Otto Pérez Molina's Campaign

The campaign website for Guatemalan presidential candidate Otto Pérez Molina mentioned his decorated military service and his signature on the 1996 peace accords. The site glossed over the fact that he served during a bloody, 36-year-long civil war in which an estimated 200,000 Guatemalans were killed or disappeared and more than one million Guatemalans were displaced.

Responsibility for the Atrocities

The United Nations and the Human Rights Office of the Guatemalan Archbishop have attributed the vast majority of the massacres, assassinations, tortures, and disappearances to the Guatemalan military. General Pérez Molina was a commander in the Guatemalan intelligence agency (known as D-2 or G-2) and the head of a covert branch of the Presidential General Staff known as the EMP.

G-2 and EMP

Both the G-2 and the EMP have been implicated in some of the worst human rights abuses perpetrated during the war, a fact well documented by human rights organizations around the world. Pérez Molina has been linked to several massacres and assassinations – including those of journalist and politician Jorge Carpio Nicolle, Judge Edgar Ramiro Elías Ogaldez, and guerrilla leader Efraín Bámaca.

The General Responds

When asked, in an interview with El Periódico, about the Bámaca execution and about three massacres that occurred in the Nebaj district while he was in charge, the General denied that any massacres took place or that he had any involvement in the execution. While he accepted that the military committed abuses during the war, he tried to deflect responsibility by blaming the press for not holding the military to account.

Violence Persists

The war is over, but violent crime and a high murder rate still plague Guatemala. Impunity is the rule rather than the exception. According to Amnesty International, only 1% of crimes against life in the year 2005 were ever brought to a hearing. Both war-era human rights violators and violent criminals continue to walk free and often enjoy positions of prestige and power in Guatemalan society.

Guatemalans Decide

While Guatemala’s security problems are serious, General Otto Pérez Molina’s “mano duro” (strong hand) campaign did not persuade Guatemalans. In November 2007, in a runoff election, Pérez Molina lost to center-left candidate Alvaro Colom.

Sources

Human Rights Watch. “World Report 2002.” 2002.

Oficina de Derechos Humanos del Arzobispo de Guatemala. Guatemala: Nunca Mas. Donostia, 1998.

U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, Citizenship and Immigration Services Country Reports. “Human Rights in Guatemala: Since the Signing of the Peace Accords.” 1998.

Guatemala Mother

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