Church backs elderly victims of retired Guatemalan general

[Judi Lynn]

Manuel Benedicto Lucas García, considered 'one of the bloodiest generals in the history of Latin America,' is on trial for genocide



Manuel Benedicto Lucas García, former head of the Guatemalan army. (Photo: California State University Northridge. University Library)

A retired Guatemalan military commander – considered "one of the bloodiest generals in the history of Latin America" by survivors of the repression he oversaw -- has gone on trial for genocide, offering a possible last opportunity for justice for aging victims of targeted attacks on Indigenous villages during the country's armed conflict.

Manuel Benedicto Lucas García, former head of the Guatemalan army for eight months in the early 1980s, is standing trial on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, forced disappearance and sexual violence. Lucas García's tenure as army chief coincided with the administration of his brother, President Fernando Romeo Lucas García.

Association for Justice and Reconciliation, an organization assisted by the Archdiocese of Guatemala City's human rights office since 2008, alleges the retired general ordered "more than 32 selective and generalized massacres," along with "the destruction of more than 23 entire villages" in the Maya Ixil region of western Guatemala, according to a pre-trial statement.

"From his position as Operational Commander of the Guatemalan Army, he identified the Mayan peoples of the country … as enemies of the State," the statement continued.

The massacres claimed the lives of at least 1,771 people, the organization said, including "children, the elderly, men, women, even pregnant women." Soldiers also burned homes and crops, while carrying out persecutions, forced displacements and bombings, "as well as subjecting the population to conditions of hunger and disease that caused the death of hundreds more people, in addition to serious acts of sexual violence against women and girls," the organization said.

More:
https://www.ucanews.com/news/church-backs-elderly-victims-of-retired-guatemalan-general/104860

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Former Guatemalan General Benedicto Lucas García On Trial For Genocide And Crimes Against Humanity →
April 9, 2024

(Another case of U.S. & western support for and ‘legitimization’ of genocide as foreign policy)

Benedicto Lucas García was trained by the U.S. in irregular warfare and counterinsurgency at the then School of the Americas. While head of the U.S. and western-backed Guatemalan military in 1981-1982, Benedicto Lucas Garcia was in charge of planning and carrying out the scorched earth massacre campaigns against the civilian Maya population.

These atrocities were ‘legitimized’ by the Guatemala regime, U.S and western powers as part of the “war against communism” and in defense of democracy”.


Interviewed in the article is Jesus Tecu Osorio, eye-witness to and survivor of the genocidal Chixoy Dam/Rio Negro massacres committed against the Maya Achi people in Rabinal, Baja Verapaz, during the worst years of the scorched earth massacres.

From 1975-1985, the World Bank and IDB invested hundreds of millions of dollars into the genocidal regimes ruling Guatemala to build the Chixoy hydro-electric dam project. From 1994 forward, Jesus Tecu and Carlos Chen Osorio – another eye-witness, survivor of the Chixoy Dam massacres, spearheaded the Chixoy Dam Reparations Campaign to tell the truth about this genocidal “development” project and achieve a measure of justice and reparations.

To date, there has been no proper investigation into the role and responsibilities of the World Bank and IDB for the genocidal massacres and forced destruction of dozens of Maya villages so as to complete of the Chixoy Dam project.

https://rightsaction.org/emails/former-guatemalan-general-benedicto-lucas-garca-on-trial-for-genocide-and-crimes-against-humanity