Complete Thesis_double spaced abstract.pdf

The final findings of the CEH report in 1999 echoed that of the REMHI report, 200,000
people died in the conflict, and ultimately at least 93% of the killings were attributed to the state,
3% were attributed to the guerrillas, and 4% were undetermined. The state was responsible for
626 separate massacres, the UNRG for 32. The CEH interviewed witnesses concerning over
40,000 violations; their findings implicated not only the state and the guerrilla groups but also the
United States, the CIA, the G-2, and the Presidential Military Guard (EMP). The CEH report
highlighted the horrors of the political violence, especially the treatment of women and children
throughout Guatemala. The CEH noted the frequent use of rape, torture, and the removal of
fetuses from the womb before the women were killed. Children were frequently beaten to death,
set on fire, had their limbs cut off, were impaled, or thrown into pits alive with the corpses of
their parents thrown on top. The CEH report found that the state identified indigenous Mayas as
an “internal enemy” to be “exterminated” justice for the victims of the state sponsored violence
was not likely, the commission “was prohibited from specifically naming human rights violators
under the peace accords agreed by the government and the URNG” (Central America Report,
1999). Though there were technically exceptions to the 1997 Law of Reconciliation, nearly every
individual was granted immunity for crimes committed during the 36 year conflict. The slight
opening in the Laws of Reconciliation and the findings of the CEH led the Center for Human
Rights Legal Action to decide to pursue genocide charges against General Montt. General
Montt’s response was to issue the following statement in response to the CEH and the allegations
of genocide, “I was never, ever informed of any acts of this nature [genocide]…I never ordered a
massacre…I did not consciously do anything against the law” (Central America Report, 1999).
The Guatemalan state dismissed the findings of the CEH as “redundant” and refused to comment
on the document for several days, the leading newspapers in Guatemala responded similarly to
the document. The United States offered a response similar to General Montt’s denial, regarding
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