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April 11, 2013

Witness Ties Guatemalan President to Maya Killings in Montt Trial 
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Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina has been directly accused in
Guatemalan court of ordering executions during Guatemala's decades-long
campaign against Maya indigenous people, which resulted in the deaths of
hundreds of thousands. The accusation came during the ongoing trial of
former U.S.-backed dictator Efraín Ríos Montt on charges of genocide
and crimes against humanity. A former military mechanic named Hugo Reyes
told the court that President Pérez, 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. Reyes told the court: "The soldiers, on orders
from [Otto Pérez Molina] ... coordinated the burning and looting, in
order to later execute people." President Pérez has denied the
allegations and says he only acted to help civilians.

 

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