SENIOR POLICE FIRED FOR STEALING COCAINE,

S E C R E T GUATEMALA 000776

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/11/2019
TAGS: SNAR KCRM PINR ASEC GT
SUBJECT: SENIOR POLICE FIRED FOR STEALING COCAINE,
INVESTIGATIONS UNDERWAY

REF: A. GUATEMALA 0756

B. GUATEMALA 0734

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

Summary
--------------

1. (S) On August 7 President Colom ordered the firing of four
senior police officers after they were implicated in a
partially successful police heist of more than 1000 kilograms
of cocaine. The Attorney General's Office is now
investigating at least 23 police officers. The Attorney
General visited the Ambassador August 10, seeking political
support for this unprecedented investigation. Successors
were immediately named to fill the four police vacancies. A
CICIG investigation of the new National Police Chief,
Baltazar Gomez Barrios, is underway for his possibly having
ordered counternarcotics police to steal a load of cocaine on
a separate occasion. Gomez has, however, previously passed
NAS polygraph tests, and leading human rights activist Helen
Mack had no objection to his appointment. This incident has
put the police on notice that, thanks to the new,
USG-supported wire tapping unit at the AG's Office, there are
new risks associated with doing business as usual. End
Summary.

Top Police Fired, Under Investigation
--------------

2. (U) On August 7 President Colom, via Minister of
Government Raul Velasquez, fired four top National Civilian
Police (PNC) officers implicated in the August 6 attempted
theft of more 1000 kilograms of cocaine in a northern part of
Guatemala City (ref a). The fired officers are:
-- Director General (the country's top police officer)
Porfirio Perez Paniagua, already under investigation for the
theft in June of $300,000 from a crime scene;
-- Deputy Director General Rolando Mendoza Perez, previously
accused of coercion;
-- Deputy Director of Operations Victor de Jesus Lopez,
previously accused of fraud; and
-- Deputy Director of Investigations Hector Castellanos,
previously accused of abuse of authority and disobedience.


3. (C) All four were present at the scene of the August 6
incident, according to press. Perez Paniagua told reporters
on August 6 that only 300 kilograms of cocaine had been
seized. (Note: The Attorney General told the Ambassador he
suspected that more than 1600 kilograms had been on the
truck, some of which police had already removed and hidden
when investigators arrived. Eight hundred and eighty-one
kilograms were in fact seized.) Additionally, former Deputy
Director of the Division for Criminal Investigations (DINC)
Orlando Villatoro is a fugitive from justice. Telephone
intercepts implicate Villatoro as having organized the heist.
In all, at least 23 police officers who were identified at
the crime scene are now under investigation.


4. (S) Attorney General Amilcar Velasquez and his Secretary
General, Gloria Porras (protect) told the Ambassador August
10 that telephone intercepts indicated that the police had
removed at least 300 kilograms to a house near where the
truck was found, but said they did not have legal authority
to search all the houses in the area. Both anticipated that
some of the implicated policewould soon be murdered as the
unidentified owners of the stolen cocaine attempted to
recover it. Velasquez and Porras said there was essentially
no doubt as to the senior police officers' culpability. The
telephone intercepts and GPS records taken from their
vehicles were incriminating. The officers' written
statements all contradicted each other, and Castellanos'
statement had been written by a lawyer.

AG Seeks USG Political Cover
--------------

5. (S) Velasquez and Porras sought the Ambassador's support
for this unprecedented operation to uncover police corruption
and complicity in narcotics trafficking. The intelligence
for the operation was generated by the USG-supported Special
Methods Unit, which is the AG's wire-tapping office. They
said they hoped to ultimately prosecute some 50 police
officers for this crime, but said they were worried because
they "do not know how high up this goes." The Ambassador
agreed to reaffirm USG support for the operation during his

next conversation with President Colom. On August 12, Porras
told a NAS member that she had received a death threat, which
she suspected had come from a police officer implicated in
the Aug. 6 crime.

New Police Director Under CICIG Investigation
--------------

6. (S) Asked about the newly named replacements for the four
(see below),AG Velasquez and SecGen Porras said they did not
have an informed opinion, but noted that the UN-led
International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala
(CICIG) is investigating new Director General Baltazar Gomez
Barrios for possibly having ordered an April operation in
Amatitlan, in which five SAIA (the Anti-Narcotics
Intelligence and Analysis Service) officers were killed (ref
b). Baltazar Gomez was the SAIA Director at the time. CICIG
suspects that the officers were attempting to steal a load of
cocaine belonging to the Zetas when the Zetas returned and
opened fire.


7. (S) On August 11, CICIG's Chief of Investigations told
Pol/Econ Couns that CICIG is first investigating the five
SAIA officers who survived the Amatitlan raid. As they begin
to cooperate with investigators, the investigation will move
to the next phase, targeting Baltazar Gomez and other SAIA
leaders. At a bare minimum, the CICIG official said, Gomez
is guilty of covering up wrongdoing by his fellow SAIA
officers.


8. (U) The four replacement officers are:
-- Director General Baltazar Gomez Barrios;
-- Deputy Director General Geovanny Leal Yaxcal;
-- Deputy Director of Operations Jaime Leonel Otzin Diaz; and
-- Deputy Director of Investigations Benigno Ottoniel Barraza
Martinez.

Asked by reporters about an accusation that in 2002, when he
was Deputy Director of the now-defunct Department of
Anti-Narcotics Operations (DOAN),Baltazar Gomez participated
in the theft of approximately 1600 kilograms of cocaine from
a DOAN warehouse, Minister of Government Raul Velasquez
responded that a thorough investigation had cleared Gomez of
any wrongdoing.


9. (C) On August 10, Pol/Econ Counselor and NAS Director
asked leading civil society activist Helen Mack, of the Myrna
Mack Foundation, if she had any reservations about Baltazar
Gomez assuming the leadership of the PNC. Mack said she was
unaware of any derogatory information on Gomez or the other
three appointees, but that she suspected new Minister of
Government Raul Velasquez and his closest advisors of
corruption. The PNC's performance would only be as good as
the guidance it received from above, she asserted. NAS
Director said that, while reserving judgment, he was
encouraged that Gomez had passed two NAS polygraph tests. In
a separate conversation with Pol/Econ Couns, former Minister
of Government Salvador Gandara -- who himself was credibly
accused of corruption more than ten years ago -- said he
viewed the SAIA under Baltazar Gomez's leadership as
essentially a narcotrafficking organization, but provided no
details. (When he was Minister, Gandara never asked the USG
to work for Gomez's removal.)

Comment
--------------

10. (C) We are encouraged by the AG Office's actions in this
case, and by the prospect of senior officers facing criminal
prosecution -- as opposed to just administrative discipline
-- for criminal wrongdoing. However, we anticipate that the
fired police officers will prove formidable adversaries with
substantial capacity for manipulating the judiciary, and
maybe the government as well. AG Velasquez and SecGen
Porras' concerns about the consequences of this unprecedented
action are well founded. As for new PNC Director Baltazar
Gomez, we derive some comfort from his having passed two
polygraph tests, but are concerned by the role he may have
played in the Amatitlan operation. Embassy will remain in
close contact with CICIG about how its investigation of Gomez
is developing.
McFarland