Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09GUATEMALA241
2009-03-17 15:07:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Guatemala
Cable title:  

TWO POLICE OFFICERS ARRESTED FOR 1984 FORCED

Tags:  PHUM KCRM KJUS KDEM PGOV ELAB GT 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO2113
RR RUEHLA
DE RUEHGT #0241/01 0761507
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 171507Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY GUATEMALA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7112
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 0050
RHMCSUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUATEMALA 000241 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DOL FOR PCHURCH

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM KCRM KJUS KDEM PGOV ELAB GT
SUBJECT: TWO POLICE OFFICERS ARRESTED FOR 1984 FORCED
DISAPPEARANCE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUATEMALA 000241

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DOL FOR PCHURCH

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM KCRM KJUS KDEM PGOV ELAB GT
SUBJECT: TWO POLICE OFFICERS ARRESTED FOR 1984 FORCED
DISAPPEARANCE


1. (U) Summary: After 25 years of eluding justice, two
suspects -- an active-duty police officer and a retired
police officer -- were arrested March 5 and 6 for the 1984
disappearance of labor leader Edgar Fernando Garcia, late
husband of influential Congresswoman Nineth Montenegro. The
arrests, the first in Guatemalan history for a forced
disappearance during the internal conflict, came after years
of investigation by the Human Rights Ombudsman's Office and
NGO Mutual Support Group, which Montenegro founded in 1984.
Evidence linking the suspects and two others to Garcia's
disappearance was found in the Historic National Police
Archives dating back to the internal conflict period. The
arrests reflect political will in key Guatemalan
institutions. End Summary.


2. (U) On March 5, authorities arrested National Civil Police
(PNC) officer Hector Roderico Ramirez Rios in Guatemala City
for the 1984 forced disappearance of 27-year-old labor leader
Edgar Fernando Garcia, late husband of Congresswoman Nineth
Montenegro. On March 6, authorities arrested a second
suspect, former PNC officer Abraham Lancerio Gomez, in San
Juan Sacatepequez. Both were members of the extinct National
Police (PN),precursor to the modern PNC that was established
in 1997.


3. (U) Garcia, a clandestine member of the underground
Guatemalan Workers' Party (PGT),was last seen on February
18, 1984 after leaving his home in Guatemala City to attend a
meeting. Witnesses reported that Garcia had been arrested
and taken to the Fourth Police Precinct. When Montenegro
went to look for him at the precinct, police denied that
Garcia had been arrested. After months of searching for her
disappeared husband, Montenegro founded the Mutual Support
Group (GAM) in 1984 to provide support to other women in her
situation. The organization expanded to provide support to
other family members of the disappeared and to demand
justice. In 1997, under a new mandate to investigate cases
of forced disappearances, the Human Rights Ombudsman's Office
(PDH) began to investigate Garcia's disappearance.


4. (U) An investigation by PDH, using the National Police

Archives under its custody, led to the arrest of the two
police officers. A police report of a February 18, 1984
capture of "two subversives" at the time and place where
Garcia was last seen, was used as evidence by PDH. Other
evidence included the orders to execute the illicit act and a
1984 police report authorizing the decoration of four police
officers for their participation in the arrest. According to
PDH, the Garcia file contains 1,375 pages of documents, of
which 1,000 directly mention the accused. Eight witnesses
located by GAM during its investigation of the case,
including the testimony of Danilo Chinchilla who was detained
along with Garcia and wounded by gunfire, provided supporting
evidence.


5. (U) At the time of his arrest, Ramirez was a high-ranking
PNC officer, serving in Quetzaltenango. Lancerio retired
from the PNC in 2005. Both suspects remain in custody at a
preventive detention center in Guatemala City. Two other
police officers are under investigation. Ramirez and
Lancerio are accused of illegal detention, kidnapping, abuse
of authority, forced disappearance, and lesser crimes against
humanity. At a March 5 preliminary hearing, the judge
ordered Ramirez detained on the first three charges. (Note:
Qordered Ramirez detained on the first three charges. (Note:
Neither suspect can be charged for forced disappearance or
lesser crimes against humanity because they were not crimes
in 1984, and the law cannot be applied retroactively. End
note.)


6. (U) Human Rights Ombudsman Sergio Morales publicly
announced that these arrests could lead to more arrests in
this case and other similar cases. PDH investigators noted
that during the government of Gen. Humberto Mejia Victores,
the National Police was used by the Army to repress those who
opposed the state. GAM, an NGO that for more than 25 years
has sought justice in forced disappearance cases, was among
those targeted, with reportedly 60 members killed and an
additional 28 forcibly disappeared during the internal
conflict.


7. (SBU) Comment: These arrests, which garnered front-page
media attention, represent a significant development in the
fight against impunity. They are the first arrests for a
forced disappearance committed during the nternal conflict,
and may open the way for arrests in other such cases, with

GUATEMALA 00000241 002 OF 002


increased use of the police archives under PDH custody.
(Germany and other European countries support conservation
and cataloguing of the archives.) Nineth Montenegro is a
tenacious, influential, and well-regarded Congresswoman and
human rights activist who fought for justice for 25 years and
secured these arrests in part through her political
connections and perseverance. While these arrests are
positive indicators of political will to combat impunity, it
is too soon to tell if these arrests will eventually lead to
trials and convictions in the thousands of other cases of
individuals "disappeared" by the state during the long
internal conflict.
McFarland