Guatemala, the Question of Genocide

In Guatemala, it was called the trial of the century : the 2013 prosecution of former de facto head of state (1982-1983) General Jose Efrain Rios Montt and his intelligence chief, General Jose Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez, on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity against the Maya-Ixil people. Rios Montt’s seventeen-month reign was one of the bloodiest periods in Guatemala’s history, with scorched earth massacres, the destruction of hundreds of Maya communities, and militarized resettlement of Mayas into model villages. Rios Montt was convicted on all charges. Ten days later, a higher court vacated the verdict on dubious procedural grounds. Nevertheless, Guatemala’s genocide trial, held in the domestic courts in the country where the crimes were committed, was precedent-setting.

In this volume, Guatemalan and international scholars rigorously explore the complexities of the Guatemala experience and reflect upon the case’s implications for understanding and prosecuting the category of genocide more broadly. Topics include: the nexus of racism and counterinsurgency in explaining Guatemala’s genocide; the politics of Maya collective memory; the intersections of gender, sexuality, and ethnicity in genocide; the decades-long interconnections of national and transnational justice processes that brought the case to trial; and the limits and contributions of tribunal justice.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Genocide Research.