Ríos Montt, convicted of genocide in 2013 in a ruling that was thrown out on irregularities, died of a heart attack

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Former Guatemalan dictator Efraín Ríos Montt, who seized power in a 1982 coup, has died.

His lawyer, Jaime Hernandez, said the family told him the 91-year-old died of a heart attack.

Ríos Montt, who presided over one of the bloodiest periods of the country’s civil war as soldiers waged a scorched-earth campaign to root out Marxist guerrillas, was convicted in 2013 of genocide and crimes against humanity for the massacre of 1,771 indigenous Ixil Mayans by security forces under his command.

But the ruling was swiftly set aside and a new trial ordered, dismaying human rights activists and victims who long sought to see him punished for atrocities during his 17-month regime.

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In October, his trial on genocide charges resumed behind closed doors after being suspended for more than a year while his lawyers argued that he was too senile to participate, with no memory and unable to make decisions.

He is survived by his wife, two children and several grandchildren.

An ex-general known for inspiring fear and giving speeches at a near-shout, Ríos Montt was later a longtime member of congress and one of the most influential figures in Guatemalan politics for more than three decades.

Born 16 June 1926, in the city of Huehuetenango, in western Guatemala’s highlands, Ríos Montt grew up in a conservative Roman Catholic family.

In March 1982, he seized power in a military coup and promptly suspended the constitution, disbanded congress and set in motion a ruthless counterinsurgency campaign that resulted in thousands of deaths. According to a UN truth commission, the worst atrocities of the 1960-1996 Guatemalan civil war took place during his rule.



Nonetheless he continued to receive the support of the United States, where Ronald Reagan called him “a man of great personal integrity and commitment.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Efraín Ríos Montt seized power in a 1982 coup. Photograph: AP

Ríos Montt’s government was known for faceless judges presiding over summary trials of suspected subversives, and for moralistic Sunday night TV messages.

In power, Ríos Montt alienated a broad spectrum of society, including the military, businesspeople and the Catholic church, leading to his ousting by another coup in August 1983 led by his own defence minister.

However he remained popular among many for his social welfare initiatives and for the relative peace his “iron fist” approach brought to some regions. In 1985, a clause was added to the constitution barring him and his progeny from seeking the presidency.

In 2003, Ríos Montt was finally able to make another run for president after the constitutional court allowed his candidacy. He came in a distant third — in part due to scandals under the government of Alfonso Portillo, who would later plead guilty in the US to laundering millions of ill-gotten dollars through American banks.

For years Ríos Montt enjoyed immunity from prosecution as an elected member of congress. That changed when he lost re-election in 2011 and was ordered into house arrest.

After more than 100 legal appeals were exhausted, his 2013 trial was seen as a historic opportunity to hold a Latin American dictator responsible for abuses committed on his watch.

Dozens of witnesses testified about rapes, massacres, forced displacement and other crimes by soldiers that, prosecutors argued, Ríos Montt either ordered or must have known about.

Ríos Montt was convicted and sentenced to 80 years. But practically before the ink on the ruling had time to dry, the ruling was tossed over trial irregularities and a new proceeding ordered.



At a hearing in January 2015, he was wheeled into court on a gurney ashen-faced, clad in pajamas, covered with a blanket and wearing dark sunglasses. It was a far cry from the man Guatemalans knew: diminutive of stature but with a booming voice, commanding presence and penetrating gaze.



A three-justice panel ruled that one of the judges had to recuse herself, delaying the retrial indefinitely.

According to the United Nations, some 245,000 people were killed or disappeared during Guatemala’s 1960-1996 civil war, with the vast majority of the killings attributed to the army or paramilitary groups.

