Posted on 04/01/2018 1:08:42 PM PDT by Ennis85
Guatemala's former military leader Efrain Rios Montt, who briefly ruled the country in the 1980s, has died at the age of 91.
In 2013, he became the first former head of state to face genocide charges in his own country.
Gen Rios Montt was accused of ordering the killing of more than 1,700 ethnic Mayans during a civil war.
The last several years of his life were spent fighting a legal battle against the allegations in court.
Gen Rios Montt seized power during a 1982 coup d'etat, in the midst of a bloody civil war in the country between the military regime and Marxist rebels.
His 17 months in office were considered some of the most ruthless of the war, with entire towns of indigenous Mayans - who were accused of harbouring insurgents - wiped out.
Gen Rios Montt was ousted as leader by his own defence minister in August 1983, who declared an amnesty for guerrillas.
He avoided prosecution by entering the country's Congress, which offered parliamentary immunity.
He would later return to the political limelight in 2003 and 2006, when he unsuccessfully ran for president despite a constitutional rule that no-one who had overthrown a government could stand for the office.
After his congressional immunity ended with his congressional title, he was eventually brought to trial.
National prosecutors said that during his 17 months in power the former leader and his chief of military intelligence ordered the deaths of more than 1,700 people from the Ixil Maya ethnic group.
He was found guilty of charges of genocide and crimes against humanity in a national court in 2013.
A judge sentenced him to 80 years, but that ruling was later thrown out by the country's high court.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Doesn’t matter. It should not be illegal to kill Marxists. It should be encouraged.
There will be a lot of criticism of Montt, imho most of it unjustified.
But I did find this amusing: “despite a constitutional rule that no-one who had overthrown a government could stand for the office.”
He was a great leader. Sweeping the floors at a Christian School, and Military Officers fetched him to take him to be the Supreme Ruler in Guatemala. People loved him in Guatemala. Globalists in Europe hated him.
“There will be a lot of criticism of Montt, imho most of it unjustified.”
Like...I really don’t want to seem like I’m of those people(akin to Holocaust deniers) but there is dispute as to wether or not genocide happened in Guatamala.
https://panampost.com/editor/2015/01/16/not-genocide-politics-versus-law-in-the-trial-of-rios-montt/
bttt
And Fidel is celebrated - killing tens of thousands...
RIP.
His actions as described in the article don’t come close to fitting the definition of genocide - even if unwarranted.
He beat the communists. They will never forgive that.
Similar to Fujimori in Peru. Took the war to them and beat them.
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