Rosenberg Case, Institutionalism , Justice and Human Rights

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Rosenberg Case, Institutionalism , Justice and
Human Rights
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The murder of Rodrigo Rosenberg has been a
trigger to a serial of events in Guatemala
leaving the weaken democracy of the country in
risk. Even though Lawyer Rosenberg links the
murder of Khalil Musa, a businessman, and his
daughter to an act of corruption of Banrural
Bank, up to the date there are no concrete based
facts.

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• These murders are condemnable from every point of
  view with rash accusations, but we cannot give
  definitive conclusions about the accusations or
  other speculations related to this case.

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• However the current context of the facts reminds
  us other political assassinations where
  political figures linked to underworld gangs have
  created fictitious scenarios for political means.

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• We have seen it in some cases investigated by
  Human Rights Office of the Archbishop of
  Guatemala like
• Extrajudicial Execution Case of Monsignor Juan
  José Gerardi, Coordinator of ODHAG.
• Ordoñez Porta case, among others

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Monseñor Juan José Gerardi Case

• Bishop Gerardi released a report entitled
  "Guatemala Never Again." Where violence acts
  during internal armed conflict were presented by
  Catholic Church as an input to the Commission for
  Historical Clarification where 90 of the time
  the perpetrators were members of the Armed
  Forces, particularly Guatemalas Army.

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Monsignor Gerardis Assassination case

• From the beginning they were distracting
  hypothesis that after investigated turned out to
  be fake
• Crime of passion hypothesis (homosexuality)
• Valle del Sol Gang hypothesis (alleged
  participation of organized crime, authorLuis
  Mendizabal)

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• In oral and public trial, The Third Court of
  Judgment found it was an State Crime and found
  guilty three army officers and a catholic priest
  for extrajudicial execution.

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• In this case it was clear the way the underworld
  gangs operated with a political target To
  discredit the report Guatemala Never Again, to
  stop possible trials of Human Rights violations,
  to discredit ODHAG and the Catholic Church. In
  all the judicial proceedings we exhausted all the
  options and succeed.

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Lawyer Rodrigo Rosenberg Assassination Case

• We notice some important elements
• Scenarios that caused political and institutional
  crisis and the participation of some people
  linked to organizations with dark objectives

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Luís Mendizábal

• He was linked to attempts of coups, arm traffic,
  he was linked to the organization La oficinita
  (institution related to clandestine actions), he
  admitted he convinced Rodrigo Rosenberg to make
  the video and then he distributed to the media

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• In the case of Monsignor Gerardis
  assassination, the Lawyer Juan Carlos Solís
  Oliva, brother of Captain Byron Lima Oliva
  declared the hypothesis originated by Valle Del
  Sol Gang (religious images stolen).
  At the end Captain Byron Lima was found
  guilty in Monsignor Gerardis case.

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• Luis Mendizábal appeared before the attorney at
  law, Irvin Aguilar, and then turned out to be the
  defense attorney of Sergeant Obdulio Villanueva
  who was found guilty for Gerardis case as is
  noted in the records of September 3, 1998. He
  went with Ms. Blanca Lidia who declared about the
  theft of religious images, linked it to Valle del
  Sol Gang.

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• Luis Mendizabal indicated in the
• interview of the Newspaper El
• Periodico dated May 17 of this year,
• that he admited the use of distracting
• scenarios in social impact cases.

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Juan Carlos Solís Oliva (brother of Captain
Byron Lima Oliva, who was found guilty for the
extrajudicial execution of Monsignor Gerardi)

• As stated above, he declared in Gerardis case
  the knowledge he had about the hypothesis of
  Valle del sol Gang created by Luis Mendizabal and
  then ruled out for lack of proof but that still
  the Army uses it as the cause for the murder of
  Bishop Gerardi.

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• In the case of the assassination of Lawyer
  Rodrigo Rosenberg, Mr. Mendizabal points out the
  alleged perpretators of the crime.

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Mario David García

• He has linked to be involved with attempts of
  coups.
• In several occasions he has criticized ODHAG for
  Gerardis case and even though he didnt
  participate directly in Gerardis case, he
  recently and repeatedly attacked the ODHAG in a
  radio show in Guatemala called Hablando Claro
  for the process ODHAG was doing in Monsignor
  Gerardis case, asking people linked to the case
  to make fake accusations against us.

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• In Rosenberg case he participated by recording
  the video where the Lawyer makes accusations
  against the President, The First Lady and other
  Government employees. He denied it at first in an
  interview with the media, but then he is forced
  to admit it because of the investigation.

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Other cases where the Oficinita has
participated (office linked to Luis Mendizabal)

• Rodolfo Ordóñez Porta Case
• A businessman murdered, related to petroleum
  industry. This case was conducted by the Public
  Ministry Prosecutor, Rosario Acevedo Peñate and
  her advisor was Luis Mendizabal. We found
  distorted facts, distorted information and the
  accusation of possible crime authors in order to
  cover the real crime authors.
• Luis Mendizábal indicated in the Newspaper El
  Periodico that Maria del Rosario Acevedo Peñate
  was proposed for the position of Ministry of
  Interior (elPeriodico, May 17, 2009)

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• Case of Beberly Sandoval Richarson Kidnapping and
  Murder
• We found distorted facts, distorted information
  and the accusation of possible crime authors in
  order to cover the real crime authors.
• Luis Mendizabal was the advisor of Rosario
  Acevedo Peñate, Public Ministry Attorney

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• The above information is not meant to make an
  accussation against the above people but to
  establish some common denominators in political
  cases
• Scenarios have been set in order to distort the
  facts and to cover the real responsibles.

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Some other Thoughts

• Historically in Guatemala, power groups act only
  if they feel their interests are in risk and only
  then they make actions to block these threatens.
• The media has played a crucial role but could use
  better this advocacy power and manage the
  information with responsibility.