What
You're Missing in our subscriber-only CounterPunch newsletter
How the U.S. Army Kills Its Own Soldiers
A horrifying,
exclusive report from JoAnn Wypijewski on the grim secrets of
Fort Sill, Oklahoma. How a sadistic drill sergeant tortured basic
trainees, amid brutal indifference that led to the death on March
19,2006,of 21-year-old PFC Matthew Scarano. Dead Movement Marching? Cockburn and St Clair
assess the failures of the national antiwar groups, even as popular
opposition to the war tops 60 per cent. Stalin or Confucius? Chris Reed on
the Secrets of the Garden of Bliss, otherwise known as North
Korea.CounterPunch
Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But remember,
we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition
of CounterPunch. Please
support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter,
which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or
by making a donation for the online edition. Remember contributions
are tax-deductible.Click
here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please:Subscribe
Now!
Guatemala's Efrain Rios Montt earned
the nickname "the General" after taking power in a
1982 coup d'etat. His sixteen-month rule is considered one of
Guatemala's bloodiest periods since the Spanish conquest. Under
the General's command, entire villages were massacred in a bloody
counterinsurgency campaign, and some 150,000 mostly indigenous
Guatemalans were killed. Despite his gruesome history, Rios Montt
remained a powerful political figure and in 2003 ran as a presidential
candidate despite a constitutional ban prohibiting former dictators
from entering the race. In 1999, Maya activist Rigoberta Menchú
submitted an indictment against the former dictator, but over
six years later, the trial is still pending.
Rios Montt is not an anomaly in Latin America. F! rom El Salvador
to Chile, ex-military leaders guilty of violent crimes perpetrated
during the region's "dirty wars" of the 70's and 80s
roam free. Many, like Rios Montt, wield enough political power
to ensure that their macabre pasts remain buried from public
scrutiny. Throughout Latin America, human rights groups are seeking
to convict these criminals, but most have confronted the greatest
obstacle to a functioning justice system--impunity. In Guatemala,
the state has made little attempt to investigate or prosecute
those responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of
war victims--most likely because a large percentage of these
criminals still hold high government positions. In the few cases
that have ended in conviction, only the material authors, those
at the lowest level of the military, have been punished, while
the intellectual author! s remain immune to prosecution.
Failing justice systems represent just one example of the weak
institutions pervasive to Latin American societies, where corrupt
bureaucracies create de facto inequality through clientelistic
practices. This, coupled with rampant poverty and lack of education,
perpetuates the region's inequities, thwarting any hope for widespread
political participation and democracy. These barriers to democracy
could be eliminated, at least in part, by a strong state--that
is, one with a ubiquitous and fair legal system and efficient
bureaucratic institutions with the power to effectively regulate
social relationships. Absent a state that fosters some sort of
redistributi! on, however, equality, and therefore democracy,
is unachievable.
To that end, the state must play a role in bolstering institutions
that level the playing field for all citizens. That is, the state
must provide equal access to education--so that citizens cast
an informed vote--as well as access to markets through credit
institutions and property rights to ensure equal economic opportunities.
Most importantly, a key component to promoting equality lies
in a strong judicial system that guarantees equality before the
law. But how can such institutions be strengthened in states
rife with corruption and favoritism?
Perhaps the best hope for the future of Latin American judicial
systems lies in the past. By bringing perpetrators of the region's
"dirty wars" to trial, the state can prove that judicial
institutions actually function. Justice systems in most Latin
American nations have been ineffective for so long that citizens
have lost any hope in their functionality. However, only by addressing
past crimes can the system transform to become fair and effective
in the future.
Convicting figures like Rios Montt is not only important to building
state institutions; it is also central to overcoming Latin America's
culture of violence, the terrible relic of decades of conflict.
In many Guatemalan indigenous communities, men and women are
tormented by the memory of civil war. Tensions are palpable in
villages where victims' family members live alongside ex-paramilitaries
that were forced to carry out atrocities against their own and
neighboring villages. The effects of this brutal conflict will
not easily dissipate. Despite a comprehensive UN report citing
atrocities committed during the 36-year war, individual perpetrators
have not been denounced, thus undermining the notion of universal
justice enshrined in the Guatemalan constitution. This type of
selective justice reinforces the ethnically exclusive nature
of the country's political system, leaving scant hope for universal
participatory democracy.
The task of reforming Latin America's judicial systems is daunting,
especially given the immense political power of those who will
suffer if justice is implemented. However, in order for equality
and democracy to take root, all citizens must be afforded the
same rights and opportunities and be held to the same standards.
Only then will their votes be meaningful.
Lisa Viscidi is a graduate student at NYU's Center for
Latin American and Caribbean Studies. She can be reached at lviscidi@yahoo.com.
Now
Available
from CounterPunch Books!
The Case
Against Israel
By Michael Neumann
CounterPunch
Speakers Bureau Sick of sit-on-the-Fence speakers, tongue-tied and timid?
CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair
are available to speak forcefully on ALL the burning issues,
as are other CounterPunchers seasoned in stump oratory. Call
CounterPunch Speakers Bureau, 1-800-840-3683. Or email beckyg@counterpunch.org.
