UNITED NATIONS, April 20 -- The UN has a Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, but General Efrain Rios Montt still roams free in that country. On Tuesday in New York, Inner City Press asked Rigoberta Menchu if she thought Rios Montt would ever be brought to justice, and perhaps relatedly, what she thinks of the case in Spain against Judge Balthasar Garzon. Video here, at end.
Rigoberto Menchu said she doubted Rios Montt could be put on trial in Guatemala, at least not during her lifetime. She praised Garzon for pursuing the case, and said that the charges against him are probably political, noting that he also looked into the Spanish Civil War and aftermath. She lamented the changes in Spanish law that henceforth only cases involving Spanish victims, and perpetrators living in Spain, can be tried. So much for universal jurisdiction.
The Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala has a more limited mandate, and his involved going after the killers of bus drivers. Recently, however, it led the investigation into the national police chief, and identified the alleged killers of Victor Rivera, a Venezuelan security advisor killed in May 2008.
Carlos Castresana, the Commissioner of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), led the press conference, and described his role in the Victor Rivera and Baltazar Gomez cases.
Inner City Press' research found that the UN Development Program paid not only for his and Ms. Menchu's travel, but for a large delegation of current and past Guatemalan government and other officials.
Inner City Press asked Eduardo Stein, former Vice-President of Guatemala, if UNDP had paid for his travel. He launched into a justification of how much the delegation could teach as well as learn. Ms. Menchu, to her credit, chimed in on the follow up and said that if another organization could be found to pay for the tickets, let it step forward.
Gonzalo Marroquin, Vice-President of Inter-American Press Association, was asked about attacks on Guatemalan journalists and about a letter he wrote to the UN's Ban Ki-moon about the crack down on press freedom in Venezuela. Last week, Ban's spokesman Martin Nesiry merely confirmed receipt of the letter, but said to ask UNESCO for any response.
One wondered, has Ban Ki-moon outsourced press freedom to UNESCO, and human rights elsewhere? Is the idea or effect that people and organizations should stop writing him letters and petitions on these topics?
UNESCO, it emerges, has never heard of the letter. Something is wrong at and with the UN. But keep those cards and letters coming!
