Rios Montt admitted yesterday in an interview with the Associated Press that human rights violations took place during the Guatemalan civil war, but claims he did nothing wrong during his 18-month stint as the country’s military dictator in 1982 and 1983. This is Rios Montt’s third attempt at running in the Guatemala presidential election. His two previous efforts, in 1990 and 1995, were foiled by a clause in the 1985 constitution that forbids the re-election of participants in military coups. The former dictator and current leader of Congress, however, argues that he should be allowed to run for the presidency because his reign occurred before the creation of the law. Even so, Rios Montt’s bid has been rejected once by the election registry and twice by the election court, and he currently holds a distant third place in the polls. The general distaste of the country for the former dictator was expressed on June 14 during a campaign visit to the central Guatemalan town of Rabinal, during which he was pelted by stones thrown by members of a local civil war victims association.
