Bahrain: The government canceled a scheduled visit from UN Special Rapporteur on torture for the second time[i], while massive protests demanding political reform have continued since January 2011. The government crackdown killed 87 people and included mass detention, tear gassing of entire towns, and torture[ii]. The repressive forces are largely imported, recruited to act with less regard for the population and to prevent a military uprising[iii]. Some units were provided by Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states; all close allies of Washington[iv]. Despite the protestors’ call for the US to stop arming the GCC states and Bahrain[v], they still receive US arms and tear gas. In February the Bahraini government hired John Timoney to train Bahraini security forces. Timoney has a history of abuse as a police chief and adviser in the US[vi]. On May 6 the US began conducting naval exercises from its base in Bahrain[vii].
Syria: 300 people died on May 4 and 5 when Israel conducted air strikes against Syrian facilities[viii]. The US has deployed 200 troops to Jordan to prepare for the possible invasion of Syria[ix]. The US has approved an additional 123 million in direct aid to the armed opposition[x] and 100 million in humanitarian aid[xi] to support the Al Qaeda linked opposition group Jabhat al-Nursa[xii]. The UN has gathered evidence that the rebels have used chemical weapons[xiii].
Guatemala: Although a Guatemalan court convicted former dictator Efrain Rios Montt of genocide against the Ixil people[xiv], it was overturned. The 30 years of State repression killed 200,000[xv] supported by US arms, dollars, and advisers. The U.N. said state forces were responsible for 93% of the deaths[xvi]. The US provided over 26 million in military aid to the Guatemalan government in 2012[xvii] to fight the war on drugs. The Guatemalan military, paramilitary, and police forces have engaged in extra-judicial killings, extortion, drug running, torture, rape[xviii], and displacement of indigenous peoples[xix]. Witnesses in the Montt trial accused the president of Guatemala, Otto Perez Molina, of crimes against humanity while he was a general during the genocide [xx]. 2011 elections were compromised by fraud, killings, kidnappings, and bribery[xxi]. In this context of cronyism, multinationals seek to exploit Guatemala’s vast resources, causing environmental destruction and indigenous displacement.
[i] http://www.bahrainrights.org/en/node/5720
[ii] http://bahrainrights.hopto.org/BCHR/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Second-Anniversary-Report-Published.pdf
[iii] https://witnessbahrain.org/background-facts-on-bahrain/
[iv] http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=119050
[v] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/24/world/middleeast/as-hopes-for-reform-fade-in-bahrain-protesters-turn-anger-on-united-states.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&
[vi] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/16/john-timoney-police-chief-bahrain-protests
[vii] http://www.jewishpress.com/news/bahrain-u-s-stop-interference-dont-meet-with-opposition/2013/05/07/
[viii] http://rt.com/news/damascus-syria-explosions-sunday-831/
[ix] http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/middleeast/la-fg-us-jordan-troops-20130418,0,7018059.story
[x] http://rt.com/news/friends-syria-istanbul-us-152/
[xi] http://globalnews.ca/news/544911/u-s-to-offer-100-million-in-new-humanitarian-aid-for-syria-official/
[xii] http://nsnbc.me/2013/04/18/us-troops-stage-in-jordan-to-defend-al-qaeda-in-syria/
[xiii] http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2013/05/in-wake-of-us-israeli-attack-on-syria.html
[xiv] http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21578072-former-dictators-conviction-may-not-be-end-tragic-story-genocide-question/print
[xv] http://thirdworldtraveler.com/US_ThirdWorld/US_Guat.html
[xvi] http://rightsaction.org/action-content/guatemalan-president-otto-molina-perez-named-intellectual-author-genocide
[xvii] http://justf.org/Country?country=Guatemala&year1=2009&year2=2014
[xviii] http://www.hrw.org/world-report-2010/guatemala
[xix] http://upsidedownworld.org/main/guatemala-archives-33/3823-guatemala-the-spoils-of-an-undeclared-war
[xx] http://rightsaction.org/action-content/guatemalan-president-otto-molina-perez-named-intellectual-author-genocide
[xxi] http://rightsaction.org/action-content/guatemala-elections-and-still-no-democracy
