History reinventors support despots. Social democrats are vilified. Crimes of war, against humanity and genocide are sanitized. They\u2019re whitewashed. They disappear in plain sight.<\/p>\n
Washington tolerates no independent governments. Left of center democratic ones are most vulnerable.<\/p>\n
In 1953, the CIA\u2019s first coup deposed Iran\u2019s Mohammad Mosaddegh. At the time, The New York Times called him \u201cthe most popular politician in the country.\u201d Reza Shah Pahlavi replaced him. A generation-long reign of terror followed.<\/p>\n
In 1954, Washington ousted Guatemala\u2019s Jacobo Arbenz Guzman. In 1952, Truman authorized CIA action. Eisenhower followed through.<\/p>\n
Paramilitary subversion and psychological warfare forced him out. Carlos Castillo Armas replaced him. Death squad justice followed. So did decades of genocide. More on that below.<\/p>\n
On May 10, a three-judge Guatemalan panel found former dictator\/General Efrain Rios Montt guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n
From March 23, 1982 \u2014 August 8, 1983, he was Guatemala\u2019s president. He seized power the old-fashioned way. Coup d\u2019etat force installed him.<\/p>\n
Less than 17 months later, Oscar Humberto Mejia Victores replaced him. He did it the same way. In 2003 presidential elections, Montt ran unsuccessfully. In 2007, he returned to public office in Congress.<\/p>\n
Until January 14, 2012, he remained immune from prosecution. Eight days later, he was indicted for genocide and crimes against humanity. His record is well documented. It\u2019s indisputable. More on that below.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s now aged 86. Judge Yasmin Barrios said \u201c(w)e are completely convinced of the intent to destroy the Ixil ethnic groups.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was sentenced to 80 years imprisonment. His co-defendant, Jose Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez, served as intelligence chief during his tenure. He was acquitted on the same charges.<\/p>\n
The trial lasted five weeks. Over 100 witnesses testified. They included psychologists, military experts, and Maya Ixil Indian survivors. They explained Montt\u2019s scorched earth policy. He slaughtered tens of thousands. He destroyed hundreds of villages. More on that below.<\/p>\n
Mary O\u2019Grady is Wall Street Journal Americas columnist. Her commentaries reinvent history. Fiction substitutes for indisputable facts.<\/p>\n
On May 20, she headlined <\/a>\u201cThe Left\u2019s Cold War Revenge in Guatemala: The history behind an absurd court ruling that Gen. Rios Montt is guilty of genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n Convicting him for genocide \u201cis not supported by the facts,\u201d she claimed. Doing so \u201cis more a score-settling exercise by the international left than a search for truth and justice.\u201d<\/p>\n She called indigenous areas \u201chavens from which terrorists planned, prepared and executed attacks on the rest of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n She admitted that some army units committed massacres. \u201cBut it was \u2018in no way\u2019 \u201d state policy. A convoluted version of history followed. It\u2019s standard O\u2019Grady practice. It falls short of bad fiction.<\/p>\n She claimed testimonies of survivors and prosecution experts didn\u2019t prove genocide. \u201cThe absurdity of this has not been lost on many Guatemalans,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIxil people and others from the region view Montt as a hero,\u201d she claimed.<\/p>\n Some hero! Over 70,000 corpses on his watch prove otherwise. So do around 200,000 throughout decades of conflict.<\/p>\n In 1996, Guatemala\u2019s 34-year genocidal war ended. In February 1999, a detailed report followed. The Historical Clarification Commission (aka truth and justice reconciliation commission) headlined \u201cGuatemala, Memory of Silence<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n It documented decades of genocide, torture and other atrocities. Most victims were indigenous Mayans. Guatemalan and US officials bore full responsibility.<\/p>\n Around 9,200 witnesses on all sides of the conflict provided evidence. The commission concluded that Guatemala\u2019s military, security forces, and paramilitary units were responsible for 93% of human rights abuses and deaths.<\/p>\n Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union guerrillas were involved in only 3%. In another 4% of cases, responsibility couldn\u2019t be determined.<\/p>\n According to the report:<\/p>\n \u201cThe massacres that eliminated entire Mayan villages are neither perfidious allegations nor figments of the imagination, but an authentic chapter in Guatemala\u2019s history.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe majority of human rights violations occurred with the knowledge or by order of the highest authorities of the state.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe responsibility for a large part of these violations, with respect to the chain of military command as well as the political and administrative responsibility, reaches the highest levels of the army and successive governments.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Massacres were politically motivated. \u201cBelieving that the ends justified everything, the military and state security forces blindly pursued the anti-Communist struggle, without respect for any legal principles or the most elemental ethical and religious values, and in this way completely lost any semblance of human morals.\u201d<\/p>\n The worst atrocities occurred on Montt\u2019s watch. In 1982, he launched Operation Sofia. Military and security forces committed hundreds of massacres.<\/p>\n Around 600 Mayan villages were destroyed. Systematic genocide was policy. During his short tenure, around 70,000 civilians were murdered or disappeared. Hundreds of thousands were internally displaced.<\/p>\n Over half of those slaughtered were in El Quiche. Ixil Mayans lost from 70 \u2014 90% of their villages. Washington provided generous support. Reagan was president. General Alexander Haig was Secretary of State.<\/p>\n From 1981 \u2014 1983, International\/European Law Professor Emeritus Christian Tomuschat called Guatemalan policy \u201cacts of genocide against groups of the Mayan people.\u201d<\/p>\n For over two decades, Washington supported it. \u201cUp until the mid-1980s, there was strong pressure from the US government and US companies to maintain the country\u2019s archaic and unjust economic structure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n US administrations knew about genocide, torture and other atrocities. They encouraged them.<\/p>\n During the 1960s, Washington equipped and trained Guatemalan security forces. Declassified US intelligence documents revealed CIA and Pentagon involvement. Montt was trained at the School of the Americas (SOA).<\/p>\n Instruction then and now includes ways to kill, maim, torture, oppress, exterminate poor and indigenous people, overthrow democratically elected governments, assassinate targeted leaders, suppress popular resistance, and solidify hard-right rule cooperatively with Washington.<\/p>\n Throughout the 1980s, close US-Guatemalan ties remained. Scorched earth dirty war targeted indigenous Mayan, resistance guerrillas, and suspected allies.<\/p>\n The region was embroiled in conflict. Death squad justice was policy. Washington-backed Contras battled Nicaragua\u2019s Sandinista government. El Salvadoran fascists were supported.<\/p>\n Throughout the decade, weapons, munitions, training, and destabilizing covert operations supported despots over freedom. Resistance fighters and indigenous populations were targeted.<\/p>\n Guatemala\u2019s conflict lasted longest. Washington fueled and supported it. All US administrations have blood on their hands. It reflects imperialism\u2019s dark side.<\/p>\n State-sponsored terror is policy. It\u2019s war without mercy. It\u2019s longstanding. It rages globally. It targets humanity. It takes no prisoners.<\/p>\n Stephen Lendman<\/strong> lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. <\/em><\/p>\n His new book is titled \u201cBanker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0http:\/\/www.claritypress.com\/LendmanII.html<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. <\/em><\/p>\n Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0It airs Fridays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0http:\/\/www.progressiveradionetwork.com\/the-progressive-news-hour<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.dailycensored.com\/reinventing-guatemalan-history\/<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n