Guatemala confronts a dark chapter

Guatemala begins their first genocide trail after incidents taking place over twenty years ago. When Rios Montt became dictator in Guatemala for sixteen months in 1982, Guatemala was already in a violent civil war. The insurgency and extrajudicial killings by the military had been going on for the past two decades as part of the broader conflicts between leftist rebels and hardline governments across the region. The execution of the ordering of 1,700 indigenous Ixil Mayans arrived at the trail in Guatemala City. Dozens of the witnesses and survivors were brought to be testified and shared with the court their horrific memories. Many of these witnesses were rapped, saw their families being murdered, and watched as their houses were being burned down.
The Ixil lived in the mountainous villages in the northwest part of Guatemala and make less than one percent of the nations population. This indigenous group was targeted because of their ethnicity. This is the only incident of genocide in the Western Hemisphere during the modern era. Many argue that there was no genocide, just attacks of national defense since there is no evidence Montt ordered any abuses. Although it is an ongoing trial, the prosecutors need to prove that these attacks targeted a certain ethnic group and had intentions of destroying it. The Ixil deserve justice for them and their families.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/11/world/americas/guatemala-rios-montt-trial/index.html?hpt=wo_t5