FBI sending investigators to Guatemala ahead of Bush visit
By Nancy San Martin, McClatchy Newspapers

GUATEMALA CITY - Three murdered Salvadoran legislators. Four cops, suspected in the killings, themselves shot to death in a maximum security prison. Broken government agencies. And more questions than answers.

That's what FBI investigators will face when they arrive this week to help sort out the stunning murders, which have highlighted the wave of drug-fueled corruption and crime lashing a country President Bush will visit in seven days.

"The number of murders in this country is offensive and, unfortunately, authorities have done little to stop the blood bath," said the government's own Human Rights Ombudsman Sergio Morales.

Authorities and activists say the problems date back to a decade-old peace treaty that ended a bloody civil war but did little to cleanse the ranks of a historically violent police and other security forces.

"We had 30 years of war, with more than 100,000 dead, and no tribunals were ever carried out," said Interior Minister Carlos Vielmann. "Then we had 10 years of the formation of a new police force, but again, there was no serious action to resolve internal problems."

Luis Ramirez, an analyst with the watchdog Guatemalan Institute of Comparative Studies on Penal Science, said that while the 1996 peace accord called for dismantling the old police force, a new one was never really created.

"They changed uniforms but everything stayed the same," Ramirez said. "Historical problems have now come to surface. These murders are like an x-ray: They show the profound problems that exist."

Add the corruption and crime generated by drug smuggling - U.S. estimates show that 75 percent of the Colombian cocaine hitting American streets passes through here - and security agencies can be easily overwhelmed.

"It's not that organized crime has penetrated the police force or the Interior Ministry," said Ramirez. "Organized crime is directing the police, the ministry and the military."

The murder rate in this country of 12.7 million rose each year since 1999 and now stands at 45 per 100,000 residents, compared to Florida's five per 100,000 in 2005. Many say that if the recent victims had not been well-known Salvadorans, they would have received little attention.

The gruesome drama began Feb. 19, when the Salvadorans and their driver were found shot and burned to death 20 miles southeast of the capital. They served on the Central American Parliament, which meets in Guatemala City, and were members of El Salvador's ruling ARENA party.

Initially, speculation that a settling of political scores from Central America's old civil wars was sparked by the fact that one of the victims, Eduardo D'Aubuisson, was the son of the late Roberto D'Aubuisson, a founder of ARENA and accused death squad leader in the 1980s.

Three days later, four police officers - including the head of the Guatemalan National Police organized crime unit - were arrested in the killings and jailed in the El Boqueron maximum security facility 40 miles east of the capital.

Three more days later, the cops were shot dead in their cells - killed by either fellow inmates or what witnesses described as a heavily armed group of men wearing prison guard uniforms who drove to the prison in a dark vehicle.

Authorities have arrested 24 prison officials, including its director, lending credence to the allegation that the cops' murders were carried out with inside help. Guatemala's head of criminal investigations was removed from his post and the country's second-highest ranking police official resigned.

Last week, another cop suspected in the Salvadorans' killings turned himself in. Authorities say they are still looking for another policeman and a seventh unidentified person in the first killings.

And on Friday, authorities said they believe other inmates may have killed the four cops. Four guns were found hidden inside a DVD player, a television and speakers.

Evidence clearly points to the four dead cops' involvement in the Salvadorans' murders - their car was reportedly equipped with a Global Positioning System that puts them at the place and time of the killings.

But the rest remains unknown. Why were the Salvadorans killed? Was one or more of them involved in a drug deal gone bad? Was it a simple case of highway robbery? And who killed the jailed policemen?

The FBI team arriving this week will provide technical and scientific support to try to find some answers.

Interior Minister Vielmann said all lines of investigation remain open - from a possible case of mistaken identity "to something much more profound," including ties to organized crime.

"All we've resolved is the part of the operation that ends with the assassinations," Vielmann told The Miami Herald.

Alvaro Matus, the public prosecutor in charge of the Salvadorans' case, told the Herald that while nailing corrupt officers will be difficult "because they know how to operate and try not to leave any evidence behind, we are not going to conceal anything or anyone - not civilians, not police, not military."

But even if that case is solved, the underlying problem persists. Among other incidents in the past six months:

Eight men were shot to death in a restaurant by gunmen who arrived in three cars and opened fire with automatic rifles and pistols.

More than 3,000 police and soldiers stormed the Pavon penitentiary east of the capital, sparking a fierce battle with grenades and automatic rifles that killed seven inmates.

Two former senior anti-narcotics agency officers pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington. They were busted in 2005 after accepting $25,000 from undercover U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents to protect cocaine shipments.

Guatemalan President Oscar Berger is pressing Congress to create an independent commission to investigate corruption and present its findings for prosecution. And there's a push to reverse laws that require police fired for suspicion of corruption be reinstated unless there's substantial evidence. More than 1,000 police officers have been dismissed on corruption charges in the past 2 1/2 years and about 250 are currently in jail.

But both measures are sure to face resistance from opposition political parties, and activists fear that politics will get in the way of much-needed reforms.

"These cases have presented two doors: one of danger and one of opportunity," said Iduvina Hernandez, director of the independent Association for the Study and Promotion of Security in a Democracy.

"We want to open the door of opportunity to renovate the security system and strengthen the democratic framework," she said. "We want a Guatemala in peace, with social justice."