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Guatemala President
Denies Murder
Guatemala
President Denies Murder
Alvaro Colom, the president of Guatemala,
has asked US authorities to aid the
investigation into the death of a prominent
lawyer, saying he is "incapable" of ordering
a murder.
Colom said on Friday he has "nothing to
hide" over the investigation into the death
of Rodrigo Rosenberg, who filmed himself
saying if he was killed, it was on Colom's
orders.
"Those who know me they know I am incapable
of ordering a murder," he said.
"I don't know the motives Rodigro Rosenberg
had to film that tape but if you see those
who were involved in filming the tape you
understand who they are ... they are
destabilisers."
Colom said the US Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) had been asked to aid
the investigation into Rosenberg's death,
information later confirmed by US officials
in Guatemala.
Guatemalan authorities have also asked the
International Commission Against Impunity in
Guatemala (CICIG), a United Nations panel
set up in 2007 to clean up corruption in
Guatemala, to aid the investigation.
Rosenberg was shot dead on Sunday while
riding his bicycle in an affluent area of
the capital, Guatemala City.
In a video later posted on YouTube, he said
officials might want to kill him since he
represented a businessman allegedly murdered
because he had refused to engage in acts of
corruption that Colom purportedly invited
him to participate in.
The businessman, Khalil Musa, was shot dead
on April 15 in Guatemala, along with his
daughter.
Rosenberg's death has shaken the country and
led to protests and calls for Colom's
resignation.
However he said he had no intention of
stepping down over the matter.
"The people of Guatemala has the right to
protest and ask for justice ... but be
careful of crossing the line," he said.
"Accusing a president of murder publicly
could be sedition, [it] is sedition if they
cannot prove it. It's not against me, Alvaro
Colom, they are accusing the constitutional
president of the republic of a crime in
which they have no proof."
Colom has already won support from the
Organisation of American States (OAS), based
in Washington, which passed a resolution on
Wednesday approving support for his
administration "in its obligation to
preserve the institutions of democracy and
the rule of law".
Colom's 2007 election victory gave Guatemala
its first left-leaning leader since Jacobo
Arbenz was thrown out of office in 1954 by a
coup orchestrated by the US Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA).
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