Efrain Rios Montt
Cooney & Hatz Rule
Essential question
How did Montt's rule and trial for genocide change how we look at rulers today?
A little bit about Efrain
A Profile Of Your Leader: Efrrain Rios Montt was the ruler of guatemala. He started off as the head of military for the guatemalan government and was known for his campaign against rebel gorillas during civil war. He took out the gorillas and said he will provide food for those who support him and will kill those who oppose him. during this campaign there was “an estimated 200,000 people who died and 45,000 disappeared during Guatemala's 36-year civil war” “Represents one of the bloodiest episodes in modern latin american history” Later he ran for president of guatemala and lost, he protested saying that the government changed the votes. the military ousted the president and offered montt the position. While he was in power he a set of atrocities resulting in the deaths of at least 1,771 lxil mayans in three towns. He ordered the death of many prisoners and killing of many groups of people.
Ex-Dictator Rios Montt Stands Trial For Guatemala War Crimes
Video analysis
This video explains Efrain's dictatorship. It also shows what he is being tried for and how brutal he was as a dictator. He was alos the first ruler of a country to be tried for genocide. Before him the president would tell the jury that it was against the president's orders. Efrain was the first ruler that the jury could directly link the brutal massacre or genocide to a direct order. His trial is still in action as we speak. There are some protestors that believe that he is not the only one at fault. They believe that even though the generals and the military were just following orders they still were at fault because they didn't realize that what they were doing was wrong and they should try their best to stop them.
Trial
He was in power for seventeen months it was one of the most violent periods during the Civil War. 200,000 people went missing. He was charged for the killing of 1,771 indigenous Mayans. He is the first ruler to be accused of actual crimes ,with proof, against a single ethnicity. He got his own lawyers, but even they couldn't help him dismay the charges. He is still on trial and awaiting the verdict. He tries to stall the proceeding but the court won't let him and they should reach a verdict shortly. He is being put on trial for each individual group that he had massacred or displaced.
Legacy life
Born from the gun
Tried by a jury
They tried to blame me
But I wasn't worried
Before it was the military
Now it's all on me
They thinks it's wrong
What I do
But they don't know
Anything about
Genocide
It's not just killing
It's simplified
Acts of prejudice
Of any human or race
Military brought me up
Government tore me down
Thats my story
Thats my legacy
His legacy
He rose to power through the military he was head in command. He gained power and control by proving he is useful by taking out other tribes, swiftly ending their reign of terror over their nation. Thus creating a political balance and leadership. He still worked on controlling the other groups, but he did that through terror and genocide. During his seventeen month leadership he took out a tremendous amount of people which caused conflict and even after his reign was over he was no longer safe form the trials. His genocide trial made it possible for more leaders to be openly tried for genocide which will eventually make leaders more careful in killing people. He is also still being tried and there is a lot of controversy. People are protesting saying that if Efrain was in a genocide then everyone else under him such as generals should also be at fault because they didn't dismay him
Background reasoning for the background (backgroundception)
We deduced that the background should be red to represent the blood that was spilled during the reign of Efrain Rios Montt.