Óscar Humberto Mejía Víctores

Óscar Humberto Mejía Víctores (born December 9, 1930 in Guatemala City ; † February 1, 2016 there ) was Guatemalan head of state from August 8, 1983 to January 14, 1986 .

Life

His parents were Alejandra Victores and Juan José Mejía. In 1948 he joined the army and studied at the Escuela Politécnica military academy . He graduated on March 29, 1953. He went through the military career up to the general . In the Cabinet of Efrain Rios Montt he was defense minister .

Óscar Humberto Mejía Víctores became head of state after overthrowing Ríos Montt. He abolished the Council of State and the extraordinary courts installed by Ríos. He ruled by means of state terrorism, which included death squads .

In 1984 he named a constituent assembly that promulgated a new constitution that has been in effect in Guatemala since May 31, 1985. This constitution created new institutions, such as the state human rights ombudsman.

In June 1984 the Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo (GAM) was founded. Among other things, she is committed to clearing up the more than 40,000 cases of those who have disappeared.

arrest warrant

In December 1999, Rigoberta Menchú applied to the Audiencia Nacional de España to bring charges against Mejía and against

1. Efraín Ríos Montt
2. Defense Minister from January 15, 1980 to August 9, 1981, Ángel Aníbal Guevara
3. the Jefe del Comando Seis de la Policía Nacional from 1978 to 1980, Pedro García Arredondo
4. Donaldo Álvarez Ruiz
5. the head of the General Staff of the Army from mid-1981, Benedicto Lucas García, brother of
6. Fernando Romeo Lucas García .
7. the former director of the Policía Nacional Germán Chupina Barahona (* 1920, † February 17, 2008).

Preliminary investigation

A corresponding investigation has been started. The allegations were murder, kidnapping, genocide. The judge of the Audiencia Nacional de España , Santiago Pedraz, conducted his investigation against the background of a lack of cooperation and intentions to blackout. Santiago Pedraz was in Guatemala from June 23 to July 1, 2006. However, Ríos Montt had received temporary protection from questioning by a provisional order from the Supreme Court in Guatemala. On July 7, 2006, Santiago Pedraz ordered the international manhunt and arrest of Mejía and seven others suspected of involvement in genocide. In a procedural notice published on July 7, 2006, the judge ordered pre-trial detention without the possibility of bail, Comunicado , for the eight suspects. With the aim of arrest and extradition to Spain and the transmission of the arrest warrants "that they may be arrested and placed at the disposal of the Spanish judiciary to respond to the allegations."

Fernando Romeo Lucas García died in Venezuela on May 27, 2006, but Pedraz deemed it necessary to include him on his arrest warrant as there is no official death notice in the trial, judicial circles said.

The same sources state that the suspect, Donaldo Álvarez Ruiz, was in a city in California , United States . Pedraz made this decision after the public prosecutor's office indicated on July 7, 2006 that during the judge's recent trip to Guatemala there was "a clear, constant willful lack of cooperation with the Spanish judiciary in investigating the incidents reported" on the part of the accused was recognized, which made it impossible for the judges to receive explanations from them and the witnesses.

"As a result of the successful darkening intentions, not only the statements of the accused, but also the statements of the witnesses who made themselves available, were in fact blocked," reports the Ministry of Public Affairs. The prosecutor added that “the gradual, constant, continuous filing of appeals has undermined the judiciary's logical action; this not only prevented the facts from becoming clear, but also prevented the proposed witnesses from telling the negotiator their truth about what had happened and thereby satisfied their legitimate interest in access to justice. "

The application for detention argues with "well-founded references from the commission to serious crimes: state terrorism, torture, genocide, murder and illegal arrest, which they have committed", the public prosecutor requests the detention measure "to prevent [ ...] the accused make fun of the Spanish judiciary. "

In his decision, Pedraz adopted this line of argument and, in addition to the search, arrest and detention, ordered the confiscation of all goods owned by those who had been advertised and the blocking of their bank accounts [...] with the aim of addressing the relevant criminal and civil law claims to ensure. According to the sources of the report, around a quarter of a million people who were attributed to the Mayas were murdered during the years of the rule of the accused in Guatemala. On January 30, 1980, 35 people were burned to death by the Guatemalan police on the Spanish embassy in Guatemala City. Five Spanish priests were murdered in different places in Guatemala during this period.

On October 31, 2011, a group of doctors certified Mejía that she was no longer fit for trial. Judge Patricia Flores said that he was neither mentally nor physically able to follow the court proceedings.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Muere el ex jefe del Estado guatemalteco Mejía Víctores. In: internacional.elpais.com. February 2, 2016, Retrieved February 2, 2016 (Spanish).
2. ↑ lasnoticiasmexico , Querella de Rigoberta Menchu ​​ante la audiencia nacional - Asalto a la embajada española en 1980. In: lasnoticiasmexico.com. (Spanish).
3. ↑ Prensa Libre , 08 de noviembre de 2006, Pedro García Arredondo está desaparecido ( Memento of May 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (Spanish).
4. ^ The Independent , May 30, 2006, General Romeo Lucas Garcia. (English).
5. ↑ El Periodico , February 18, 2008, Muere Germán Chupina Barahona. ( Memento of October 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (Spanish).
6. ↑ El juez Pedraz ordena la detención del general golpista guatemalteco Ríos Montt. In: El Mundo , July 7, 2006 (Spanish).
7. ↑ Ex-military ruler avoids legal proceedings. In: Frankfurter Rundschau . November 1, 2011, accessed November 2, 2011 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
Efraín Ríos Montt	President of Guatemala August 8, 1983-14. January 1986	Marco Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo