Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Judi Lynn

(160,621 posts)
Mon Feb 1, 2016, 11:38 PM Feb 2016

Guatemalan soldiers to answer civil war sexual slavery charges in historic trial

Source: Guardian

Guatemalan soldiers to answer civil war sexual slavery charges in historic trial

For the first time ever, sex slavery will be prosecuted where the war crime took
place, 30 years after 11 Mayan women from Sepur Zarco were raped and enslaved

Nina Lakhani in Guatemala City
Monday 1 February 2016 15.08 GMT

First the army came for the men. Fifteen Mayan peasant leaders in the tiny hamlet of Sepur Zarco in eastern Guatemala were seized and killed or forcibly disappeared.

A few weeks later, they came back for the women. Soldiers raped them in front of their children, burned down their houses and crops, stole their meagre belongings and made them move into shacks outside the nearby military base.

Every two or three days, each woman was made to report for 12-hour “shifts” at the base where they were forced to cook, clean and submit to systematic rape, often by several soldiers.

It was 1982, one of the bloodiest years of the country’s civil war as counter-insurgency operations against ethnic Mayans intensified under the rule of the military dictator and evangelical Christian, Efraín Ríos Montt.

More than 30 years later, two former military officers will finally face charges of sexual and domestic slavery and forced disappearance in a landmark trial which opens on Monday.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/29/guatemala-military-sex-slavery-trial-civil-war-sepur-zarco



This article was posted today by DU'er Eugene, in the Latin America forum:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/110847247

Hope to hear more about the story, hope the current government will give these women the respect they deserve.

Thanks to Eugene.
3 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Guatemalan soldiers to answer civil war sexual slavery charges in historic trial (Original Post) Judi Lynn Feb 2016 OP
Guatemala military sexual violence trial starts Judi Lynn Feb 2016 #1
Decades After They Were Forced To Be Sex Slaves, These Women Are Fighting Back Judi Lynn Feb 2016 #2
Yet crickets about that superpower nation that helped fund these psychopaths at the time LiberalLovinLug Feb 2016 #3

Judi Lynn

(160,621 posts)
1. Guatemala military sexual violence trial starts
Tue Feb 2, 2016, 12:05 AM
Feb 2016

Guatemala military sexual violence trial starts
2 hours ago



A trial has begun in Guatemala of two ex-military officers for human rights abuses against indigenous women during the country's long armed conflict.

Francisco Reyes and Heriberto Valdez are accused of allowing the rape and abuse of 11 women at the Sepur Zarco military base in the 1980s.

The UN says rape was used as a weapon of war by the Guatemalan military.

Such an offence has never before been tried in the country where the crimes occurred.

More:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-35468034

Judi Lynn

(160,621 posts)
2. Decades After They Were Forced To Be Sex Slaves, These Women Are Fighting Back
Tue Feb 2, 2016, 04:26 PM
Feb 2016

Decades After They Were Forced To Be Sex Slaves, These Women Are Fighting Back

by Beenish Ahmed Feb 2, 2016 10:49 am

In 1982, a group of Mayan men in the small Guatemalan village of Sepur Zarco filed for legal titles to win rights to the land they had famed and lived on for years. They were abducted by the military.

A few weeks later, the soldiers came for their wives. After burning down their houses and crops, and stealing their belongings, the soldiers forced 11 women to live in shacks outside a nearby military base. For the next 10 months, they were forced to cook, clean, and submit to rape for shifts of 12 hours at a time. Four of the women fled into the mountains only to see their children die in the extreme conditions. The others remained in captivity for the next six years.

Now, 30 years later, the women — who are now in their 70s and 80s — are having their day in court. One of them has died since they initially recorded their testimonies in 2012.

On Monday, the women gathered in a Guatemalan court to seek justice against two of their abusers. Esteelmer Reyes Girón, a former base commander, and former regional military commissioner Heriberto Valdez Asij, are accused of crimes against humanity perpetrated during the country’s bloody 36-year civil war.

More:
http://thinkprogress.org/world/2016/02/02/3745014/guatemala-sexual-slavery/

LiberalLovinLug

(14,176 posts)
3. Yet crickets about that superpower nation that helped fund these psychopaths at the time
Tue Feb 2, 2016, 05:11 PM
Feb 2016

The legacy of Ronald Reagan, and George Bush. This includes El Salvador, and Honduras as well.

Latest Discussions»Latest Breaking News»Guatemalan soldiers to an...