PRIME SUSPECT IN PEDRO ZAMORA MURDER CASE ARRESTED

C O N F I D E N T I A L GUATEMALA 000079 DEPT FOR WHA/CEN, DRL/AWH, DRL/ILCSR DOL FOR PCHURCH E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/27/2019 TAGS: ELAB KCRM PHUM KJUS KDEM PGOV GT SUBJECT: PRIME SUSPECT IN PEDRO ZAMORA MURDER CASE ARRESTED REF: 07 GUATEMALA 115 Classified By: Ambassador Stephen McFarland for reasons 1.4(b,d) ¶1. (U) On January 10, Guatemalan authorities arrested Wilfredo Waldemar Valiente Garcia, the prime suspect in the January 2007 murder of port union leader Pedro Zamora (reftel). The arrest concluded a one-and-a-half year search for the fugitive, who had eluded authorities since July 2007. According to Alma Luz Guerrero, Special Advisor to the Minister of Government (MOG),a warrant for his arrest and that of suspected material author Dremler Oswel Gomez Yuman was issued on July 25, 2007. ¶2. (C) In a meeting with poloff on January 23, Noe Moya, Chief of the Special Prosecutor's Unit for Crimes Against Journalists and Unionists, stated that Valiente's cousin Vilma and her sister Angelica provided the information that led to the January 10 arrest in Iztapa, Escuintla. In a separate meeting on January 22, MOG Special Advisor Guerrero said that Valiente was arrested at km 119 on the highway to Port San Jose while visiting family in Escuintla. Valiente is now in preventive detention awaiting trial, while his cousins are in the Public Ministry's witness protection program. Moya said that Valiente is widely known in the community as a narcotrafficker but that they do not have any evidence of his narcotrafficking activities. The Special Prosecutor's Unit has three months from the date of arrest, to April 10, to collect evidence and to initiate a trial. ¶3. (C) According to Moya, Pedro Zamora, former Secretary General of the Dock Workers Union of Puerto Quetzal (STEPQ), had contact with Valiente through family members. Vilma had informed Moya that Valiente wanted to kill Zamora's wife, but the hired assassin killed Zamora's wife's sister instead in a case of mistaken identity. Zamora subsequently complained to Valiente about the murder of his sister-in-law while they were drinking in a bar. ¶4. (C) Pedro's brother Julio Zamora, current Secretary General of STEPQ, however, maintained that his brother did not have any dealings with Valiente, whom he believes was the material author of the crime. According to AFL-CIO representative Rob Wayss, Julio, who was verbally notified of the arrest by the Public Ministry on the day of the arrest, indicated that he and his brother Pedro, like others in the community, knew of Valiente as he was known in the community as a narcotrafficker. Julio asserted, however, that Pedro did not have any contact with him. Wayss noted that the brother of Pedro's second wife, Angelica, had a history of gang involvement. ¶5. (U) Comment: Valiente's arrest, while two years after Zamora's murder, underscores the government's ongoing efforts to investigate and prosecute this high-profile murder of a union leader. The murder was highlighted by an international labor delegation during its two visits to Guatemala in 2007. It was also included among five cases in the first ever labor submission filed under CAFTA as an example of the government's failure to enforce its labor laws. The criminal investigation appears to confirm that Zamora's murder was not related to his union activities. McFarland