American reporting on the Rios Montt trial and America's role in genocide in Central America goes largely unreported in the United States. According to FAIR, none of the three major TV networks have mentioned the trial since it began. Perhaps the most detailed coverage has come from DemocracyNOW, which summed up the present situation this way:
"In the run-up to its
latest decision to overturn, the court had come under heavy lobbying from RÃ os
Montt supporters, including Guatemala's powerful business
association, CACIF. RÃ os Montt remains in a military hospital where he was
admitted last week. His legal status is now up in the air. He will likely be
released into house arrest, and it is unclear when or if he will return to
court."
For the moment, that leaves surviving Reagan administration officials beyond the reach of Guatemalan law and international law.
On 1998, Bishop Juan Gerardi, head of the human rights commission uncovering the truth of the disappearances associated with the military, including Rios Montt, was assassinated. His successor is Catholic bishop Mario Enrique RÃ os Montt , the convicted general's brother. The trial and conviction of Bishop Gerardi's killers in 2001 was the first time members of the military were tried in a civilian court.
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