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Former Guatemalan dictator Ríos Montt is responsible for genocide.
In 1982 he destroyed hundreds of indigenous villages in a scorched earth policy.
Tens of thousands of indigenous civilians were murdered by Guatemalan troops and
over one million were displaced in a campaign of ethnic cleansing. Ríos Montt is
back in power as president of the Guatemalan Congress, even though his role in the
genocide has been acknowledged by the UN sponsored truth commission.
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The death toll in the Guatemalan conflict exceeds that of El Salvador,
Nicaragua, Argentina and Chile put together, yet it barely registers on the
international consciousness. The ethnic cleansing that took place in Guatemala
exceeds that of Bosnia, but there has been no international outcry.
Ríos Montt must be held accountable for the genocide of the Mayan peoples.
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The indigenous majority of Guatemala demands an end to racist persecution and
discrimination.
In June of this year, eleven of the communities who suffered massacres in Ríos
Montt´s genocide will begin criminal proceedings, seeking his prosecution and
conviction in Guatemala. Over one thousand people were killed in these eleven
villages alone. The survivors are again risking their lives in the search for
justice.
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