Guatemala ordered to apologize for 1982 violence during civil war News
Guatemala ordered to apologize for 1982 violence during civil war

[JURIST] Guatemala formally apologized on Monday for a government-ordered massacre that occurred during the country's civil war [Wikipedia backgrounder] on July 18, 1982, taking the lives of 226. Vice President Eduardo Stein made the acknowledgement in a small town north of Guatemala City, expressing remorse for the army's action that "wipe[d] out an entire community." The apology comes in response to an order last fall from the Inter-American Human Rights Court [official website] requiring an apology and payments to survivors totaling almost $8 million. The civil war did not end until 1996 with a UN-brokered peace treaty. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Dreyfus convicted of treason

On December 22, 1894, Jewish French army officer Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason in a court-martial trial that prompted worldwide allegations of anti-Semitism. Dreyfus was later cleared. Learn more about the case of Alfred Dreyfus and read an English translation of the famous public letter J'Accuse...! by novelist and Dreyfus partisan Emile Zola.

US passed Embargo Act, banning foreign trade

On December 22, 1807, the Embargo Act was passed at the urging of US President Thomas Jefferson. The act barred trade with any foreign nations in an effort to avoid American entry into the Napoleonic Wars of Europe. However, the act proved unenforceable and was replaced with the Non-Intercourse Act, which barred trade with France and Great Britain. Learn more about the Embargo Act of 1807 from Monticello.org