With the UK press a little behind in the news, the news has spread quickly of the warrant of arrest issued for those accused of genocide in Guatemala. It's been covered initially by Siglo XXI, La Hora and El Periodico in Guatemala. You can read all the reports on excellent news gathering ACOGUATE blog.The news appeared first in El Pais newspaper in Spain- they have a direct link to the warrant for arrest (in Spanish).
The first thing you notice reading the warrant is that Spanish judge Santiago Pedraz notes the 'lack of cooperation' and postively 'obstructive' attitude from Efrain Rios Montt (left- La Hora) and the other seven on the list.
"Efectivamente, con su [Rios Montt y otros] actitud obstruccionista han bloqueado de hecho (y en el fondo de derecho) no sólo sus declaraciones, sino también la de los testigos que se habían propuesto", señalaba el ministerio público en su escrito.
NISGUA clarifies that the people implicated in this warrant are the following:
-GENERAL EFRAÍN RIOS MONTT, Military Dictator 1982-1983
-GENERAL OSCAR HUMBERTO MEJÍA VÍCTORES, Military Dictator 1983-1986;
-GENERAL ANGEL ANIBAL GUEVARA RODRIGUEZ, former Minister of Defense
-LICENCIADO DONALDO ALVAREZ RUIZ, former Minister of the Interior
-CORONEL GERMÁN CHUPINA BARAHONA, Director of the National Police under
-General Lucas García (suspected to be dead by no official confirmation);
-PEDRO GARCIA ARREDONDO, Head of the Sixth Command of the National Police under General Lucas García;
-GENERAL BENEDICTO LUCAS GARCIA, Army Chief of Staff under the presidency of his brother Romeo Lucas García
The warrant also looks to freeze the assests that any of those accused may hold outside Guatemala through Interpol and Europol.
(Gen) José Luis Quilo Ayuso [left here- on the right side of the photo], Presidente of the 'Asociación de Veteranos Militares de Guatemala' (AVEMILGUA), who issued a threat warning of 'tragic consequences' for any who took military personel to court, has given a short interview to El Periodico explaining what he meant.On July 4th, the International Commission of Jurists denounced the decision of the Guatemalan Constitutional Court because of the protection it offered Rios Montt from having to give a statement from complying with the Spanish Investigative Commission.
UPDATE: There are now articles on this news story on AlertNet and The Guardian in the UK press. There is also a rather disappointingly insubstantial contribution to From Our Own Correspondent entitled: "Guatemala Comes To Terms With Its Past". More interested in joking about goats and weighing machines, the BBC's Nick Caistor, 'our correspondent in Guate', should focus a little bit more on the facts of the issues he's presenting. His report includes a worrying factual error:
"An official government report blamed the state and its repressive apparatus for more than 90% of the human rights atrocities that had taken place over the previous three decades."
There has never been an official government report that blamed itself for more than 90% of the human rights atrocities. If only it had, then Spanish judges might not be making long haul flights and the wheels of justice in Guatemala might be turning a tad quicker.
There was of course, Guatemala: Never Again (REMHI) conducted by the Catholic Church and The Memory of Silence (CEH) conducted by the United Nations. The Guatemalan government has only ever accepted extremely limited responsibility for human rights abuses during the time of the internal conflict.
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