The National Democratic Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.

It has been over a week since Gen. Efraín Ríos Montt, who led the country in the 1980s, went on trial in Guatemala facing charges of genocide. In a New York Times op-ed, Anita Isaacs argues that the trial gives Guatemala a chance to prove to the world that it has made substantial democratic process, can uphold the rule of law and give indigenous Mayans the same protections, rights and freedoms as the rest of its citizens. Though Mayans have been able to testify, the court proceedings have not allowed them to tell their whole story. Isaacs argues that the real test may come after the verdict, as Mayans who survived atrocities “see the trial as opening up the floodgates of justice.”

“The contours of Guatemala’s democratic future are up for grabs, and the stakes have never been higher. While a failure to convict could be the greatest blow to the rule of law since the genocide itself, success has also never been so close within Guatemala’s reach.”