Thursday, July 13, 2006

I Knew Nothing

AP (07.13.06):
"A former Guatemalan dictator said a Spanish judge's order for his arrest was unfounded and insisted that as president he was not aware of any atrocities committed by military officials during the country's civil war. 'The army followed orders and the law,' Efrain Rios Montt told a news conference Wednesday, four days after Spanish National Court Judge Santiago Pedraz issued warrants against him, Gen. Oscar Humberto Mejia Victores — also a former dictator — and six military officials on charges of genocide, torture, terrorism and illegal detention." Montt Says He Was Unaware of Atrocities
"Human rights groups say Rios Montt and Mejia are responsible for some of the worst atrocities of Guatemala's 36-year civil war, which left 200,000 people dead before peace accords were signed in December 1996." Just following orders. To kill all the commies and such: "Two Truth Commissions, one sponsored by the Catholic Church and the other conducted by the government as part of the 1996 Peace Accords documented widespread human rights abuses committed by Ríos Montt's military regime, including widespread massacres, rape, torture, and acts of genocide against the indigenous population." At the time he seized power in a 1982 CIA-backed coup, Ríos Montt was "a lay pastor in the evangelical protestant Church of the Word. In his inaugural address, he stated that his presidency resulted from the will of God. He was widely perceived as having strong backing from the Reagan administration in the United States." Old Ronnie went down there in December, 1982, and told everyone that Rios Montt was "a man of great personal integrity and commitment." If you don't count that torture and genocide stuff and what not.

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