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Corrupción en Guatemala

Cable de EE UU que explica la muerte de una chica a manos de unos policías, después de que esta les denunciara por robo y violación

La joven era la pareja del sobrino del exministro de Defensa de Guatemala, Julio Balconi

ID:146476
Date:2008-03-19 13:39:00
Origin:08GUATEMALA355
Source:Embassy Guatemala
Classification:CONFIDENTIAL
Dunno:08GUATEMALA135 08GUATEMALA313
Destination:VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGT #0355/01 0791339
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 191339Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY GUATEMALA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5007
INFO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0206
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMCSUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 1181
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 4778
RUEHSN/AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR 4139
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 0405
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL//SCJ2-JIC-IRD/OPSD//
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

C O N F I D E N T I A L GUATEMALA 000355

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/14/2028
TAGS: PTER, KCRM, ASEC VZ, PREL, PHUM, KJUS, PGOV, GT
SUBJECT: CICIG COMMISSIONER DISCUSSES PROGRESS AND
CHALLENGES

REF: A. GUATEMALA 135
B. GUATEMALA 313

Classified By: Ambassador James M. Derham for
reasons 1.4 (b&d).

Summary
--------
1. (C) Summary: In a March 14 meeting with the Ambassador
and Pol/Econ Counselor, CICIG Commissioner Carlos Castresana
discussed progress in establishing the CICIG office and
beginning its first investigations. He outlined concerns
over the extent to which some Guatemalan law enforcement
organizations have been compromised by organized crime and
corruption, and discussed the status of CICIG's current
investigations, including progress in its investigation of
the recent killings of bus drivers, organized crime rings
within the police, and the high-profile February 2007 murder
of three Salvadoran representatives of the Central American
Parliament. Castresana underscored the need to collaborate
with the U.S. and other donor countries to provide reliable
witness protection. Among other challenges, he cited the
lack of coordination between the Ministry of Government and
the Public Ministry, CICIG's lack of third-country security
officers, and the lack of counter-surveillance expertise
among Guatemalan security officers. End Summary.

Guatemalan Law Enforcement Institutions are Unreliable
--------------------------------------------- ---------
2. (C) CICIG Commissioner Carlos Castresana told Ambassador
and Pol/Econ Counselor March 14 that the biggest challenge
that CICIG has encountered in carrying out its mission is the
extent to which Guatemala's law enforcement institutions have
been compromised by organized crime and corruption, which he
characterized as worse than he had initially anticipated.
According to Castresana, neither Attorney General Juan Luis
Florido nor Minister of Government Vinicio Gomez is in
control of their ministries. Castresana allowed that the PNC
has conducted some competent investigations, but expressed
doubts about the legality of their methods. He observed that
various security organs of the Guatemalan state are riven by
rivalries and lack of communication, and that senior leaders
of some law enforcement agencies have private agendas which
include crime and corruption.

CICIG Investigating Bus Driver Murders
--------------------------------------
3. (C) Castresana discussed the status of cases currently
under CICIG investigation, including the investigation of the
spate of murders of public bus drivers in early 2008 (ref A).
The Ministry of Government (MOG), he said, had conducted a
simple but reasonably competent investigation that relied
heavily on one 17 year-old witness (whom the PNC claimed was
18 so that his testimony would be admissible) who was a
member of a gang. The MOG had concluded that two gang
leaders, who are imprisoned in Chimaltenango, had given
instructions to their gang to kill the bus drivers because of
their failure to pay protection money; the PNC had captured
two gang members as they were entering the offices of a bus
two gang members as they were entering the offices of a bus
company to demand an extortion payment; and the PNC had
arrested one of the alleged murderers. PNC protection for
the witness had been inadequate, however. On a Friday
afternoon, they gave the witness approximately $130 for the
weekend, and told him to go find a hotel. He did not return
Monday morning, and his whereabouts are unknown.

4. (C) This case highlighted CICIG's need to work with third
countries -- including the U.S., Mexico, and Colombia -- to
get cooperating witnesses into reliable witness protection
programs outside the country. It also highlighted the lack
of cooperation between the MOG and Public Ministry,
Castresana said. While the PNC had made some progress in its
investigation of the bus driver murders, the Public
Ministry's dossier on the case differed (and was more
incomplete) from that of the MOG, mentioning none of the
MOG's witnesses or arrests. Castresana believed that members
of Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) were probably responsible for the
murders. He said that bus companies are so at the mercy of
MS-13 gang members who extort them that many have resorted to
hiring gang members as their security chiefs. The hired gang
members take a share of the profits and generally guarantee
that the companies do not suffer other criminal acts.
However, gang turf disagreements often arise, with bloody
results. Castresana suspected that the latest spate of
killings was the result of just such a disagreement.

Organized Crime Rings Within the Police
---------------------------------------
5. (C) CICIG is also investigating a group of five transit
police officers who branched out from car theft into other
crimes, Castresana said. The officers allegedly abducted an
adolescent couple and their children, tortured them, raped
the young woman, stole their belongings, and then released
them. Up to that point, the case had been common and
unremarkable, Castresana said. However, the young man
involved was a nephew of former Minister of Defense General
Julio Balconi. Given their powerful connections, he and his
girlfriend had felt empowered to file a criminal complaint
against the police. In retaliation, the same police two or
three months later again abducted the young woman and a
female friend who was with her, and murdered them both.
Castresana said the case highlighted the presence of
organized crime within a state structure, which falls within
CICIG's purview for investigation.

Murder of 9-Year-Old Girl
-------------------------
6. (C) In contrast, a case which does not fit CICIG's
parameters, Castresana said, is one that First Lady Sandra
Torres de Colom publicly asked CICIG to investigate in the
course of a public speech March 6 (rf B). Torres de Colom
raised the case of 9-yearold Alba Mishell Espana from
Camotan, Chiquimula, an extremely poor area. In Espana's
case, a local criminal gang had kidnapped her apparently with
the intention of extorting ransom from her family. However,
its plans went awry when her abduction was immediately
denounced in local media. Their plans thus complicated,
Castresana said, they raped and murdered the girl and dumped
her body. Given the facts of the case, CICIG viewed it as a
common crime, and not as an emblematic case that would
logically fall within CICIG's purview. Torres de Colom,
however, is of the view that investigating the gang would
uncover more serious organized crime links.

PARLACEN Murders
----------------
7. (C) CICIG is also investigating the infamous February 2007
murders of three Salvadoran Central American Parliament
(PARLACEN) representatives. Castrasena said that all signs
continue to point to fugitive former Congressman Manuel
Castillo of Jutiapa. However, he said, in a likely attempt
to distract public attention, Castillo's lawyer had recently
gone to the offices of Human Rights Ombudsman Sergio Morales
with a man purporting to be a witness to the crime.
Specifically, the man claimed to have been the driver of
Specifically, the man claimed to have been the driver of
Javier Figueroa, a senior police official and close associate
of the then Chief of the National Police, Erwin Spiresen.
Castillo's attorney and the alleged witness claimed to have
tapes of conversations implicating Figueroa in the PARLACEN
murders. Castresana commented that the driver was likely a
Castillo plant intended to confuse the investigation.

CICIG's Budget Adequate, But Security Lacking
---------------------------------------------
8. (C) Regarding CICIG's organizational issues, Castresana
said his funding was adequate. While third-country
prosecutors, investigators, and other professional personnel
continued to join his staff, lack of third-country security
officers was hindering his operations. Guatemalan Special
Administrative and Security Service (SAAS) personnel assigned
to his office were capable of performing "generic" security
functions, but they lack the ability to perform special tasks
such as information security or counter-surveillance, and are
of unknown loyalty and reliability. CICIG's original concept
of operations had called for exclusive use of international
security officers, but these had not been provided in
adequate numbers. Furthermore, only about half of the few he
did have had GOG weapons permits, meaning that they had to
perform their duties unarmed.

European Donors Concerned About Death Penalty
---------------------------------------------
9. (C) Regarding recent domestic polemics about restoration
of the death penalty, Castresana said some European donors
had threatened to withdraw support for CICIG unless President
Colom publicly renounced application of the death penalty.
European donors were loath to provide support to a
quasi-judicial organ that would investigate and prosecute
crimes that could potentially be punished with the death
penalty. The Ambassador opined that the resurgence of the
death penalty issue is just political theater intended to
placate a population increasingly worried about rampant
crime, and that there was little likelihood that any
executions would, in fact, be carried out. (Note: Later
that same day, Colom vetoed the bill that would have possibly
permitted the resumption of executions. End note.)

Comment
-------
10. (C) Amid numerous challenges confronting CICIG,
Commissioner Castresana appears to be making some progress on
investigations of clandestine criminal groups that have
infiltrated all sectors of Guatemalan society, including
state institutions. He also appears to have a realistic
sense of the challenges he faces. In addition to whatever
CICIG achieves during its two-year mandate, sustainability of
CICIG operations will require strengthening of local
institutional capacity to ensure proper transition of CICIG
functions upon expiration of its mandate in 2010 (assuming
its mandate is not extended).
Derham
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