The Art of Political Murder (50 page)

(In order of appearance within categories)

The Church

Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera, auxiliary bishop of Guatemalan archdiocese, founder of the Archdiocese's Office of Human Rights (ODHA), parish priest of church of San Sebastián. Murdered April 26, 1998.

Father Mario Orantes Nájera, assistant priest of church of San Sebastián. Arrested for Bishop Gerardi's murder, January 2000.

Archbishop Próspero Penados del Barrio.

Archbishop Mariano Rossell y Arrellano, conservative prelate; great-uncle of Father Mario and Father Sergio Orantes.

Monseñor Efraín Hernández, chancellor of the Curia. His house-keeper's daughter, Ana Lucía Escobar (La China), is suspected of being involved in gangs and in the murder of the bishop.

Father Gabriel Quiróz, priest to whom the taxi-driver witness came first.

Father Sergio Orantes Nájera, Father Mario's brother. Loses prestigious job as rector of Colegio San José de los Infantes under cloud of financial and sexual irregularities.

Bishop Mario Ríos Montt, Bishop Gerardi's successor at San Sebastián and ODHA. Brother of General Ríos Montt, president of Guatemala, 1982–1983.

San Sebastián church

Margarita López, parish-house cook.

Juana Sanabria, parish administrator, close friend of Bishop Gerardi. Witness for the prosecution.

Antonio Izaguirre, sacristan.

Monseñor Hernández's household

Ana Lucía Escobar (La China), daughter of Monseñor Hernández's housekeeper. Said to be involved in gang activity. Suspect in murder.

Imelda Escobar, La China's mother, Hernández's cook. Said to traffic in items stolen from church.

Dagoberto Escobar, Imelda's nephew.

ODHA (Guatemalan Archdiocese's Office of Human Rights)

Ronalth Ochaeta, executive director until 1999.

Edgar Gutiérrez, coordinator of ODHA's “Recovery of Historical Memory” report,
Guatemala: Never Again
, published in April 1998. Becomes head of government's Secretariat of Strategic Analysis in 2000, in administration of President Portillo.

Mario Domingo, investigating attorney.

Fernando Penados, chief investigator in Gerardi case (Untouchable). Nephew of Archbishop Penados. Later works in Portillo government.

Nery Rodenas, coordinator of legal team. Succeeds Ochaeta as director.

Arturo Aguilar, “El Gordo” (Untouchable).

Arturo Rodas, “El Califa” (Untouchable).

Rodrigo Salvadó, “El Shakira” (Untouchable).

Mynor Melgar, coordinator of legal team.

MINUGUA (United Nations Peace Verification Mission)

Jean Arnault, French chief of mission.

Rafael Guillamón, Spanish head of police investigation.

Military

Presidential Military Staff (Estado Mayor Presidencial, or EMP), in charge of personal security of president and his family. Included elite anti-kidnapping commando unit and an intelligence unit known, during the civil war, as El Archivo. In charge of interrogation and torture. Shut down by President Portillo in 2003 and replaced by Secretariat for Administrative and Security Matters.

Military Intelligence (G-2).

Secretariat of Strategic Analysis (SAE), an intelligence-gathering branch of the military. Put under civilian control in 2000.

Noél Beteta, EMP operative convicted of the murder of Myrna Mack.

General Marco Tulio Espinosa, head of EMP, then head of the Army High Command, and minister of defense under President Álvaro Arzú.

Captain Byron Lima Oliva, member of EMP. Arrested and convicted of participating in the extrajudicial execution of Bishop Gerardi.

Sergeant Major Obdulio Villanueva, member of EMP convicted of murdering the milkman, Haroldo Sas Rompich, who had run afoul of President Arzú's horseback outing. Later arrested and convicted of participating in the extra-judicial execution of the bishop. Murdered in prison February 12, 2003.

Colonel Byron Disrael Lima Estrada, former counterinsurgency commander and head of G-2, Military Intelligence. Arrested and convicted of participating in the extrajudicial execution of the bishop.

Darío Morales, EMP photographer at crime scene.

Major Francisco Escobar Blas, member of EMP. Head of Protection Services, the former Archivo. Implicated in the murder of the bishop.

Colonel Rudy Pozuelos, head of EMP. Implicated in murder.

Artillery Major Andrés Villagrán, member of EMP. Highest-ranking officer officially on duty the night of the murder.

General Otto Pérez Molina, former head of EMP.

Colonel Reyes Palencia, member of EMP. Head of Presidential Guard.

Public Ministry (prosecutors' office)

Otto Ardón Medina, special prosecutor in Gerardi case, 1998.

Gustavo Soria, assistant prosecutor.

Attorney General Fernando Mendizábal de la Riva, head of Public Ministry until May 1998. A political appointee.

Celvin Galindo, special prosecutor who replaces Ardón. Goes into exile in October 1999.

Leopoldo Zeissig, takes over from Galindo as special prosecutor. Goes into exile in July 2001.

Attorney General Adolfo González Rodas, head of Public Ministry until 2002.

Mario Leal, special prosecutor who replaces Leopoldo Zeissig in 2001.

Jorge García, special prosecutor who replaces Leal in 2003.

Defense lawyers

Vinicio García Pimentel, Father Mario's first lawyer.

José Toledo, Father Mario's second lawyer.

Julio Cintrón Gálvez, lead lawyer for the Limas.

Roberto Echeverría Vallejo, lawyer for the Limas.

Ramón González, lawyer for Margarita López (the cook).

Irvíng Aguilar, Sergeant Major Obdulio Villanueva's lawyer.

Key witnesses

Rubén Chanax Sontay, homeless car washer in San Sebastián park. Central witness for prosecution. Claims to be informer
for Military Intelligence. Testifies and then goes into exile in April 2000.

El Chino Iván Aguilar, homeless
bolito
. With Rubén Chanax the night of the murder. In exile.

Jorge Diego Méndez Perussina, taxi driver who memorized the license-plate number of the Toyota Corolla seen near the church of San Sebastián the night of the murder. Also saw shirtless man. Testifies in February 1999 and goes into exile.

Oscar Chex López (Aníbal Sandoval), former G-2 intelligence agent who spied on Bishop Gerardi. Witness for the prosecution.

Specialist Jorge Aguilar Martínez, EMP waiter. Witness found by ODHA. Incriminates Captain Lima, Major Escobar Blas, and others. Goes into exile before trial.

Gilberto Gómez Limón, imprisoned thief who testifies that Villanueva was not in the prison the night of the murder.

Noé Gómez Limón, brother of Gilberto Goméz. Testifies that Limas' lawyer tried to bribe them. Murdered December 2002.

Government

Álvaro Arzú Irigoyen, president, 1996–2000. Becomes mayor of Guatemala City in 2004.

General Efraín Ríos Montt, president from 1982 to 1983. Presided over some of the worst atrocities of the civil war. During presidency of Alfonso Portillo, 2000–2004, Ríos Montt heads the Congress.

Luis Mendizábal, security adviser to President Arzú.

President Alfonso Portillo, populist elected in 1999. Presides over especially corrupt government.

Oscar Berger, elected president in 2004.

Judiciary

Judge Isaías Figueroa, first judge to have jurisdiction over Gerardi case. Presides over exhumation of the bishop's body.

Judge Henry Monroy, assigned to Gerardi case early in 1999. Goes into exile shortly thereafter.

Judge Flor de María García Villatoro, judge who takes over from Monroy. Presides over pretrial investigation.

Judge Yassmín Barrios, trial judge.

Judge Amada Gúzman de Zuñiga, trial judge.

Judge Eduardo Cojulún, trial judge.

Wilewaldo Contreras, appellate judge.

Judge Thelma del Cid, appellate judge.

United States

Prudence Bushnell, ambassador to Guatemala, 1999–2002.

John Hamilton, succeeds Bushnell as ambassador.

James Derham, ambassador in 2006.

Journalists and writers

Fernando Linares Beltranena, conservative lawyer and journalist.

Dina Fernández, columnist and editor at
Prensa Libre
.

José Rubén Zamora, publisher of
elPeriódico
.

Claudia Méndez Arriaza, reporter for
elPeriódico
.

Bertrand de la Grange, coauthor of
Who Killed the Bishop?

Maite Rico, coauthor of
Who Killed the Bishop?

Mario Vargas Llosa, Peruvian novelist and conservative columnist. Writes article critical of the prosecution in
El País
, February 2004.

Miscellaneous characters

Martha Jane Melville Novella, Father Mario's wealthy friend and patron.

Blanca Lidia Contreras, married to Monseñor Hernández's brother. Came from Canada to make a statement against Ana Lucía Escobar and Father Mario.

Luis Carlos García Pontaza, Ana Lucía Escobar's boyfriend. Reputed leader of Valle del Sol gang. Killed in prison January 21, 2001.

Arlene Cifuentes, Colonel Lima's niece. Makes anonymous phone call to archbishop's office implicating the Limas in murder.

1944
Democracy established in Guatemala.

1954
President Jacobo Arbenz, the second democratically elected president in Guatemalan history, is overthrown in a coup engineered by the CIA.

1959
Cuban revolution.

1960
Civil war in Guatemala begins when a large portion of the army attempts an unsuccessful coup against a government backed by the United States. Young Army officers take to the countryside to wage guerrilla war. A counterinsurgency campaign supported by the United States will lead to the deaths of some 10,000 civilians in the next decade.

1965
Pope John XXIII opens first session of Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican. Limited use of the vernacular in the liturgy was endorsed and relation of the Church to the modern world was explored.

1967
Juan Gerardi Conedera appointed bishop of Verapaz.

1968
Pope Paul VI opens the Latin American Bishops' Conference in Medellín, Colombia, which encourages the Church's role in socioeconomic reform.

1974
Gerardi made bishop of El Quiché diocese.

January 31, 1980
Thirty-six protesting Mayan peasants from El Quiché are massacred in the Spanish embassy in Guatemala City.

March 24, 1980
Archbishop Romero is assassinated by ARENA (El Salvador's ruling far-right party) while celebrating Mass.

July 1980
Gerardi escapes assassination attempt and closes El Quiché diocese.

November 22, 1980
Returning from a trip to the Vatican, Gerardi is denied entrance into Guatemala and goes into exile in Costa Rica.

1982
Military coup in Guatemala. General Efraín Ríos Montt, an evangelical Protestant, takes power. Worst human rights violations of the civil war period take place during his regime.

1983
Ríos Montt deposed by his defense minister, General Oscar Mejía Victores.

1983
Archbishop Próspero Penados del Barrio appointed by Pope John Paul II as chief Guatemalan prelate. Bishop Gerardi, who comes back from exile in Costa Rica, is made auxiliary bishop and general vicar of the Guatemala City archdiocese.

1986
Vinicio Cerezo elected president; first civilian president in thirty years.

1989
Founding of Archdiocese's Office of Human Rights (ODHA).

1990
Myrna Mack Chang, young activist anthropologist, is murdered.

1994
Historical Clarification Commission, a UN-sponsored truth commission for Guatemala, is established.

1994
Recovery of Historical Memory Project (REMHI) established under Bishop Gerardi's direction.

1995
Last known massacre by Guatemalan Army, in Xamán, Alta Verapaz. Twenty-five Mayan peasants are killed.

December 1996
UN-monitored Peace Accords for Guatemala are signed.

September 1997
Historical Clarification Commission begins its work in Guatemala.

April 24, 1998
REMHI report,
Guatemala: Never Again
, formally presented.

April 26, 1998
Murder of Bishop Gerardi in garage of San Sebastián parish house.

April 30, 1998
Carlos Vielman, a homeless man, is arrested for Bishop Gerardi's murder.

May 18, 1998
Adolfo González Rodas becomes attorney general and head of Public Ministry.

July 22, 1998
Father Mario Orantes and Margarita López, the cook at the parish house, are arrested. Father Mario's German shepherd, Baloo, is also taken into custody.

July 27, 1998
Carlos Vielman is freed from prison.

September 17–18, 1998
Exhumation of bishop's body to check for dog bites.

December 17, 1998
Celvin Galindo takes over as special prosecutor for the Gerardi case, replacing Otto Ardón.

January 12, 1999
A taxi driver, Diego Méndez Perussina, testifies to ODHA about what he saw the night of the murder.

February 1999
Monseñor Efraín Hernández resigns as chancellor of the Curia; Edgar Gutiérrez and Fernando Penados leave ODHA.

February 12, 1999
Taxi driver testifies before judge.