Murder collusion in Guatemala
By Dara MacNeil
On 26 April Bishop Juan Gerardi was brutally beaten to death in
Guatemala City. His assailants dropped a concrete block on his
head, just in case he'd survive the assault. Three days
previously, the Bishop had published a report entitled Nunca Mas
(Never Again).
The report, an exhaustive investigation into Guatemala's long
years of conflict, contained evidence that tied the army to a
huge and horrific catalogue of mass murder and atrocities.
Nonetheless, the Guatemalan authorities quickly denounced
Gerardi's murder as the work of `delinquents'. Few believed them.
In order to bolster their hastily-contrived fabrication, they
even arrested two men. To date, however, they have been unable to
connect the two with the crime.
Indeed, their persistence was made all the more remarkable by the
fact that, within days of Gerardi's murder, an organisation known
as Jaguar Justice had claimed the killing. The group are known
right-wing paramilitaries.
In late May, the Catholic Church in Guatemala signalled its
disgust at the official investigation and said it had no
confidence the killers would be caught.
However, it would appear the prosecutor in charge of the case -
Otto Ardon - may possess enough independence of mind to put an
end to the official charade.
Earlier this month, Ardon demanded the exhumation of a number of
bodies that had been discovered on 27 April - the day after
Gerardi's murder. The number of bodies is unknown, but it is
believed all had been mutilated.
It is believed Ardon suspects he may find at least one of the
murderers among their number. He wants the bodies examined for
traces of Gerardi's blood which, given the violent nature of the
original murder, is thought to have literally covered the
Bishop's assailants.
It is widely believed that the Bishop's murderers were in turn
murdered by others, in order to cover up the intellectual authors
of the crime.
d in late June, a Catholic Church spokesman rubbished the
notion that Gerardi had been the victim of a random, motiveless
attack and stated bluntly that the motive had been political.
In addition, US citizen Jennifer Harbury has claimed that Jaguar
Justice is known to have links with the Guatemalan military and
US intelligence services. Harbury was married to Guatemalan
guerrilla commander, Efrain Bamaca. He disappeared in 1992 and is
believed to have been executed while in custody.
Last year, Harbury revealed the murder of Bamaca had been carried
out with the authorisation of the CIA.
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