“Granito” is effectively part 2 of “When the Mountains Tremble” and gives us a much deeper (and more modern) view of Guatemala. Things do seem to be starting to change some there, but there are still many problems (as evidenced in the film). The trials (especially that of Rios Montt) still drag on, but some have ended with convictions (that were actually upheld). It’s a slow progress, but progress all the same.
The title point of this film comes back to the discussion of a “grain of sand” which effectively means that one grain of sand alone can’t make much of a difference, but you get a bunch of them, and it’s a different story (like one grain of sand flying at you wouldn’t hurt much, but a bunch of it, and you’re being sandblasted). The people of Guatemala are trying to be “grains of sand” so that together they can make a big difference.
The Spanish court (who claims international jurisdiction to try human rights violators) seems like it would be willing to give him a fair trial, but they have to get him in Spain (or in any other country that has extradition to Spain). This effectively make Rios Montt a prisoner within Guatemala as if he leaves, he’ll almost certainly be captured and extradited to Spain.
As we’ll find out from our readings and the timeline of events, the Guatemalan courts did finally take up the case and did convict Rios Montt in the Guatemalan courts (which was the first ever conviction of a head of state for human rights violation in a domestic, rather than international, court). However, the same Constitutional Court that is blocking his extradition to Spain, also overturned this ruling and set the case back (although now instead of being unanimous, it was a 3-2 split, showing there is some division there now).
Personally, I think the division in the Constitutional Court is because Rios Montt is becoming a major embarrassment to Guatemala. The more public this gets, the worse they look for harboring this blow hole. Perhaps they really don’t care how bad they look. After all as we covered in class they are (and have been for quite some time) the #1 worst human rights violators in the world. Maybe it’s like New Mexico and our drunk drivers. We don’t take it seriously because hey, everyone has to be #1 at something. New Mexico has drunk driving, Guatemala has human rights abuse.
Listen up Guatemalan government… I have a solution for you. Why don’t you just have Rios Montt “disappeared”. You know, car accident, industrial accident, “we don’t know where he could have gone, he must have fled!”, that kind of thing. If you wait too long, someone else might come and “disappear” him to Spain, which while I’d love to see, would be an even bigger embarrassment for you. We all know you really don’t care about how you treat your people (and for once at least it’s not just the indigenous targeted, and how sad it is that I have to say that like it’s a good thing).
We all know who and what Rios Montt is and what he has done. Guatemala needs to “man up” and deal with him once and for all. If they don’t, the international community should. We blockade Cuba for being Communist, but we don’t shut down Guatemala for being the worst human right s violators in the world. How jacked up is that? We should send in a team and extradite him ourselves. I, for one, would openly volunteer to go over there with a team and “disappear” him (either to Spain, or to the next world).
starbase22 