Former Guatemala Dictator Sentenced to 80 Years for Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity

General Efraín Ríos Montt (center) announces his military coup,
Guatemala City, March 23, 1982 (Bettman/Corbis)

May 10, 2013 - Guatemala's former leader, Efrain Rios Montt, 86, was convicted in court today on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity during the most brutal part of country's 36-year civil war. By the time that war ended in 1996, over 200,000 people were killed or "disappeared." (Some testimony highlights can be seen in the video below.)

Rios Montt came to power after a coup d'etat on March 23, 1982 "and was accused of implementing a scorched-earth policy in which troops massacred thousands of indigenous villagers thought to be helping leftist rebels," reports Straits Times. A report at BBC News says that "Rios Montt was convicted of ordering the deaths of 1,771 people of the Ixil Maya ethnic group during his time in office in 1982 and 1983."

Rios Montt on trial - AP

Rios Montt was sentenced to 50 years in prison for the crime of genocide and 30 years for crimes against humanity in a sentence that was handed down on May 10, 2013 by Judge Yassmin Barrios in Guatemala City. In her decision, Barrios said Rios Montt was fully aware of plans to exterminate the indigenous Ixil population carried out by security forces under his command. The genocide conviction was the first for a current or former head of state in a national court, Human Rights Watch said.

Rios Montt still denies that he ordered any genocidal killings and claims that he did not have full control of everything that happened during the struggle.

It was the state's first official acknowledgment that genocide occurred during the bloody, 36-year civil war, something the current president, retired Gen. Otto Perez Molina, has denied. He knew about everything that was going on and he did not stop it, despite having the power to stop it from being carried out," said Presiding Judge Yassmin Barrios."Rios Montt is guilty of genocide." Source: Bloomberg Businessweek

Also See:

• Rios Montt found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity Boing Boing
• Rios Montt, guilty as charged Central American Politics
• Profile: Guatemala's Efrain Rios Montt BBC News
• Guatemala Profile (a timeline) BBC

Guatemala Deports John McAfee to U.S.; Heads for Miami FL

John McAfee at Aurora international airport
in Guatemala City, December 12, 2012 (Photo: AFP)

Dec. 12, 2012 - The Guatemalan government has released anti-virus mogul and former fugitive John McAfee and allowed him to return to the United States. A late report by The Atlantic Wire, updated at 4:12 p.m EST, says that McAfee "just boarded a plane to Miami." If that is correct, then McAfee is aboard a plane right now (at 5:55 p.m. ET).

McAfee was wanted in neighboring Belize as a person of interest in the shooting death of Gregory Faull, a fellow American expat who lived next door to him. McAfee went on the run, eluding authorities for more than a month. He was eventually detained on December 5 by Interpol agents in Guatemala City.

A judge in Guatemala ordered McAfee's release yesterday, ruling that he had been detained illegally.

Today's development denies the request from Belize to extradite McAfee to them. The Atlantic Wire explains that McAfee was actually deported "to his country of origin," and cited a spokesman for Guatemala's immigration who spoke to Reuters.

Related:

• John McAfee freed from Guatemalan jail, will fly to U.S. Los Angeles Times
• Guatemala expels McAfee to the United States Straits Times
• John McAfee Arrested in Guatemala, Asylum Denied, Has Heart Attack Chicago News Bench
• John McAfee Gets a Break, Sells His Life Story, Misses the U.S. Chicago News Bench

John McAfee Gets a Break, Sells His Life Story, Misses the U.S.

UPDATE, 12-12-2012:  
Guatemala Deports John McAfee to U.S.; Heads for Miami FL

Dec. 10, 2012 - Wacky ex-fugitive antivirus software guru John McAfee, in detention, gets a break from his Guatemalan captors, reports Stuff.co.nz:

US software pioneer John McAfee, facing deportation from Guatemala to Belize to answer questions over the death of a neighbour, has bought himself some time with legal appeals, the Guatemalan government said on Sunday. McAfee's lawyers have filed a request with a local court to grant him leave to stay in Guatemala until his legal appeals against deportation have been settled, which could take months.

"The government of Guatemala respects the courts and we have to wait for them to make a decision," said Francisco Cuevas, a spokesman for the Guatemalan government.  More at Stuff...  

John McAfee, The Busy Prisoner (stuff.co.nz)

McAfee, 67, has not just been sitting on his butt while behind bars. The Hollywood Reporter says that "Montreal-based Impact Future Media says it has secured the exclusive IP rights to the embattled anti-virus pioneer" and that a spokesman for Future Media says "they inked the deal with McAfee last week and hopes to exploit his life story across a range of media including film, print and TV."

All well and good, I suppose, assuming that McAfee is not guilty of killing his neighbor back in Belize.

McAfee certainly seems optimistic, going so far as to say that he hopes to return to the United States once his ongoing ordeal ends. In an online news conference Sunday from Guatemala, McAfee said the following:

"Have I considered returning to the U.S.? Absolutely that is my only hope now. It is clear, in the last few weeks since I started my blog, that I cannot ever return to Belize. My blog, the issues that I am discussing, are hurting the government, they are hurting tourism, tourism accounts for over 70 per cent of all the employment in Belize. The government was mad at me before; they're seriously mad at me now." More at Big News Network....

McAfee the optimist is also realistic: He said that if he was to be returned to Belize to face criminal charges, there would be "no hope for my life." In the meantime, it looks as though McAfee just might enjoy Christmas in jail.

Previous Post: John McAfee Arrested in Guatemala, Asylum Denied, Has Heart Attack

John McAfee Arrested in Guatemala, Asylum Denied, Has Heart Attack

UPDATE, 12-12-2012:  
Guatemala Deports John McAfee to U.S.; Heads for Miami FL

John McAfee at a detention center in Guatemala City, Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012.
(AP Photo/Guatemala's Human Rights Ombudsman's office) (AP2012)

Dec. 6, 2012 - Once-fugitive computer guru John McAfee, 67, was arrested by Interpol in Guatemala last night. He was hospitalized today for a possible heart attack. Watch the arrest of McAfee in the video below.

McAfee's request for asylum has been denied and he will be extradicted to Belize, where he is wanted in connection with the death of fellow expat American Gregory Viant Faull, who was found shot to death early last month on a Belize island where they lived. Faull moved to Belize from Florida, and "was found dead in his beachfront house on an island in Belize shortly after McAfee's dogs were poisoned. Faull had led a neighborhood petition drive against the dogs, describing them as a dangerous nuisance," reports UPI. "McAfee moved to Belize in 2008, 14 years after he sold his interest in McAfee Associates, the computer security firm he founded in 1987."

According to a report by Fox News Latino, McAfee "was arrested at a hotel in an upscale neighborhood with the help of Interpol agents, hours after he said he would seek asylum in the Central American country."

The arrest ends one of the most oddball manhunts in recent memory. McAfee is the creator of McAfee antivirus software. Ironically, it was computer software that led to his arrest. McAfee admits to entering Guatemala illegally.

WATCH VIDEO OF MCAFEE'S ARREST IN GUATEMALA BELOW

"Vice Magazine accidentally revealed the secret hiding place of fugitive computer virus pioneer John McAfee," reports Gawker.

"We learned this on Monday when Vice posted a photo of McAfee posing with editor-in-chief Rocco Castoro and forgot to scrub the GPS coordinates, revealing his precise location." See that photo at Vice.

The irony is rich: Computer software genius foiled by genius computer software. The stupidity is too: You'd would think that somebody like McAfee, who should be up on the latest geek trends and developments, would have been hip to the realities of digital photography and of GPS technology. Maybe he was just got too cocky. He'd better learn some humility before he's handed over to the Belize authorities.

Guatemala's New Leftist President

We're not the only nation with this problem. GUATEMALA CITY - Alvaro Colom was sworn in Monday as Guatemala's first leftist president in more than 50 years, promising to help more than 6 million people who live on less than $1 a day. FULL STORY, CHICAGO TRIBUNE...