BB-020 / Genocide
Guatemalan Genocide
The Act
Guatemalan military forces under Efraín Ríos Montt carried out a counterinsurgency campaign that targeted Maya Ixil and other indigenous communities with massacres, forced displacement, and destruction of villages. A UN-backed commission found acts of genocide.
The Response
Ríos Montt was convicted of genocide in a Guatemalan court in 2013; the conviction was later overturned on procedural grounds and he died before a full retrial. The Commission for Historical Clarification documented the crimes. Reparations and prosecutions of lower-ranking officers have been limited.