Look on the Bright Side

When the Constitutional Court of Guatemala overturned a genocide conviction of ex-President Efraín Rios Montt earlier this month, champions of human rights were devastated. Poor farmers and indigenous communities who had borne the brunt of the generalissimo's 17-month rampage at the height of the Central American Cold War called the majority (3-2 vote) ruling by the high court a "shock and a travesty." Civic leaders wagged their heads knowingly at "business as usual," disparaging of Latin America's dismal record of crony justice and hollow democracy….

Contrary to some hysterical reporting, though, the nation's most notorious military man is not off the hook. Rios Montt remains under house arrest, and must yet answer to charges of genocide that no Latin American leader has ever faced in his homeland. "Ok, the case was rolled back, halted, however you may describe it. Yes, again, this is not the linear justice many of us would have liked," says Christopher Sabatini, a Latin America scholar who edits the journal Americas Quarterly. "I don't want to be a Pollyanna about it, but ten even five years ago, who would have thought that we'd get this far? This is a huge advance for Guatemala…."

Guatemala should be viewed in the same context. Storied for its string of dictators, their gringo sponsors, and multinational fruit companies, the onetime "banana republic" has shown some surprising democratic reflexes. Driving the case against Rios Montt was a "dedicated core" of attorneys and human rights activists, says Sabatini. Their efforts were backed by the fearless attorney general Claudia Paz y Paz, who bucked death threats and the Guatemalan brass to press formal charges….

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