Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity | Guatemala

In the early 1980s the Guatemalan army defeated a Marxist-led guerrilla movement by killing tens of thousands of Mayan Indians as suspected subversives. Remnants of various guerrilla organizations joined together in the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union (URNG) and refused to stop fighting until they achieved peace with justice, that is, negotiated concessions. Only in 1996, and under much international pressure, did the Guatemalan government and the URNG formally end four decades of armed conflict. The army remains the most powerful institution in Guatemala. When active-duty or retired officers are prosecuted, activists, journalists, witnesses, and judicial personnel are besieged by anonymous threats and attacks, sending the deniable but unmistakable message that the army (or part of it) is willing to return Guatemala to the nightmarish political violence of earlier years. Under such conditions public support for human rights...