Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-10-26-Speech-4-214"
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"en.20061026.29.4-214"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, it is very sad and shameful to contemplate the fact that, in the vast majority of cases, those who commit despicable and atrocious crimes against humanity, including genocide, remain unpunished. In fact, most of these callous murderers of largely innocent, defenceless civilians never face justice. It is even more shameful that in reality many such vicious sub-human criminals not only escape the arm of the law, but enjoy a high standard of living and important political status.
Numerous examples of this disgraceful state of affairs can be found all over the world, throughout history and across most political systems and ideologies, which only goes to prove that, in reality, true administration of justice is a summer night’s dream and a fallacy. We all know it applies to our world, but most of us are too afraid to admit it publicly.
The situation in Guatemala’s recent history fully bears out what I have just said. In the period from 1960 to 1996, more than 200 000 people were murdered in state-sponsored violence orchestrated by a notorious army general turned dictator, Efraín Rios Montt, and assisted by a string of infamous top officials and high-ranking military officers. None of these characters was ever punished. Rios Montt remains in politics today as the leader of the Guatemalan Republican Front, one of the nation’s most powerful political parties. He served as President of the National Congress as recently as two years ago.
We should of course note that Rios Montt was trained by the United States, and his rise to power was accomplished through CIA involvement and with the full political backing and financial assistance of successive US governments. Honestly, how pathetic can US foreign policy be? Sometimes one wonders. Has the US State Department not had any straight-thinking, sensible people with average IQ working in it over the last few decades?
I urge you to support this resolution, which aims at supporting the present attempts by the Guatemalan authorities to bring to justice Rios Montt, as well as a number of other despicable criminals."@en1
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