wfn.org | Guatemala's Police Charge Military Officers with Murder of Bishop

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

11-February-2000 
00072 
 
    Guatemala's Police Charge Military Officers 
    with Murder of Bishop 
 
    New president's determination to solve case credited for arrests 
 
    by Paul Jeffrey 
    Ecumenical News International 
 
GUATEMALA CITY - With the arrest of three military officers and the arrest 
- for the second time - of a Roman Catholic priest, Guatemalans are 
beginning to hope that they will at last find out who murdered Juan 
Gerardi, auxiliary bishop of Guatemala City and a prominent champion of 
human rights in this war-torn country. 
 
    The Catholic bishop's death almost two years ago has been a continuing 
course of controversy in this small Central American republic as attempts 
to find the killers have failed amid accusations of military involvement in 
the murder and as various judicial officials and witnesses have fled the 
country fearing for their lives. 
 
    On Jan. 21, police arrested Colonel Disrael Lima Estrada, a former 
military intelligence officer, his son, Captain Byron Lima Oliva, and 
Sergeant Jose Villanueva.  Lima Oliva and Villanueva are both former 
members of the Presidential Military Guard (EMP). 
 
    All three were charged with murdering Bishop Gerardi on April 26, 1998. 
 
    The police also detained, but did not charge, Margarita Lopez, who 
cooked at the parish house where Bishop Gerardi lived. 
 
    Police had to wait until this week to arrest another suspect in the 
case, Mario Orantes, a priest who shared the house with Bishop Gerardi. 
Orantes was arrested and placed in prison on remand in July 1998 in 
connection with the crime, but was released for lack of evidence in Feb. 
1999.  He fled to the United States in October last year. 
 
    Orantes' lawyer, Jose Toledo, promised last month that his client would 
voluntarily return from the U.S.  Although reporters and photographers 
awaited Orantes at the local airport, he took an indirect route home, 
flying into neighboring El Salvador and arriving overland in Guatemala on 
Feb. 9. 
 
    He checked into a hospital, complaining of migraine headaches and 
digestive problems.  Toledo then informed prosecutors of the priest's 
arrival, and he was placed under arrest, but allowed to remain in the 
hospital under strict police guard. 
 
    Commentators believe the arrests, in an investigation which has faced 
immense difficulties, are the result of the election of Alfonso Portillo as 
Guatemala's new president. Portillo promised in his inaugural address on 
Jan. 14 to solve the case as quickly as possible. 
 
    But even Portillo's government has faced difficulties, apparently 
caused by officials in the previous government. On Jan. 24 Edgar Gutierrez, 
a former associate of Gerardi whom Portillo appointed to head a key 
advisory group, the Secretariat for Strategic Analysis, searched his files 
for information on the case, and found the Gerardi file was empty.  The 
contents had, it seemed, been removed by outgoing staff. 
 
    On Feb. 2, Gutierrez fired 86 members of the secretariat staff, 
including several military officials. 
 
    Portillo's insistence that the case be solved provided prosecutors with 
moral support they had previously not enjoyed during the 21-month 
investigation. 
 
    On Jan. 17, a new witness, Ruben Chanax Sontay, testified that on the 
night of the killing he had seen Lima Oliva and Villanueva videotaping the 
crime scene on the evening the murder took place.  Chanax, a homeless man 
who often slept in a park facing the bishop's parish house, said Lima Oliva 
warned him to keep quiet or he would end up dead. 
 
    Lima Oliva also allegedly warned Chanax earlier in the day to stay away 
from the parish house that evening as there was "going to be a death." 
 
    In addition, Chanax said that on two occasions on the evening the 
bishop was killed he saw Orantes come out of the house and look around, 
then return inside. 
 
    Prosecutors have been unusually tight-lipped about how both military 
officials and the priest could be involved in the killing.  They are also 
reportedly planning to arrest several other people, including more military 
officials. 
 
    Catholic leaders protested the first time that Orantes was arrested, 
but this time there has been no complaint from the hierarchy. 
 
    Toledo complained this week that the church was abandoning his client. 
"He's not receiving the support that a member of the church deserve," 
Toledo said.  "The church has made a complete turnaround." 
 
    Victor Hugo Martinez, Archbishop of Quetzaltenango and president of the 
bishops' conference, said simply: "The church's position has always been 
that we want to know the truth, even if members of the church are 
involved." 

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