Rios Montt took power in Guatemala in 1982, after civil war had been raging for decades. Rios Montt does not face prosecution for war crimes or genocide. The former dictator, who is now president of Congress, was caught red-handed altering a tax law after it was passed. Human rights groups hope, though, that this will pave the way for a future genocide trial. In Guatemala, high crime rates serve as a pretext to intimidate and execute political opponents.
Death squads terrorize human rights monitors and people looking into Guatemala s murderous past.
The administration of Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo is widely regarded as a lame-duck government. Rios Montt is still constitutionally barred from seeking the presidency. However, he might use the political chaos as a pretext to install his proxy Reyes. The United Nations-administered peace process, culminating in the 1996 Peace Accords, generated much hope that Guatemala was moving in the right direction. This hope is now withering away.