The Art of Political Murder (53 page)

The house in Zone 6: It was owned by José Morales Solares, a construction contractor. It is likely that beginning at least in November 1997, Colonel Lima, Chanax, and others met there to plan some aspects of the operation to murder Bishop Juan Gerardi.

Narcotics and government: In the fall of 2005 the Guatemalan government's chief antinarcotics policeman, Adán Castillo, was arrested, along with two subordinates, on a visit to Washington, D.C., and charged with narcotics trafficking (
New York Times
, November 17, 2005). For more on the Guatemalan military and the narcotics trade, see Frank Smyth, “The Untouchable Narco-State: Guatemala's Military Defies the DEA,”
Texas Observer
, November 18, 2005.

Kaibiles: From the report of the UN-sponsored Commission for Historical Clarification, February 1999. “The substantiation of the training of the Army's special counter insurgency force, known as
Kaibiles
, has drawn the particular attention of the CEH. This training
included killing animals and then eating them raw and drinking their blood in order to demonstrate courage. The extreme cruelty of these training methods, according to testimony available to the CEH, was then put into practice in a range of operations carried out by these troops, confirming one point of their Decalogue: ‘The
Kaibil
is a killing machine.'”

Reports of General Espinosa's clandestine activities in Mayor Arzú's office appeared in the October 2005 issue of
Envio
, published by the University of Central America, Managua, Nicaragua, and in the March 30, 2007,
Inforpress Centroamericana
. It was also reported by
Inforpress
that Espinosa, while head of President Arzú's EMP, had organized the anti-kidnapping commando unit that Captain Lima belonged to. Like the police death squads in 2007, Espinosa's commando unit was implicated in illicit operations.

Another possible explanation for the mystery of Hugo: In a conversation in October 2006, the prosecutor Jorge García told me, without providing any other details, that he had found a source from the old EMP who claimed that Captain Lima's job on the night of the murder had been to “eliminate” Hugo after the crime had been committed.

V Deciphering the Truth

See the article “Pavón Journal: Eulogy for an Outlaw Prison (It Was a Jungle in There)” by Marc Lacey,
New York Times
, October 26, 2006, for an account of the Pavón prison raid that did not question the government's account of the inmates' deaths. For the most thorough account of the prison raid, see Claudia Méndez's article, “
La república de los presos
” or “The Prisoners' Republic,” in the March 2007 issue of the Mexico City–based magazine
Gatopardo
.

On March 7, 2007, Interior Minister Carlos Vielmann; the director of the National Police, Erwin Sperisen; and the new prison director, Víctor Rosales, submitted their resignations following the murder, on February 25, of four Guatemalan policemen in the
Boquerón maximum security prison, six days after the policemen were arrested for killing three Salvadoran politicians, including the son of ARENA founder Roberto D'Aubuisson, and their driver. It seems clear that the policemen were murdered so that they could not name who gave the orders for the hit. Witnesses among the inmates at Boquerón described a death squad coming into the prison, passing through seven security gates, to murder the policemen. The Guatemalan government maintained that the policemen were murdered by
mara cholos
.

As the commissioner of presidential security in Berger's government, until his resignation in mid-2004, General Otto Pérez Molina had run Military Intelligence, the Interior Ministry, and the SAE. Then Carlos Vielmann became the new interior minister. Vielmann had, during the war years, been an associate of Mario Sandoval and the far-right MLN “party of organized violence,” which ran the notorious
mano blanco
death squad and had ties to Military Intelligence. Under Berger, Vielmann and his Salvadoran assistant Víctor Rivera, alias El Don, launched the “social cleansing” program that drove the Guatemalan homicide rate up to an average of twenty a day. Rivera was suspected by the DEA of involvement in narcotics trafficking and had been linked to other organized crime figures arrested in El Salvador and Guatemala.

So many people, in Guatemala especially—not all can be named—shared their insights, information, work, friendship, and trust with me during the time I spent reporting on the Gerardi case. To all, my heartfelt gratitude.

Sharon DeLano was my editor when I first wrote about the murder of Bishop Gerardi for
The New Yorker
and she also edited
The Art of Political Murder
. This book could not have had a better or more indefatigable friend. I was also fortunate to profit from the editing of the dearly missed Barbara Epstein at the
New York Review of Books
. I am grateful to my friend Morgan Entrekin and everyone (Amy, Andrew, Jamison, Charles et al.) at Grove/Atlantic for their support and hard work, and especially to Amanda Urban, whose encouragement and interest in the Gerardi case helped sustain my own commitment over many years.

The quotation from
Don Quixote
is from Edith Grossman's translation.

Mama Lotti and Lotti Torres Garza in Guanajuato, Mexico, provided me with shelter, sustenance, and unforgettable conversation and affection during a crucial period of writing in the summer of 2005. Mama Lotti, we miss you so much.

To Aura Estrada—I strike the board and cry, No more! You lived with this obsession for several years. Throughout, you were the light. Thank you.

Aguilar, Arturo (El Gordo),
72
–73,
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167
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169
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179
–81,
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184
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223
–27,
258
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,
294
–95,
312
–13,
317
,
341

Aguilar, Irvíng,
243
,
251
,
268

Aguilar Higueros, Iván (El Chino),
30
–35,
58
,
60
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77
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79
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82
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83
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95
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101
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–93,
205
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–74,
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–300,
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,
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Aguilar Martínez, Jorge,
185
–86,
196
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205
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209
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223
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–32,
246
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251
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265
,
316
–18,
321
,
327
,
385
–6

Alvarenga, Benjamin,
386

Alvarado, Carlos Rene,
382

Andrews, Jurgen,
225

Annan, Kofi,
96

Arbenz, Jacobo,
13
,
14

Ardón Medina, Otto,
50
,
59
,
76
–79,
95
,
96
,
98
,
99
,
105
,
112
,
114
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124
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131
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136
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–57,
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–61,
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235
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268
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275
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296
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343
,
353
,
354

Arnault, Jean,
50
,
54
,
70
,
80
,
90
,
154
,
175
–77,
287
,
307

Arzú, Antonio,
154
–55

Arzú, Diego,
324
–25

Arzú, Roberto,
326

Arzú Irigoyen, Álvaro Enrique (President),
6
,
7
,
27
,
52
,
53
,
60
,
80
,
83
,
88
–91,
93
,
96
,
107
,
120
,
124
,
125
,
150
,
154
–55,
157
,
173
,
185
,
189
,
205
,
224
–25,
229
,
237
,
246
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248
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250
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260
,
269
,
271
,
304
,
307
,
310
,
311
,
315
,
318
,
323
–25,
343
,
345
,
350
,
381
,
384
,
387

Baloo,
37
,
38
,
65
,
95
–101,
105
,
107
–8,
115
–16,
122
,
126
–28,
136
–39,
168
,
187

Bámaca, Efraín,
307
,
385

Barahona, Colonel,
282

Barrientos, Carlos,
207
,
246
,
247
,
347

Barrios, Justo Rufino,
141

Barrios, Yassmín,
203
–4,
207
,
208
,
259
,
280
,
381

Batres, Jorge,
347

Berger, Oscar (President),
311
,
318
,
320
,
345
,
347
,
386
,
388

Betancourt, Belisario,
136
,
380

Beteta, Noél,
42
,
75
,
93
,
144
,
280

Borges, Jorge Luis,
227
,
301

Brodsky, Joseph,
140

Búcaro, Sergio,
88

Bush, George W.,
328

Bushnell, Prudence,
204
,
254
,
313

Bux, Robert,
129
,
133
–34

Carillo Grajeda, Edgar,
242
,
382

Carpio Nicolle, Jorge,
123

Carranza, Gustavo,
384

Casariego, Mario (Cardinal),
11
,
19
,
20

Cascante, Wendy,
295
,
296

Castañeda, Mario,
190

Castillo, Adán,
386

Cerezo, Vinicio (President),
86
,
225

Chanax Sontay, Rubén (El Colocho),
30
–37,
50
,
58
–60,
77
,
79
,
82
,
83
,
95
,
189
,
190
,
192
–94,
196
,
205
,
210
,
216
–23,
230
,
239
,
247
,
251
,
268
,
272
–80,
288
–94,
298
–300,
302
–3,
305
–11,
314
,
318
,
324
,
327
,
330
–32,
342
,
345
,
353
,
354
,
375
,
378
–9,
384
–6

Chex López, Oscar,
179
,
180
,
182
,
183
,
205
,
232
,
265

Chin, Carlos,
203

Chinchilla Monzon, Misael,
382

Cifuentes, Arlene,
176
,
177
,
186

Cintrón Gálvez, Julio,
196
–97,
251
,
261

Clinton, Bill,
129
,
155

Coello, Pablo,
97

Cojulún, Eduardo,
207
,
208
,
213
,
219
,
246
,
253
–54,
256
,
259
,
266

Colosio, Luis Donaldo,
61

Conte Cojulún, Ángel,
54
,
353

Contreras, Blanca Lidia,
157
,
159
–63

Contreras, Wilewaldo,
261
,
279
–81,
287
,
301
,
313

Cumaraswamy, Param,
382

D'Aubuisson, Roberto,
162
,
381
,
388

Dedet Catzprowitz, Roy,
238

De la Grange, Bertrand,
265
–68,
287
,
288
,
292
,
315
,
326
,
336
,
343
,
382
–4

Del Cid, Thelma,
314

De León Carpio, Ramiro (President),
306

De León Girón, Danilo,
327

Delrue, Terry,
249

Derham, James,
326

Domingo, Darinel,
337
–39,
356

Domingo, Mario,
34
–35,
53
,
73
,
97
–99,
122
,
134
,
172
,
173
,
189
,
194
,
196
,
197
,
207
,
223
,
224
,
227
,
230
,
244
,
246
,
253
,
266
,
288
,
289
,
291
,
294
,
296
–98,
300
,
304
,
309
,
311
,
314
,
316
–18,
330
–31,
335
–41,
344
,
350
,
355
,
356
,
376
,
382
,
385
–6