Guatemala ex-dictator unlikely to run for president
Source: Reuters
By Mica Rosenberg GUATEMALA CITY, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt, accused of genocide in an international court, said on Wednesday he would probably not run for president this year. The 80-year-old retired general, who rights groups blame for a ruthless scorched earth campaign against Maya Indians during his 1980s rule, unsuccessfully ran for president in 2003 but said he would likely sit out this year's race. "I should do what the party leaders and the general assembly decide, but personally I would like to stay at home," Rios Montt told reporters. Rios Montt is accused by war survivors of ordering massacres of entire indigenous villages to crush left-wing guerrillas at the peak of Guatemala's 36-year civil conflict, which ended a decade ago and left a quarter million people dead or missing. The former dictator, who mixed fiery Christian sermons with fierce anti-communism in his 1982-83 government, could, however, run for Congress, officials from his party said. "Rios Montt is the natural leader of our party. He is likely to be at the top of our list of candidates for Congress in which case he could not run for president," said a spokesman for the Guatemala Republican Front, or FRG. Rios Montt headed Congress when his party won office with former-President Alfonso Portillo. Critics say the 2000-2004 FRG administration stole from public coffers and had close links to cocaine smugglers. After overturning a constitutional ruling that former dictators could not run for president, Rios Montt hit the campaign trail in 2003, only to be defeated by current President Oscar Berger. Courts have since again ruled against Rios Montt seeking the presidency. The FRG said it would announce its candidate later this year. Rios Montt's daughter, Zury Rios Montt, married to Illinois Republican Congressman Jerry Weller, has been rumored to be a possible future presidential candidate. A Spanish judge has called for Rios Montt's arrest on genocide charges and local prosecutors are studying evidence collected by local human rights groups to see if he can be tried at home.
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