a clip of Otto
Prez Molina, the current president of Guatemala, but this is 1982 in the heartland
area of Quich in northwest Guatemala, northwest of Guatemala City. In this video
clip, Otto Prez Molina is seen reading from political literature found on one of the
bodies. This is your interview with him.
Mayor Otto Prez Molina: [translated] "The poor artisan fights alongside the
worker. The poor peasant fights alongside the worker. The wealth is produced by us,
the poor. The army takes the poor peasants. Together, we have an invincible force. All
the families are with the guerrilla, the guerrilla army of the poor, toward final victory
forever." These are the different fronts that they have.
Allan Nairn: [translated] So here they are saying that the army killed some people.
Mayor Otto Prez Molina: [translated] Exactly.
Amy Goodman: I mean, this is astounding. This is the current president of
Guatemala standing over these bodies. Tell us more.
Allan Nairn: Well, as one of the soldiers says in the sound in the background, the
Prez Molina interrogated these men. And soon after, they werethey were dead.
And one soldier told me off camera that in fact after Prez Molina interrogated them,
they finished them off.
Amy Goodman: This man, Prez Molina, the president, actually was going by a code
name at the time. When was it clear that this is Prez Molina? Though we have a very
clear shot of him.
Allan Nairn: For a long time, Prez Molina was trying to obscure his past and
apparently hide the fact that he played this role in a supervisory position during the
highland massacres. During the Guatemalan presidential campaign, which Prez
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Molina eventually won, about two years ago, I got calls while I was in Asia from the
Guatemalan press, from The Wall Street Journal, asking whether I could vouch for the
fact that Mayor Tito, the man in the video who I encountered in the northwest
highlands in the midst of the massacreswhether I could vouch for the fact that
Mayor Tito was in fact General Otto Prez Molina, the presidential candidate. And Isaid that I couldnt, just from looking at the current videos. You know, people can
change a lot visually over 30 years, so I said I couldnt be sure. It turns out thatand
during the campaign, when reporters would ask the Prez Molina campaign, "Is Prez
Molina Mayor Tito?" they would dodge the question. They would evade. They were
running from it. It turns out, though, we just learned this week, that Prez Molina had
admitted back in 2000 that he was Mayor Tito. But then, apparently afterward, he
thought better of it and was trying to bury it. And now, this is potentially trouble for
him. Hes currently president, and so, under Guatemalan law, he enjoys immunity.
But once he leaves the presidency, he could, in theory, be subject to prosecution, just
as Ros Montt is now being prosecuted.
Amy Goodman: That could be a serious motivation for him declaring himself
president for life.
Allan Nairn: Well, Ros Montt seized power by a coup, but one of the important facts
about the situation now is that the military men dont have the power that they used
to. The fact that this trial is happening is an indication of that. This trial is happening
because the survivors refused to give up. They persistedthe survivors have been
working on this for decades, pushing to bring Ros Montt and the other generals to
justice. They refused to give up. They got support from internationalsomeinternational human rights lawyers. And within the Guatemalan justice system, there
were a few people of integrity who ascended to positions of some authority within the
prosecutorial system, within the judiciary. And so, we now have this near-political
miracle of a country bringing to trial its former dictator for genocide, while the
president of the country, who was implicated in those killings, sits by.
Amy Goodman: Allan, this video that we have of you interviewing Prez Molina
again, as you said, he admitted to the Guatemalan newspaper, Prensa Libre, in 2000
that he used the nickname Titois quite astounding. So lets go to another clip, where
youre talking to him about the kind of support that he wants.
Allan Nairn: [translated] The United States is considering giving military help here
in the form of helicopters. What is the importance of helicopters for all of you?
Mayor Otto Prez Molina: [translated] A helicopter is an apparatus thats become of
great importance not only here in Guatemala but also in other countries where theyve
had problems of a counterinsurgency.
Allan Nairn: [translated] Like in Vietnam?
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Mayor Otto Prez Molina: [translated] In Vietnam, for example, the helicopter was
an apparatus that was used a lot.
Allan Nairn: [translated] Can you also use it in combat?
Mayor Otto Prez Molina: [translated] Yes, of course. The helicopters that aremilitary types, they are equipped to support operations in the field. They have
machine guns and rocket launchers.
Allan Nairn: [translated] What type of mortars are you guys using?
Mayor Otto Prez Molina: [translated] Theres various types of mortars. We have
small mortars and the mortars Tampella.
Allan Nairn: Tampella.
Mayor Otto Prez Molina: [translated] Yes, its a mortar thats 60 millimeters.
Allan Nairn: [translated] Is it very powerful? Does it have a lot of force to destroy
things?
Mayor Otto Prez Molina: [translated] Yes, its a weapon thats very effective. Its
very useful, and it has a very good result in our operation in defense of the country.
Allan Nairn: [translated] Is it against a person or...?
Mayor Otto Prez Molina: [translated] Yes, its an anti-personnel weapon.
Allan Nairn: [translated] Do you have one here?
Mayor Otto Prez Molina: [translated] Its light and easy to transport, as well.
Allan Nairn: [translated] So, its very light, and you can use it with your hand.
Mayor Otto Prez Molina: [translated] Exactly, with the hand.
Allan Nairn: [translated] Where did you get them?
Mayor Otto Prez Molina:[translated] These, we got from Israel.
Allan Nairn: [translated] And where do you get the ammunition?
Mayor Otto Prez Molina: [translated] Thats also from Israel.
Amy Goodman: So, this is, again, the current president, Prez Molina, of Guatemala,
the general you met in the highlands in 1982, asking for more aid. Talk about the
relationship between Guatemala then and the United States.
Allan Nairn: Well, the U.S. was the sponsor of the Guatemalan army, as it had been
for many decades, as the U.S. has and continues to sponsor dozens and dozens ofrepressive armies all over the world. In the case of Guatemala, if you go into the
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military academy and you see the pictures of the past presidents of military academy,
some of them are actually Americans. Theyre actual American officers there who
were openly running the Guatemalan military training. By the 80s, when the Ros
Montt massacres were being carried out, the U.S. Congress was under the impression
that they had successfully stopped U.S. military aid to Guatemala. But in fact it wascontinuing. The CIA had an extensive program of backing the G-2, the G-2, the
military intelligence service, which selected the targets for assassination and
disappearance. They eventhey even built a headquarters fora secret headquarters
for the G-2 near the Guatemala City airport. They had American advisers working
inside the headquarters. Out in the field, Guatemalan troops were receiving from the
U.S. ammunition, weapons.
And most importantly, the U.S., beginning under the Carter administration but
continuing under Reagan and after, asked the Israelis to come in and fill the gap that
was caused by congressional restrictions. So Israel was doing massive shipments ofGalil automatic rifles and other weapons. And Prez Molina, as you saw in the video,
actually had one of his subordinates come over and show me an Israeli-made mortar.
That mortar and the helicopters he was asking for from the U.S., those were the kind
of weapons they would use to bomb villages and attack people as they were fleeing in
the mountains. In listening to the testimony in the trial up to this moment, I was struck
by the fact that almost every witness mentioned that they had been attacked from the
air, that either their village had been bombed or strafed or that they were bombed or
strafed as they were fleeing in the mountains. This testimony suggests that the use of
this U.S. and Israeli aircraft and U.S. munitions against the civilians in the Ixil
highlands was actually much more extensive than we understood at the time.
Beyond that, beyond the material U.S. support, theres the question of doctrine.
Yesterday in the trial, the Ros Montt defense called forward a general, a former
commander of the G-2, as an expert witness on the defense side. And at the end of his
testimony, the prosecution read to this general an excerpt from a Guatemalan military
training document. And the document said it is often difficult for soldiers to accept
the fact that they may be required to execute repressive actions against civilian
women, children and sick people, but with proper training, they can be made to do so.
So, the prosecutor asked the Ros Montt general, "Well, General, what is yourresponse to this document?" And the general responded by saying, "Well, that training
document which we use is an almost literal translation of a U.S. training document."
So this doctrine of killing civilians, even down to women, children and sick people,
was, as the general testified, adopted from the U.S. Indeed, years before, the U.S.
military attach in Guatemala, Colonel John Webber, had said to Time magazine that
the Guatemalan army was licensed to kill guerrillas and potential guerrillas. And, of
course, the category of potential guerrillas can include anyone, including children.
And the point of guerrilla civilians is actually very important to understanding this.
Those bodies that Prez Molina was standing over in Nebaj in 1982 in the film wesaw, those were actually an exception to the rule, because the truth commission which
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investigated the massacres in Guatemala found that 93 percent of the victims were
civilians killed by the Guatemalan army. But there was also some combat going on
between the army and guerrillas. And in that case, in the video we saw, the bodies
Prez Molina was standing over were guerrillas, guerrillas that the army had captured.
And one of them in captivity had set off a hand grenade as a suicide act, butapparently, from what I saw and what the soldiers told me, apparently they survived
the blast, and they were then turned over to Prez Molina for interrogation. He
interrogated them, and then, as we saw, they turned up dead. But in the vast majority
of cases, they were civilians, completely unarmed people, who were targeted by Ros
Montts army for elimination.
And I asked Ros Montt about this practice on two different occasions, first in an
interview with him two months after he seized power in 1982, and then later, years
later, after he had been thrown out of power. And when I asked him in 82 about the
fact that so many civilians were being killed by the army, he said, "Look, for each onewho is shooting, there are 10 who are standing behind him," meaning: Behind the
guerrillas there are vast numbers of civilians. His senior aide and his spokesman, a
man named Francisco Bianchi, who was sitting next to him at this interview, then
expanded on the point. Bianchi said the guerrillaswell, the indigenous population
he called them "indios," which is a slur in Guatemalan Spanish
Amy Goodman: For Indians.
Allan Nairn: Yeswere collaborating with the guerrilla, therefore it was necessary
to kill Indians. "And people would say," Bianchi continued, "'Oh, you're massacringall these innocent Indians""innocent Indios," in his words. But Bianchi then said,
"But, no, they are not innocent, because they had sold out to subversion." So this is
thethis is the doctrine of killing civilians, and particularly Mayans, because the
army saw them collectively as a group. They didnt view them as individuals, but they
saw them collectively as a group as sold out to subversion. And this was a doctrine
that the U.S. supported.
Amy Goodman: Journalist Allan Nairn. The interview we did was recorded last week
just before he left for Guatemala to testify in the trial against the Guatemalan dictator
Efran Ros Montt. But at the last minute, his testimony was canceled late yesterday.The trial was canceled. Well continue with the interview in a minute.
Amy Goodman: The War and Peace Report, as we continue our coverage of the
historic trial of former U.S.-backed Guatemalan dictator Efran Ros Montt on charges
of genocide and crimes against humanity. Allan Nairn joined us in our studio last
week before he flew to Guatemala. His testimony was canceled. The trial was
canceled last night. But I asked Allan to talk about how he managed to interview the
Guatemalan dictator, Ros Montt, two months after he seized power in the 1980s.
Allan Nairn: Well, he washe was giving press interviews. This was an interview inthe palace. I was there with a couple of other reporters. Ros Montt was very
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outspoken. He would go on TV and say, "Today we are going to begin a merciless
struggle. We are going to kill, but we are going to kill legally." That was his style, to
speak directly. And its in great contrast to what hes doing today. I mean, its very
interesting from point of view of people whove survived these kind of generals who
live on the blood of the people, not just in Guatemala but in Salvador, in East Timor,in Indonesia, in countless countries where the U.S. has backed this kind of terror. You
have the spectacle now of this general, who once made poor people tremble at the
sight of him, at the mention of him, now hes hiding. In the trial, he refuses to talk. He
will not defend himself. Hes like a common thug taken off the streets who invokes
his Fifth Amendmentinvokes his Fifth Amendment rights. But back then, when he
had the power, when no one could challenge him, he would speak fairly openly. In
fact, the second time I spoke to him, a number of years after, I asked Ros Montt
whether he thought that he should be executed, whether he should be tried and
executed because of his own responsibility for the highland massacres, and he
responded by jumping to his feet and shouting, "Yes! Put me on trial. Put me against
the wall. But if youre going to put me on trial, you have to try the Americans first,
including Ronald Reagan."
Amy Goodman: Allan Nairn, at the time in Guatemala, you not only were
interviewing, well, now the current president, Prez Molina, who was in the highlands
at the time standing over dead bodies, but you were also talking to U.S. officials, and I
want to go to this issue of U.S. involvement in what happened in Guatemala. Tell us
about U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Inter-American Affairs Stephen Bosworth,
a man you got to interview at the time during the Ros Montt years.
Allan Nairn: Well, Bosworth was, at the time, an important player in U.S. Central
American policy. And he, along with Elliott Abrams, for example, attacked Amnesty
International when Amnesty was trying to report on the assassinations of labor leaders
and priests and peasant organizers and activists in the Mayan highlands. And he also
was denying that the U.S. was giving military assistance to the Guatemalan army that
was carrying out those crimes.
Amy Goodman: Lets turn to the interview you did with then U.S. Deputy Assistant
Secretary for Inter-American Affairs Stephen Bosworth.
Stephen Bosworth: Well, I think the important factor is that there has been, over the
last six months, evidence of significant improvement in the human rights situation in
Guatemala. Since the coming into power of the Ros Montt government, the level of
violence in the country, politically inspired violence, particularly in the urban areas,
has declined rather dramatically. That being said, however, I think its important also
to note that the level of violence in the countryside continues at a level which is of
concern to all. And while it is difficult, if not impossible, to attribute responsibility for
that violence in each instance, it is clear that in the countryside the government does
indeed need to make further progress in terms of improving its control overgovernment troops.
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Amy Goodman: You also, Allan Nairn, asked the then-U.S. Deputy Assistant
Secretary for Inter-American Affairs Stephen Bosworth precisely what was the U.S.
military presence and role in Guatemala. This is how Bosworth responded.
Stephen Bosworth: We have no military presence or role. We have, as a part of our
diplomatic establishment, a defense attach office and a military representative. But
that is the same sort of representation that we have in virtually all other countries in
the world. We do not have American trainers working with the Guatemalan army. We
do not have American military personnel active in Guatemala in thatin that sort of
area.
Amy Goodman: There are no American trainers there?
Stephen Bosworth:No.
Allan Nairn: None performing the types of functions that go on in El Salvador, forinstance?
Stephen Bosworth:No, there are not.
Amy Goodman: That was then-U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Inter-American
Affairs Stephen Bosworth. Respond to what he said, and tell us who he later became,
who he is today in the U.S. government.
Allan Nairn: Well, first, just about everything that Bosworth said there was a lie. He
said that the killings were down. In fact, they increased dramatically under Ros
Montt. He said, quite interestingly, that it was impossible to know and attribute
responsibility for what was happening. Well, the Conference of Catholic Bishops had
no difficulty knowing and attributing responsibility. They said that the killings have
reached the extreme of genocide. They were saying this at the moment that the
massacres were happening and at the moment that Bosworth was denying it. And they
and the survivors and the human rights groups were all clearly blaming it on the army.
And then, finally, he said that the army has to be careful to maintain control over its
troops. Well, there was a very strict control. In fact, the officers in the field in the Ixil
zone that I interviewed at the time said they were on a very short leash and that there
were only three layers of command between themselves in the field and Ros Montt.
And, in fact, a few weeks earlier, there had been only two layers of command between
themselves and Ros Montt.
Then, Bosworth went on to say that the U.S. was not giving any military assistance to
Guatemala, but I guess it was a couple weeks after that interview when we went down
to Guatemala, I met a U.S. Green Beret, Captain Jesse Garcia, who was training the
Guatemalan military in combat techniques, including what he called howin his
words, "how to destroy towns." This was apart from the weapons and U.S. munitions
that I mentioned before, apart from the CIA trainers who were working in the CIA-
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built headquarters of the G-2, the military intelligence service that was doing the
assassinations and disappearances.
Amy Goodman: The G-2 being the Guatemalan G-2. Now, today Stephen Bosworth
is the dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts University. But before that, in 2009, well,
he played a key role in the Obama administration.
Allan Nairn: Yes, rather than beingyou know, in what you might consider to be a
normally functioning political system, if a high government official lied like that
about matters of such grave, life-and-death importance and was involved in the supply
of arms to terrorists, in this case the Guatemalan military, you would expect him at
the minimum to be fired and disgraced, or maybe brought up on charges. But
Bosworth was actually promoted. And under the Obama administration, Hillary
Clinton chose him as the special envoy to North Korea. Hes been in the news a great
deal in recent times because of his very prominent role there.
Amy Goodman: In 1995, Allan Nairn was interviewed on Charlie Rose about his
piece in The Nation called "CIA Death Squad," in which he described how Americans
were directly involved in killings by the Guatemalan army. He was interviewed
alongside Elliott Abrams, who challenged what he was saying. Abrams had served as
assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs under President
Reagan from 1981 to 1985. This clip begins with Elliott Abrams.
Elliott Abrams: Wait a minute. Were not here to refight the Cold War. Were here
to talk about, I thought, a specific case in which an allegation is being made thatof
the husband of an American and, another case, an American citizen were killed, and
there was a CIA connection withallegedly with the person allegedly involved in it.
Now, Im happy to talk about that kind of thing. If Mr. Nairn thinks we should have
been on the other side in Guatemalathat is, we should have been in favor of a
guerrilla victoryI disagree with him.
Allan Nairn: So youre then admitting that you were on the side of the Guatemalan
military.
Elliott Abrams: I am admitting that it was the policy of the United States, under
Democrats and Republicans, approved by Congress repeatedly, to oppose a
communist guerrilla victory anywhere in Central America, including in Guatemala.
Charlie Rose: Alright, well, I
Allan Nairn: A communist guerrilla victory.
Charlie Rose: Yeah, I
Allan Nairn: Ninety-five percent of these victims are civilianspeasant organizers,
human rights leaders
Charlie Rose: I am happy to invite both of you
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Allan Nairn: priestsassassinated by the U.S.-backed Guatemalan army. Lets
look at reality here. In reality, were not talking about two murders, one colonel.
Were talking about more than 100,000 murders, an entire army, many of its top
officers employees of the U.S. government. Were talking about crimes, and were
also talking about criminals, not just people like the Guatemalan colonels, but also theU.S. agents who have been working with them and the higher-level U.S. officials. I
mean, I think you have to beyou have to apply uniform standards. President Bush
once talked about putting Saddam Hussein on trial for crimes against humanity,
Nuremberg-style tribunal. I think thats a good idea. But if youre serious, you have to
be even-handed. If we look at a case like this, I think we have to talkstart talking
about putting Guatemalan and U.S. officials on trial. I think someone like Mr. Abrams
would be a fita subject for such a Nuremberg-style inquiry. But I agree with Mr.
Abrams that Democrats would have to be in the dock with him. The Congress has
been in on this. The Congress approved the sale of 16,000 M-16s to Guatemala. In 87
and 88
Charlie Rose: Alright, but hold on one second. I justbeforebecause the
Allan Nairn: They voted more military aid than the Republicans asked for.
Charlie Rose: Again, I invite you and Elliott Abrams back to discuss what he did.
But right now, you
Elliott Abrams:No, thanks, Charlie, but I wont accept
Charlie Rose: Hold on one second. Go ahead. You want to repeat the question, ofyou want to be in the dock?
Elliott Abrams: It is ludicrous. It is ludicrous to respond to that kind of stupidity.
This guy thinks we were on the wrong side in the Cold War. Maybe he personally was
on the wrong side. I am one of the many millions of Americans who thinks we were
happy to win.
Charlie Rose: Alright, I dont
Allan Nairn: Mr. Abrams, you were on the wrong side in supporting the massacre of
peasants and organizers, anyone who dared to speak, absolutely.
Charlie Rose: What I want to do is I want to ask the following question.
Allan Nairn: And thats a crime. Thats a crime, Mr. Abrams, for which people
should be tried. U.S. laws
Elliott Abrams: Why dont youyes, right, well put all the American officials who
won the Cold War in the dock.
Amy Goodman: That was Elliott Abramshe served as assistant secretary of statefor human rights and humanitarian affairs under President Reagan from 81 to 85
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debating investigative journalist Allan Nairn on the Charlie Rose show. Actually,
Congress member Robert Torricelli, then from New Jersey, before he became senator,
was also in that discussion at another point. Allan, the significance of what Mr.
Abrams was saying? He went on, Abrams, to deal with the Middle East.
Allan Nairn: Yes. Well, hewhen I said that he should be tried by a Nuremberg-
style tribunal, he basically reacted by saying I was crazy, that this was a crazy idea
that you could try U.S. officials for supplying weapons to armies that kill civilians.
But people also thought that it was crazy that Ros Montt could face justice in
Guatemala. But after decades of work by the survivors of his Mayan highland
massacres, today, as we speak, Ros Montt is sitting in the dock.
Amy Goodman: Award-winning journalist Allan Nairn, speaking last week before he
flew to Guatemala. On Thursday, a landmark genocide trial against former
Guatemalan dictator Ros Montt was suspended after the trial threatened to implicate
the current president of Guatemala in the mass killings of civilians. Allan reports
Guatemalan army associates had threatened the lives of case judges and prosecutors
and that the case had been annulled after intervention by Guatemalas president,
General Otto Prez Molina. Some of the video footage used in the show comes from a
1983 documentary directed by Mikael Wahlforss. Well link to it at
democracynow.org and to Allan Nairns website, allannairn.org.
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A Crossing in the Cuchumatanes
Allan Nairn
Monday, April 22, 2013
Whatever happens in Guatemala, one of history's rivers has been forded.
In this case it was by people wearing huipiles and being pursued by US aircraft,
slogging on as their loved ones fell and reaching the opposite shore by daybreak.
By mounting a domestic criminal trial for genocide against a former state ruler they
crossed the threshold into what is arguably a next phase of the human journey up from
slaughter -- one marked by actual good-faith efforts to enforce society's murder laws.
Those who have accomplished this are descendants of a long, rich popular tradition, a
tradition whose leaders in Guatemala were almost all -- to a man and woman --
assassinated.
But as any smart repressor can tell you, you can kill most but you can't kill all.
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General Perez Molina is Tito
Allan Nairn
Friday, April 26, 2013
General Otto Perez Molina, the President of Guatemala, surprised many yesterday by
finally admitting verbally that he is in fact Major Tito, who I met and interviewed on
film in 1982.
It was an application of the politician's tactic of getting out in front of a damaging
story to frame it in their own way, in this case trying to move focus from the fact that
he was field commander during the Rios Montt massacres to the minor, innocuous
fact that while doing so he used a pseudonym to, he said, protect his family.
Protecting one's family is admirable but it was unfortunately not an option for the
many thousands of defenseless civilians massacred by Rios Montt's -- and Perez
Molina's -- army.
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On the Margins of the Law -- But Inside the Palace
Allan Nairn
Friday, April 26, 2013
Is it possible for the Rios Montt trial to be revived?
"Here it is possible for a burro to fly." It all depends on the pressure/ politics.
That is the view of a senior official who prefers to speak off the record given what he
describes as the delicacy of the situation.
If the almost-concluded genocide trial is not permitted to reach a verdict "It willdemonstrate that the army and the powerful don't have to account to anyone" and that
there exists "a group that lives on the margins of the law but is still able to take the big
decisions for the country."
On the margins of the law -- but inside the palace.
Killing-off the case, he says, would recall the adage attributed to the Mexican dictator
Porfirio Diaz: "'To my friends, what they desire. To my enemies, the law.'"
He adds that such a move by the rulers would say to Guatemala's majority "that no
institution will listen to them, that they are not citizens, that the constitution is not for
them, that the law will never serve them."
It would indeed be such for Guatemala.
But that is also what is being said daily in every country around the world where local
and foreign officials complict in mass killing have yet to be arrested and tried.
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Guatemala: The decisive moment has arrived
Allan Nairn
Thursday, May 9, 2013
The next 12 to 36 hours will be crucial for the Rios Montt genocide trial.
The trial was suspended on April 18after intervention by Guatemala's President and
death threats by army associates against judges and prosecutors.But the backlash against the suspension was intense and the army appears to have
retreated.
At this moment, the trial is again going forward. Closing statements have begun.
Unless the trial is stopped by violence or politics it could reach verdict soon, even
today.
But the hours between now and verdict-time will be long. Many bad things could
happen.
If anyone wants to weigh in against murder, the time to do so is now.
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The Guatemala Genocide Case: Testimony Notes Regarding Rios
Montt
Allan Nairn
Thursday, May 9, 2013
The case against General Rios Montt has included vast amounts of evidence.
My notes for my own scheduled testimony (for what happened seepost of April 18)
included the following observations:
When Rios Montt seized power on March 23, 1982, he immediately seized control of
and transformed army operations.
He cut back on the urban assassinations, which had become counterproductive, and
increased the massacres of the rural Mayans, the army's main "internal enemy."
He took a sweep tactic that had been pioneered by General Benedicto Lucas Garcia
and made it a systematic strategy, applied across the Northwest Highlands.
A CIA report observed of Benedicto's -- later Rios Montt's -- method: "In mid-
February 1982 the Guatemalan army reinforced its existing force in the central El
Quiche department and launched a sweep operation into the Ixil triangle. The
commanding officers of the units involved have been instructed to destroy all towns
and villages which are cooperating with the Guerrilla Army of the Poor (EGP) and
eliminate all sources of resistance. Civilians in the area who agree to collaborate with
the army and who seek army protection are to be well treated and cared for in refugee
camps for the duratiion of the operation."
In practice, the civilians in the camps were often survivors of army massacres who
were subject to vast coercion including execution, torture, rape, forced labor, and
forced service in the "civil patrols."
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Colonel George Maynes, the US military attache in Guatemala, told me that he and
Benedicto Lucas had developed this sweep tactic and that Rios Montt had expanded
it.
A US Green Beret, Captain Jesse Garcia showed me how, under Rios Montt, he was
training Guatemalan troops in the techniques of how to "destroy towns." (Allan Nairn,
"Despite Ban, U.S. Captain Trains Guatemalan Military," Washington Post, October
21, 1982, page 1).
The Guatemalan Catholic Bishops Conference reported in a May 27, 1982 pastoral
letter: "Numerous families have perished, vilely murdered. Not even the lives of the
elderly, pregnant women or innocent children have been respected ... Never in ourhistory has it come to such grave extremes. These assassinations fall into the category
of genocide."
In an interview in the palace that May I asked Rios Montt about killing civilians. He
said: "Look, the problem of the war is not just a question of who is shooting. For
each one who is shooting there are ten who are working behind him."
Rios Montt's senior aide and spokesman, Francisco Bianchi, who was sitting next to
him, amplified: "The guerrillas won over many Indian collaborators. Therefore, the
Indians were subversives, right? And how do you fight subversion? Clearly you had
to kill Indians because they were collaborating with subversion. And then they would
say, 'You're massacring innocent people.' But they weren't innocent. They had sold
out to subversion." (Allan Nairn, "Guatemala Can't Take 2 Roads," The New York
Times, op ed, July 20, 1982).
I visited the Ixil zone in September, 1982, arriving first in Nebaj. The towns and
much of the Ixil area were under army occupation.
A foreign health worker said 80% of the people were malnourished. Many were
dying of hunger, measles, and tuberculosis.
Rios Montt's senior commander on scene was a man who called himself Major Tito
Arias, but who was actually Otto Perez Molina, the current president of Guatemala.
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Subordinates of Rios Montt and Perez Molina described how they tortured and killed
civilians. The soldiers and officers described a strategy that centered on emptying and
massacring entire villages.
They said they would kill a quarter to a third of the people, place a quarter to a third
of them in camps, and the rest would flee to the mountains where, if the army found
them, they would shoot them on sight.
The soldiers said they were still in the midst of intensive sweep operations.
They also said they were under a strict chain of command that placed only three
layers of responsibility between themselves and Rios Montt. In the words ofLieutenant Romeo Sierra at La Perla they were "on a very short leash."
A number of soldiers named specific towns and villages in which they had committed
massacres.
One, a corporal named Felipe, in Nebaj, listed Salquil, Sumal Chiquito, Sumal Grande
and Acul.
His account was consistent with that of a man from Acul who spoke in secret and
described an April massacre in which he said the army shot 24 civilians. He said the
soldiers shot them in the head after sorting villagers into two groups, one of which the
soldiers said they would "send to Glory" and the other "to Hell." He said: "They said
that they were executing the law of Rios Montt."
The descriptions of the massacre strategy from soldiers and civilian survivors were
consistent. They also meshed with accounts that I heard elsewhere in the Mayan
zones.
(Much of the following text is drawn from Allan Nairn, "The Guns of Guatemala: The
merciless mission of Rios Montt's army," The New Republic, April 11, 1983, and
from my work in the 1983 documentary film "Skoop!" also known as "Deadline
Guatemala" and "Titular de Hoy," done with Jean-Marie Simon and directed
by Mikael Wahlforss, EPIDEM Scandinavian TV):
http://primavera-tirania.com/Deadline_Guatemala.phphttp://primavera-tirania.com/Deadline_Guatemala.phphttp://primavera-tirania.com/Deadline_Guatemala.phphttp://primavera-tirania.com/Deadline_Guatemala.phphttp://primavera-tirania.com/Deadline_Guatemala.php8/22/2019 Allan Nairn
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Just outside Nebaj, more than 2,500 campesinos had been resettled on an army
airstrip. "They didn't want to leave voluntarily," explained Corporal Felipe, who
manned a .50 caliber machine gun in the Nebaj church belfry. "The government put
out a call that they would have one month to turn themselves in," he said, referring to
a nationwide order from Rios Montt. "So now the army is in charge of going to get
all the people from all these villages."
Sergeant Miguel Raimundo, who was guarding a group of 161 suspected guerrilla
collaborators (which included 79 children and 42 women), said, "The problem is that
almost all the village people are guerrillas." According to camp records, they had been
rounded up in sweeps through the villages of Vijolom, Salquil Grande, Tjolom,
Parramos Chiquito, Paob, Vixaj, Quejchip, and Xepium.
Sergeant Jose Angel, who commanded a La Perla platoon explained:"Before we get to
the village, we talk with the soldiers about what they should do and what they
shouldn't do. They all discuss it so they have it in their minds. We coordinate it first
we ask, what is our mission?"
Lieutenant Sierra had noted that the sweep commanders had hourly radio contact with
headquarters. He said the superior officer "knows everything. Everything is
controlled." All field actions had to be reported in the commanders' daily "diary of
operations" which was reviewed and criticized in monthly face-to-face evaluations.
Sergeant Jose Angel explained the village-entry procedure: "One patrol enters the
village from one point, on another side another patrols enters. We go in before dawn,
because everyone is sleeping. If we come in broad daylight they get scared, they see
it's the army, and they run because they know the army is coming to get them,"
Rios Montt's army had a clear policy about the meaning and consequences of such
behavior. "The people who are doing things outside the law run away," sergeant Jose
Angel said. "But the people who aren't doing anything, they stay." He said he had
seen cases where "lots of them ran, most of a village. They ran because they knew the
army was coming."
Sergeant Miguel Raimundo cited three cases where villages fled en masse. "All the
villages around here, like Salquil, Palob, or here in Sumal, they have a horn and
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there's a villager who watches the road. If the soldiers come, he blows the horn. It's a
signal. They all go running."
The soldiers explained that they routinely killed these fleeing, unarmed civilians.
I asked Corporal Felipe how the villagers react when the troops arrive.
"They flee from their homes. They run for the mountain."
"And what do you do?"
"Some we capture alive and others we can't capture alive. When they run and go intothe mountains that obligates one to kill them."
"Why?"
"Because they might be guerrillas. If they don't run, the army is not going to kill them.
It will protect them."
"Among those you have to kill, what kind of people are they? Are they men or
women?"
"At times men, at times women."
"In which villages has this happened?"
"Oh, it's happened in lots of them. In Acul, Salquil, Sumal Chiquito, Sumal Grande."
"In those villages, about how many people did you kill?"
"Not many, a few."
"More than ten? More than twenty? More than a hundred?"
"Oh no, about twenty."
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"In each village?"
"Yes, of course. It's not many. More than that were captured alive."
Sergeant Jose Angel recalled a similar experience in the village of Chumansan in the
province of Quezaltenango. "When we went in, the people scattered," he said. "We
had no choice but to shoot at them. We killed some. . . . Oh, about ten, no more. Most
of them got away."
After tracking and shooting the unarmed civilians who fled in fear, the army dealt
with the unarmed civilians who remained in the village.
First, Sergeant Jose Angel explained, "We go into a village and take the people out of
their houses and search the houses."
Among the items the soldiers looked for were suspiciously large stocks of grain or
beans. The army took what it could use and burned the rest.
Next, he said, "You ask informers who are the ones that are doing things, things
outside the law. And that's when you round up the collaborators. And the
collaboratorsyou question them, interrogate them, get them to speak the truth. Who
have they been talking to? Who are the ones who have been coming to the village to
speak with them?"
The soldiers often went in with target lists of "collaborators." The lists were provided
by G-2, the military intelligence service headed at that time by General Rios Montt's
co-defendant, General Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez.
The interrogations were generally conducted in the village square with the population
looking on.
I asked Jose Angel how he questioned people. He replied, "Beat them to make them
tell the truth, hurt them."
"With what methods?"
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"This one, like this," he said as he wrapped his hands around his neck and made a
choking sound. "More or less hanging them."
"With what?"
"With a lasso. Each soldier has his lasso."
The day before, in Nebaj, an infantryman who was standing over the bodies of four
captured guerrillas demonstrated the interrogation technique he had learned in
"Cobra," an army counterinsurgency course for field troops. [Another soldier said the
guerrillas, who had set off a grenade, had been "presented" to Perez Molina for
interrogation, "But they still didn't say anything, for better or for worse."]
"Tie them like this," he said, "tie the hands behind, run the cord here [around the
neck] and press with a boot [on the chest]. Knot it, and make a tourniquet with a stick,
and when they're dying you give it another twist and you ask them again, and if they
still don't want to answer you do it again until they talk."
The sergeants and infantrymen of Nebaj and La Perla said the tourniquet was the most
common interrogation technique. They said that live burial and mutilation by
machete were also used.
The soldiers said they expected those they questioned to provide specific information,
such as the names of villagers who had talked with or given food to guerrillas. Failure
to do so implied guilt, and brought immediate judgment and action.
"Almost everyone in the villages is a collaborator," said Sergeant Miguel Raimundo.
"They don't say anything. They would rather die than talk"
When I asked Miguel Raimundo about the interrogation method, he replied: "We say,
if you tell us where the guerrillas are, the army won't kill you. . . . If they collabo- rate
with the army, we don't do anything."
"And if they don't say anything?"
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"Well, then they say, 'if you kill me, kill mebecause I don't know anything,' and we
know they're guerrillas. They prefer to die rather than say where the companeros
are."
According to Sergeant Jose Angel, it was common for suspected collaborators to be
pointed out, questioned, and executed all on the same day.
Explaining how he extracted information so quickly, he said, "Well, they don't talk
like that voluntarily. You just have to subdue them a little to make them speak the
truth."
After the interrogations had been completed, the patrol leader would make a speech tothe survivors gathered in the village square.
"We tell the people to change the road they are on, because the road they are on is
bad," said Jose Angel. "If they don't change, there is nothing else to do but kill them."
"So you kill them on the spot?"
"Yes, sure. If they don't want the good, there's nothing more to do but bomb their
houses."
Jose Angel said that in Solola and Quezaltenengo he had participated in operations of
this kind in which more than 500 people were killed
He and other soldiers said that smaller villages were destroyed with Spanish, Israeli,
and U.S.-made grenades. Boxes of these grenades could be seen stacked in the Nebaj
ammunition dump.
The soldiers said they also used a 3.5-inch U.S.- made shoulder-held recoilless rocket
that was designed as an antitank weapon but is effective against people and straw
huts. At the La Perla headquarters, one such launcher was sitting next to boxes of
"explosive projectile" rockets from the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant.
F'or larger operations, Jose Angel said, patrols called in army planes and helicopters
to bomb the villages. The helicopters were U.S.-manufactured Hueys and Jet
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Rangers. The bombs included U.S.-made 50-kilogram Ml/61As, twelve of which
were stacked in the base munitions dump in Nebaj.
Lieutenant Cesar Bonilla, the officer in charge of the Nebaj airstrip resettlement camp
said the helicopters were especially useful for catching villagers by surprise.
"When you go in on foot they see the patrol three kilometers away and know you're
coming. But with air transport, you land different units in the area, all the units close
in rapidly, and the people can't go running away."
Bonilla said that this type of operation could only be executed by several helicopters
at once. "With just one helicopter you scare them away and there's no control."
The United States Congress' temporary refusal to sell spare parts had grounded much
of the fleet, so Lieutenant Bonilla was encouraged by reports that the Reagan
Administration was considering changing the policy.
"That would be wonderful," he said. "With six helicopters, for example, the airborne
troops would land all at once before they could make a move. The nicest, the ideal,
the dream, would be a surprise: suddenly, pow! Helicopters with troops!" As he
spoke, he made machine-gun noises and waved his Israeli Galil rifle toward the
refugee shacks. "Ta, ta, ta, ta, ta! All at once from the air! Pow! No escape routes.
That would be ideal."
The day before this conversation, a family in Bonilla's camp -- interviewed in their
shack outside the view of soldiers -- described such an assault on their village. "Two
times they came there in helicopters," said one of the men. "They would come in and
land and the people would retire and they would always kill a few. They flew over,
machine-gunning people from the helicopter." The family said that five were killed in
the strafing.
After the torture, the executions, and the burning, strafing and bombing, the next stage
of the sweep was to chase the fleeing people through the hills.
"Up here there aren't any villages anymore," said Sergeant Jose Angel, speaking of
the patrol areas around La Perla. "There used to be, but then the soldiers came. We
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knew that such and such a village was involved, so we went to get them. We captured
some and the rest of the people from the village ran away. They're hiding in the
mountains. Now we're going to the mountains to look for them."
Major Tito -- Otto Perez Molina -- the commander of the Nebaj base, said in mid-
September that 2,000 people from the area of Sumal Grande had fled to the mountains
and would be pursued by foot patrols and helicopters.
Sergeant Jose Angel said his platoon went on such operations frequently. I asked Jose
Angel what his troops did when they found refugees.
"At times we don't find them. We see them but they get away."
"But when you do find them, what do you do?"
"Oh, we kill them."
"Are they a few people or entire villages?"
"No, entire villages. When we entered the villages we killed some and the rest ran
away,"
Under the policy of Rios Montt's army, a civilian found outside the army-controlled
towns could be in mortal danger.
"We know the poor people from close up and far away," said Sergeant Miguel
Raimundo. "If we see someone walking in the mountains, that means he is a
subversive. So we try to grab him and ask where he's going; we arrest him. And then
we see if he is a guerrilla or not. But those who always walk in the mountains, we
know they are guerrillas. Maybe some of them will be children, but we know that they
are subversive delinquents. I've been walking in the mountains for a year now, and
just in the mountains, one by one, we've captured more than 500 people."
Sergeant Miguel Raimundo also explained that under the army's assumptions a
civilian could also be in danger if they never went anywhere: "A woman told me
yesterday that the soldiers kill people, that the soldiers killed her husband. But I told
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her that if the soldiers killed her husband it was because he was a guerrilla. The
soldier knows whom to kill. He doesn't kill the innocent, just the guilty. And she said,
'No, my husband wasn't doing anything.' So I said, 'And how do you know it was
nothing? How do you know what he was doing outside?' 'No,' she said, 'because he
never went anywhere,' 'Yes,' I said, 'That's because he was a collaborator,' "
It was clear from discussions with these soldiers inside the Ixil zone that, under their
orders from Rios Montt and their commanders, including Perez Molina, all civilians
were potential targets. Indeed, they were the principal targets.
Lieutenant Romeo Sierra, who directed the sweeps through his patrol area of 20
square kilometers and 10,000 people, told me that thousands of civilians weredisplaced but that "in the time I've been here [two-and-a-half months] no subversives
have fallen. Lots of unarmed people, women refugees, but we haven't had actual
combat with guerrillas."
Lieutenant Sierra also said that "human rights" was an "enemy concept." In his army
training he had been taught that it had been developed "by international
Communism."
Years after he had been ousted from power, I interviewed Rios Montt again. I asked
Rios Montt -- a firm believer in the death penalty -- if he thought that he should be
tried and executed for his role in the Mayan massacres.
The general leapt to his feet and shouted: "Yes! Try me! Put me against the wall!,"
but he said he should be tried only if Americans were put on trial too. (See Allan
Nairn, "C.I.A. Death Squad: Americans have been directly involved in Guatemalan
Army killings," The Nation, April 17, 1995.)
Specifically, Rios Montt cited President Reagan, who, in the midst of the killings, had
said that Rios Montt was getting "a bum rap" on human rights.
Rios Montt, for his part, had said: "It's not that we have a policy of scorched earth,
just a policy of scorched communists."
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A Formal Legal Mandate for a Criminal Investigation of
Guatemala's Current President, Perez Molina
Allan Nairn
Saturday 11 May 2013
General Efrain Rios Montt has been found guilty of genocide and crimes against
humanity. He has already begun his "irrevocable" sentence of 80 years in prison.
The court that convicted Rios Montt has also ordered the attorney general to launch an
immediate investigation of "all others" connected to the crimes.
This important and unexpected aspect of the verdict means that there now exists a
formal legal mandate for a criminal investigation of the President of Guatemala,
General Otto Perez Molina.
As President, Perez Molina enjoys temporary legal immunity, but that immunity does
not block the prosecutors from starting their investi
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