GUATEMALA: Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom says powerful enemies are behind a scandal about claims he ordered the murder of a prominent lawyer

Record ID: 259008

  • Title: GUATEMALA: Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom says powerful enemies are behind a scandal about claims he ordered the murder of a prominent lawyer
  • Date: 17th May 2009
  • Summary: GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA (MAY 15, 2009) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF CITY GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA (MAY 14, 2009) (REUTERS) DEMONSTRATORS PEOPLE SINGING GUATEMALAN NATIONAL ANTHEM (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ROSENBERG'S BROTHER, EDUARDO RODAS, SAYING: "What the (Rosenberg) family would like to make clear is that what is behind this spontaneous movement by the Guatemalan people is that we don't want to continue feeling this agonizing lack of security. There is no conspiracy against the government. This is a special situation which emerged suddenly due to external factors and the consequences have had a repercussion on a global scale." GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA (MAY 15, 2009) (REUTERS) VEHICLE BEING PULLED OVER POLICE INSPECTING VEHICLE POLICE CHECKING CAR BOOT EXTERIOR OF PRESIDENTIAL RESIDENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) GUATEMALAN PRESIDENT, ALVARO COLOM, SAYING: "I didn't know the lawyer, Mr. Rosenberg. We had no conflict of any kind. There is no motive. There is no proof. There is a narration but there is nothing. He says in the video he will provide proof. When the video came out, afterwards, two people mentioned they took part in making the video and they are two people who are known here for being in favour of a coup. I'm unaware of the reasons Mr. Rosenberg had in making the video. I think he will be another victim of this perverse process. We have to separate the judicial part and the legitimate right to demand justice from the reasons behind this situation." SOLDIERS, ONE WITH RIFLE STANDING NEXT TO STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) GUATEMALAN PRESIDENT, ALVARO COLOM, SAYING: "A coup d'etat in Guatemala is not possible, a traditional coup d' etat with the military. There could be another type of coup d'etat. My life has been threatened for the past nine years. Four of my family members have been assassinated during the repression. I'm not afraid of death. I fear God. A coup d'etat could only occur here if I were to be assassinated or by carrying out a large destabilization processes. I trust in the work we have carried out, most Guatemalans do, in my moderate personality, dedicated to peace all my life, to life, during my professional and political career. I love it, I know Guatemala very well. I know this is a crisis which will probably escalate but I also trust in my conciliatory ability and ability to negotiate." EXTERIOR OF PRESIDENTIAL RESIDENCE
  • Embargoed: 1st June 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Guatemala
  • Country: Guatemala
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVADNJX1KTFHXI4GSD1ZNQMWE8AG
  • Story Text: Guatemala's president said on Friday (May 15) powerful enemies are behind a scandal about claims he ordered the murder of a prominent lawyer, after his government cracked down on military abuses and drug gangs.
    Hundreds of people have taken to streets for the last three days, protesting lawyer Rodrigo Rosenberg's death and demanding Colom's resignation, but the president has refused to step down.
    President Alvaro Colom has tried to prosecute former military officials linked to massacres during the country's 1960-1996 civil war and at the same time is clamping down on drug cartels operating in the country with dozens of arrests.
    Colom was plunged into crisis this week when a video tape surfaced accusing him of ordering a murder, misusing government funds and turning a blind eye to drug money transactions at the local development bank Banrural.
    Rosenberg, who represented a well-known businessman also killed this year, was gunned down in Guatemala City on Sunday (May 10). The day after his murder, a pre-recorded statement was delivered to the Guatemalan media where Rosenberg warned he might be killed and accused Colom of ordering the hit.
    Colom said it's a conspiracy and his government is investigating who is at the heart of it.
    Meanwhile Rosenberg's brother, Eduardo Rodas, challenged Colom's claims.
    "What the (Rosenberg) family would like to make clear is that what is behind this spontaneous movement by the Guatemalan people is that we don't want to continue feeling this agonizing lack of security. There is no conspiracy against the government. This is a special situation which emerged suddenly due to external factors and the consequences have had a repercussion on a global scale," Rodas said.
    The video and written statement from Rosenberg also accused Colom's wife and his private secretary of crimes.
    Colom said he did not know Rosenberg or why he had made the video.
    "I didn't know the lawyer, Mr. Rosenberg. We had no conflict of any kind. There is no motive. There is no proof. There is a narration but there is nothing. He says in the video he will provide proof. When the video came out, afterwards, two people mentioned they took part in making the video and they are two people who are known here for being in favour of a coup. I'm unaware of the reasons Mr. Rosenberg had in making the video. I think he will be another victim of this perverse process. We have to separate the judicial part and the legitimate right to demand justice from the reasons behind this situation," Colom said.
    Since a 1954 U.S.-backed military coup, successive governments were overthrown by the army until the first democratic election in 1985.
    Colom said such military overthrows were impossible in today's world.
    "A coup d'etat in Guatemala is not possible, a traditional coup d' etat with the military. There could be another type of coup d'etat. My life has been threatened for the past nine years. Four of my family members have been assassinated during the repression. I'm not afraid of death. I fear God.
    A coup d'etat could only occur here if I were to be assassinated or by carrying out a large destabilization processes. I trust in the work we have carried out, most Guatemalans do, in my moderate personality, dedicated to peace all my life, to life, during my professional and political career. I love it, I know Guatemala very well. I know this is a crisis which will probably escalate but I also trust in my conciliatory ability and ability to negotiate," Colom said.
    Colom, a center-leftist who took office in 2008, has made it a priority of his government to criminally charge former officials accused of ordering massacres during the 36-year-long civil war that killed close to a quarter million people.
    Colom's uncle, also a prominent politician who ran for president, was murdered by they army in 1979.
    Colom has faced the the increasing presence of Mexican drug cartels operating in Guatemala, using the country as a passageway for South American cocaine headed north to the United States.
    Escalating levels of street crime led to more than 6,000 murders last year, making the small country of just 13 million inhabitants one of the most violent in Latin America.
    A United Nations-backed commission set up in Guatemala to tackle high-level corruption has taken on the investigation into Rosenberg's allegations, after doubts were cast on the independence of Guatemala's Attorney General's office.
    The U.S. Embassy in Guatemala said a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent is already in the country and will offer assistance to the commission.
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