IPS-English EL SALVADOR-GUATEMALA: Impunity Surrounds Lawmakers' Killings, One Year On
 
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:12:29 -0800

 
Raúl Guiérrez

SAN SALVADOR, Feb 19   (IPS)  - A year after three Salvadoran legislators
and their driver were murdered in Guatemala, those responsible for
ordering their killings have not been found. Investigators maintain
that the rogue police officers who actually pulled the trigger --
who were themselves killed in prison a few days after their arrest
-- mistook their victims for other people.

But the doubts are growing.

The theory that the murders were merely a case of mistaken identity
holds no water for the family of one of the victims, Salvadoran lawmaker
Eduardo D'Aubuisson, 32. But they also staunchly deny allegations
that he was involved in drug trafficking.

The son of the late Major Roberto D'Aubuisson, who founded the rightwing
Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) -- El Salvador's ruling party
-- in 1981, was murdered on Feb. 19, 2007 along with William Pichinte,
49, and José Ramón González, 57.

The three men were ARENA legislators, and were on their way to a
meeting in the Guatemalan capital of the Central American Parliament
(PARLACEN), of which they were members.

So far, the case has given rise to more questions than answers. According
to observers, authorities in El Salvador have tried to avoid following
up on possible leads pointing to a connection between the murders
and shady activities in that country, while concentrating solely on
the Guatemalan police officers who did the actual killing and accusing
organised crime groups in Guatemala.

The Attorney General's Office (FGR) of El Salvador reiterated last
week that the three parliamentarians and their driver, Salvadoran
police officer Gerardo Ramírez, were killed when the murderers mistakenly
followed their car.

Jeannette Aguilar, director of the Jesuit University Institute of
Public Opinion (IUDOP), said that due to the complexity of the crime
and the fact that several Guatemalan police officers were involved,
”superficial conclusions of this kind” should not be reached simply
based on who did the actual killing.

Aguilar told IPS that it had not yet been determined who was responsible
for the murders, and at what levels, and added that the FGR's theory
of mistaken identity was ”rash,” since the case clearly points to
”other motives.”

She urged the FGR to wait for the results of the investigations being
carried out by authorities in Guatemala, and to respect their ”autonomy
and independence.”

The FGR's conclusion stands in contrast to information provided by
the Guatemalan press that points to another theory: that some or all
of the murdered Salvadoran lawmakers ”had links to drug trafficking,”
said Aguilar.

After the murders, the head of IUDOP had warned that the incident
demonstrated that ”impunity and corruption” had gotten out of hand
in Central America, and that ”organised crime under state protection
has given rise to the proliferation of the trafficking of drugs, persons
and weapons” in the region.

The three Salvadoran lawmakers were intercepted by at least six members
of the specialised Guatemalan police unit against organised crime
on the outskirts of Guatemala City after they inexplicably pulled
out of a four-car motorcade in which they were driving along with
several other parliamentarians and their bodyguards.

The Guatemalan police officers, who formed part of a crime ring,
took their victims to the village of El Jocotillo, along the highway
to El Salvador, where the legislators and their driver were tortured
and burnt alive after their vehicle was completely pulled apart, apparently
in search of drugs or drug money.

Two days later, four Guatemalan police officers were arrested and
charged with the murders. But three days afterwards, the four suspects
were slain in a maximum security prison in Guatemala, supposedly by
an ”armed commando” that somehow entered the jail, although the authorities
later changed their story and said they were killed by fellow inmates.

A Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) team from the United States
was sent to Guatemala to assist in the inquiry. But a few months later
it was reported off-the-record that the FBI agents left after running
into hurdles in the local institutions that made it impossible for
them to continue their probe.

Authorities in Guatemala have flatly denied such allegations.

In the following months, several high-ranking officials and police
chiefs were sacked, and at least 12 civilians and police officers
have been prosecuted in connection with the murders, including Carlos
Gutiérrez, alias 'Montaña 3', who was arrested early this year on
charges that he helped plan the killings.

Another suspect identified by Guatemalan prosecutors is Manuel Castillo,
governor-elect of Jutiapa, a village on the border with El Salvador,
who is still at large.

But analysts say that although both Gutiérrez and Castillo may be
implicated in the murders, they are not the top link of the chain.

In the wake of the killings, then Guatemalan president Óscar Berger
and his public security officials said the crime involved drug trafficking
gangs made up of both Salvadorans and Guatemalans.

Auxiliary bishop of San Salvador Gregorio Rosa Chávez told IPS that
from the start, the Catholic Church had called for an in-depth inquiry
to get to the bottom of the matter. He also said the initial investigation
followed ”many false leads” while ”awkward details” were ignored,
such as telephone records that point to possible involvement by Salvadorans
in the murders.

The probe ”has not been carried out properly or in an objective manner,
and that is not good for the future of the country, or for democracy,”
said Rosa Chávez.

Early this year, the bishop told the press that he was sceptical
of the results of the investigation and that he wondered how many
people trusted the police in El Salvador and Guatemala or the Salvadoran
Attorney General's Office.

Rosa Chávez said the mistrust and lack of confidence were rooted
in the fact that organised crime had penetrated the two countries'
public institutions.

”Our public institutions have no credibility and people do not have
confidence in them,” said the bishop, who added that both Salvadoran
and Guatemalan bishops had reached that conclusion after a meeting
of Central American church leaders.


*****
+ EL SALVADOR-GUATEMALA:  Lawmakers' Murders Point to Web of Corruption
(http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36716)


(END/IPS/LA HD IP/TRASP-SW/RP/DM/08)


 
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