HUMAN RIGHTS' OMBUDSMAN'S WIFE REQUESTS TRANSFER

C O N F I D E N T I A L GUATEMALA 000539 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/04/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV KCRM KDEM SOCI PHUM GT SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS' OMBUDSMAN'S WIFE REQUESTS TRANSFER OF HER CASE REF: GUATEMALA 291 Classified By: Acting Pol/Econ Counselor Brian Harris for reasons 1.4 b & d ¶1. (SBU) On March 25, Human Rights Ombudsman Sergio Morales' wife, Gladys Monterroso, was abducted by unknown assailants and released some 15 hours later after she was beaten and raped (reftel). Early indications suggested that the kidnapping may have been intended to intimidate Morales into backing off of his efforts to highlight and investigate human rights violations committed during Guatemala's internal conflict. Specifically, the attack could have been designed to stop him from making public sensitive records from the Historic National Police Archives. This potential link led the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) to take on the investigation. ¶2. (SBU) As part of the ongoing investigation, CICIG interviewed Monterroso, her colleagues and family members. Press reports indicated that CICIG had obtained a video tape showing Monterroso willingly getting into a car near the time of her kidnapping. Monterroso claimed that the videotape was irrelevant, and she had met someone that day from the University of San Carlos and later met with a "young woman." She said she was later taken against her will by unknown assailants in a different car. Monterroso had omitted these meetings in previous statements and the tape created rumors that the kidnapping had been staged for political reasons. ¶3. (SBU) On May 26, Monterroso met with Fanuel Garcia, the Private Secretary to Attorney General Velazquez, to formally request her case be transferred from CICIG to the Special Prosecutor for violence against women. Monterroso said that she objected to CICIG investigating her personal life rather than the crime itself. She complained that the investigator (Cesar Rincon from CICIG's vetted unit within the Guatemala's Public Ministry),"interrogated" her for three hours about private matters such as her finances, and whether she had a lover or consumed alcohol. Monterroso claims that the only leads CICIG pursued were related to her personal affairs rather than the alleged plot to intimidate her former husband. She alleged that there was a "dark end" being pursued that was unknown to her. ¶4. (C) Comment: The Ambassador visited Monterroso immediately after the attack and subsequently to express sympathy and support for her efforts to combat violence against women. We do not have privileged access to the videotape or any other evidence CICIG is investigating, and CICIG has not confirmed the existence of the videotape. We have confidence in the integrity of CICIG's investigation and find Monterroso's suggestion that CICIG investigators have been co-opted to investigate her rather than the actual perpetrators of the crime unlikely. Press reports are beginning to surface questioning why Monterroso would want CICIG removed, suggesting her request for CICIG's removal casts suspicion on her statements. Lindwall