Photo: Protest, Guatemala City, April 19, 2013. James Rodriguez/mimundo.org.
Here’s info on two special events in NYC and DC with visiting speakers from Guatemala talking about human rights accountability in Guatemala, where the historic genocide trial of former US-backed military dictator Ríos Montt has just been overturned. Both events are free of charge, but you need to RSVP.
NEW YORK CITY:
For Boing Boing readers who will be in New York City today, May 22 2013: “The Rios Montt Trial: Human Rights Accountability in Guatemala,” an Open Society Justice Initiative roundtable featuring Helen Mack, sister of slain anthropologist Myrna Mack Chang. Panelists at the event will discuss “how efforts in the domestic criminal justice system and international courts have pressed Guatemala towards greater accountability,” but also how these efforts have been challenged in Guatemala’s highly polarized climate.
May 22, 2013, 12:15 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.
224 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019
RSVP required, but free of charge.
WASHINGTON DC:
For readers who will be in our nation’s capital on May 29, 2013: “Genocide in Our Hemisphere: Justice and Reconciliation in Guatemala Beyond the Conviction of General Ríos Montt,” at the New America Foundation. I will be moderating one of the panels at this event. Speakers include Marta Elena Casaus, Professor of History, Autonomous University, Madrid, Spain (an Expert Witness on racism at the genocide trial), Patrick Ball of hrdag.org (whose work focuses on using data to analyze mass human rights abuses), Irma Alicia Velásquez Nimatuj of Support Mechanism for Indigenous Peoples Oxlajuj Tz´ikin, CUNY/Lehman College Anthopologist Victoria Sanford, and Kate Doyle of the National Security Archive.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013 – 2:00pm – 5:00pm
New America Foundation
1899 L Street NW Suite 400, Washington, DC 20036
Sign up here, event is free of charge.