CICIG INVESTIGATING NICARAGUAN BUS KILLINGS

S E C R E T GUATEMALA 001550

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/16/2018
TAGS: SNAR PGOV PINR KCRM KJUS NI GT
SUBJECT: CICIG INVESTIGATING NICARAGUAN BUS KILLINGS

REF: A. GUATEMALA 1430

B. GUATEMALA 387

C. GUATEMALA 924

Classified By: Pol/Econ Counselor Drew Blakeney for reasons 1.4(b,d).

Summary
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1. (S) With the assistance of the Nicaraguan Police, CICIG
and Guatemalan authorities under its supervision appear to be
making good progress in their investigation of the November 8
murders of the 16 occupants of a Nicaraguan bus in eastern
Guatemala. The murders appear to have been related to a turf
battle between rival Guatemalan narcotics gangs; Guatemalan
police appear to have been complicit in the crime. CICIG
believes that Deputy Police Director Rember Larios is trying
to mislead investigators. For reasons that remain unclear,
Nicaragua's Ambassador to Guatemala has dropped all
involvement in pressing for an investigation into the matter.
End Summary.

Excellent Cooperation with Nicaraguan Police
--------------

2. (SBU) CICIG investigators accompanied by Guatemalan
authorities from the National Civilian Police (PNC),Attorney
General's Office (Public Ministry, MP),and the Directorate
for Criminal Investigations (DICRI) visited Nicaragua Dec.
1-5 as part of the investigation of the Nov. 8 murders of 16
bus passengers (ref a). In Managua, according to the CICIG
prosecutor overseeing the case, they had very productive
meetings with representatives of the Intelligence Unit of the
Nicaraguan Police, among others. Based in large measure on
inputs from Nicaraguan intelligence sources, CICIG and
Guatemalan authorities have pieced together the following
version of events.

Traffickers Fell Into Hands of Rival Gang
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3. (S) Martha Reyneris Castro Rivera, a Nicaraguan national
who died on board the bus, bought it several months ago for
the express purpose of trafficking cocaine to Guatemala's
notorious Lorenzana Family. She used income she received
from an unidentified narcotics trafficker in Miami to help
pay for the bus. The bus owner and operators (Carlos Miguel
Paiz Castillo and Jose Abraham Paiz Vanegas) had made only a
few trips from Chichigalpa, Nicaragua to Guatemala prior to
the fatal one that ended on November 8. The Lorenzanas had
paid in advance for a cocaine shipment the traffickers had
brought on one of the most recent trips, but the amount
delivered was less than that agreed. This trip was to
deliver the missing cocaine to the Lorenzanas -- 125 kilos
hidden in a false compartment in the roof in the personal
custody of the only non-Nicaraguan on the bus, Dutch national
Robert Andres Krimpen Aandelek. Of the 16 persons on board
the bus, the Dutch national and six Nicaraguans (including
the aforementioned persons and Ramon Aquiles Martinez Marin,
deported from the U.S. in 2004 for drugs charges; the
identities of the remaining two have not been determined)
were involved in narcotics trafficking. The remaining nine
were innocent small merchants from the Chinandega area of
Nicaragua who regularly traveled to Guatemala to purchase
wares for resale in Nicaragua.


4. (S) At approximately 0300 hrs. on November 8, Guatemalan
national police stopped the bus at Jalpatagua, Jutiapa
Department, in eastern Guatemala. A bus passenger
interrupted a cell phone call he had made to a family member
in Nicaragua to say they had been pulled over by Guatemalan
police. The police turned the bus over to Ever Paredes
Qpolice. The police turned the bus over to Ever Paredes
Ayala, nephew of Juan Mario "El Gordo" Paredes, who was
extradited to the U.S. on narcotics charges. CICIG believes
Paredes to be the leader of a new narcotics trafficking group
in eastern Guatemala that preys on rival narcotics
trafficking shipments coming through the area. Allegedly
accompanying Paredes were Ubelino Perez Cordova, Jorge Rene
Garcia Noguera (AKA "JR"),Marvin Montiel Marin (AKA "El
Taquero" and "El Barba"),and Rolando David Cantoral Marin,
as well as ten unidentified gunmen. Paredes reportedly works
with associates in El Salvador who inform him of drugs
shipments bound for Guatemala. Montiel Marin is known to
have had contacts with PNC officers who also worked with
imprisoned former Congressman Manuel Castillo Garcia of
Jutiapa, suspected of masterminding the February 2007 murders
of three Salvadoran deputies to the Central American
Parliament (PARLACEN). Additionally, the Paredes family is
known to have sold the BMW SUV used in the attack on the
PARLACEN deputies.


5. (S) Paredes and his associates moved the bus to
Teculutan, Zacapa Department, and at 0830 hrs. parked it in a
melon field near the Pan-American highway, according to local
witnesses, where it remained until 1930 hrs. At some point
during the day, all of the bus occupants were killed; eleven
were decapitated. The Guatemalan traffickers then moved the
bus close to La Fragua, Zacapa Department, to a site just two
kilometers from a facility the Lorenzanas use to store drugs
and arms. The area is known to be under the control of the
Lorenzana Family. There the attackers set fire to the bus at
2010 hrs. The fire was so hot that it incinerated most of
the victims' teeth, and reminded the attending INACIF
forensic examiners of a similarly intense fire that had
destroyed the PARLACEN deputies' vehicle. To date, DNA
investigators in Granada, Spain have been able to identify
only six of the 16 bodies.


6. (S) The CICIG prosecutor told Pol/Econ Counselor that he
believed the selection of the location for the burning, well
inside the area dominated by the Lorenzanas, had been a
signal that Paredes and his group intended to contest the
Lorenzanas' control of the area. The Paredes group's
challenge to the status quo presented a problem for the
Lorenzanas similar to that presented by deceased trafficker
Juan Leon. Mexican "Zetas" murdered Juan Leon and several
bodyguards on March 25 in Zacapa (refs b and c). The CICIG
prosecutor said the Lorenzanas appear tolerant of the
"Zetas'" new presence in the area, and may even have entered
into agreement in order to continue operating in the area.
If that is so, the Paredes group might soon find itself in
conflict with the "Zetas."

Police Interfering in Investigation?
--------------

7. (S) The CICIG prosecutor said PNC Deputy Director Rember
Larios was trying to mislead CICIG in its investigation of
this case. Offering no supporting evidence, he told CICIG
that the bus had been carrying 25 kilos of cocaine when it
ran into a "DEA patrol" inside El Salvador near the
Guatemalan border. The DEA agents had impounded the drugs,
made no arrests, and then let the bus continue on its
journey. The intended Guatemalan recipients of the drugs
were furious that the traffickers had arrived empty-handed,
and so killed them. CICIG found this version to be
preposterous, and immediately discarded it.

Nicaraguan Ambassador Refrains from Involvement
-------------- --

8. (C) On Dec. 8, Pol/Econ Couns discussed the murders with
Nicaraguan Ambassador to Guatemala Silvio Mora, former
spokesman of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. Mora
asserted that the bus had been traveling the same route for
years bearing petty merchants from the Chinandega area. Paiz
Castillo and Paiz Vanegas "may have had some criminal record
in El Salvador related to narcotics trafficking," he said,
but asserted that everyone else on the bus had been innocent.
Mora said that despite his initial, public demands for
justice, he had since decided to defer all action on the case
to Iury Orozco at the Foreign Ministry in Managua. He feared
for his personal safety, and was also somewhat concerned that
Foreign Minister Rodas had privately chided him for "failing
to use diplomatic language" in his initial public statements.
Another Nicaraguan Embassy employee reportedly told a CICIG
Q Another Nicaraguan Embassy employee reportedly told a CICIG
investigator that Mora had changed his public stance not
because he feared for his public safety, but rather becaus
President Ortega had instructed him to drop thematter. The
Colom Government has also not publicly addressed the killings
since making initial statements of concern.

Comment
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9. (S) CICIG appears to be making good progress in
investigating this terrible crime. We are encouraged that,
with CICIG as an intermediary, the Nicaraguan Police
helpfully shared information with Guatemalan police, who have
a reputation among their regional counterparts for corruption
and complicity in narcotrafficking. There are several
indications that Guatemalan PNC officers may have been
complicit in this crime, and we are concerned by Deputy PNC
Director Larios' alleged interference in the investigation.
The possibility of a link to the PARLACEN murders is an
interesting one which we will continue to discuss with CICIG.
It is unclear why Ambassador Mora has changed his approach
to this case, but it is clear that he has dropped it. The
cold-blooded murder, decapitation, and burning of the bodies
of the 16 occupants of the ill-fated bus continues to
generate alarm among Guatemalans, who increasingly blame the
Colom Administration for not providing citizen security.
McFarland