Noam Chomsky on contemporary United States - Latin American relations

Louisa Reynolds recently completed an interview with Noam Chomsky that has been published in English in Plaza Publica. The lead is a not so surprising quote of “For the first time in 500 years, Latin America has begun to free itself of imperial control."

The US strongly supported the genocide trial of Guatemala’s former dictator Efrain Rios Montt...

I think “strongly supported” is an overstatement…

The US embassy in Guatemala expressed an interest in having the trial come to a conclusion…

A quick conclusion that would not implicate the United States and its allies. After all, Rios Montt wasn’t acting in isolation. He was acting with support from the Reagan administration and when Congress blocked Reagan from direct participation in the genocidal crimes, Reagan called in his international terrorist army, Israel, to train Guatemalan officers and provide the weapons, essentially as a surrogate for the United States. The US embassy made sure that none of that was going to be brought up.

What were America’s real motivations for supporting the Rios Montt trial? Was it concern over the possibility of having a failed state in its back yard? 

There were undoubtedly people in the US embassy that were interested in pursuing it but as far as government policy is concerned it seems to me it was tolerated as long as the US and its allies were excluded; that was always crucial. The US has no real objection to crimes being prosecuted locally as long as the international aspect doesn’t enter. It happens all over the place...

The US has been strongly supportive of the case against Rios Montt. Of that, I have little doubt. However, I get the impression that the US has been more of a cheerleader rather than a prosecutor which is how it should be.

For the most part, the Obama administration's approach to Central America has been to let Central Americans take the lead and for the US to nudge policy in a direction we find more acceptable. Republicans and leftist sympathizers prefer that the use a sledge hammer - just usually forcing action in opposite directions. Sometimes that happens (accepting Honduras back in to the democratic fold, CICIG and Rios Montt, arbitration against Guatemala on labor rights) and sometimes it doesn't (perhaps the Monsanto laws fall here, wanting El Salvador to do more to crack down on money laundering and corruption).

Had Guatemalans not been at the forefront of pushing for the prosecution of Rios Montt, my guess is that the US Embassy would have stayed relatively, if not completely, silent.

Speaking of which, Rios Montt's re-trial resumed today in Guatemala. Following on Twitter, there looks to have been some excitement with a demand that the former general and dictator show up in court (he had been claiming that he's too sick to attend) and a motion to have one of the justices removed (Judge Valdez wrote her master's thesis on the genocide in Guatemala - see this post from June 2013).

#Guatemala's ex-dictator Rios Montt was wheeled into court by paramedics for 1st day in court. Theatrics or old age? pic.twitter.com/hvfIlM3NYt
— Geoff Ramsey (@PanAmericanPost) January 5, 2015

I was wrong. I honestly didn't think that Rios Montt would see the inside of a courtroom but there Bernie he is

[UPDATE - Not much of a surprise but Judge Irma Jeannette Valdés Rodas is off the case and a new judge will have to be appointed. No idea yet of the timeline.]

In a majority decision, the court accepts defense argument that Judge Valdez is biased; the #RiosMontt trial is postponed #EyesonJan5
— guatemalajustice (@guatejustice) January 5, 2015