A chilling tale - a lawyer sadly forecasts his own death in Guatemala. Rodrigo Rosenberg's client refused to be a party in a kickback strategy to a state owned bank in the center-left country. The client and his daughter are murdered. The President and the First Lady are implicitly involved. Banrural funds her "ghost projects." Rosenberg realizes that he is marked for death and creates this video, which he mails to four news organizations. Twenty hours later his prescience is confirmed. He is gunned down on his bicycle. Now the government is enmeshed in a sea of denial. The president insists he is a victim of "Machiavellian forces". The truth is unfortunately sometimes stranger and sadder than fiction. This killing is a reminder of the naked reality that corruption and deceit exists on all sides of the political spectrum.
According to CICIG figures, 98 percent of crimes committed in Guatemala go unpunished.
A synopsis of the story from the Los Angeles Times.
A synopsis of the story from the Los Angeles Times.
4 comments:
Pick up a copy of "The Secret History of the American Empire" or "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" by John Perkins. Quite insightful in cases like this.
regarding Rodrigo Rosenberg,
you say,'Rodrigo Rosenberg's client refused to pay bribes to a state owned bank in the center-left country.'
but the statements he makes on the video say nothing of this and the LA Times synopsis says:
Rosenberg said Colom had named Musa, a coffee grower and textile manufacturer, as a director of Guatemala's Rural Development Bank, or Banrural, in March. But Musa refused to go along with illicit activities that included money laundering and embezzlement, Rosenberg said.
Is there other information not in your posting or the symopsis about this?
ricardo
As a resident of a corrupt country, it is commonplace to be asked to pay bribes to accomplish any actions needing cooperation with the powers that be - here the police have their own military academy, graduating class cohort/gangs, and every mid and high level government official has a uniform that looks like a Hapsburgian fantasy for ceremonial occasions.......when I get any immigration or other matter done it can be interesting to ask for a receipt that reflects the amount I have just paid.
R
R.,
You are absolutely right. It was a kickback strategy and not bribery. I have changed my original post to correct my error. Thank you.
News Americas
Guatemala president denies murder
Rodrigo Rosenberg's video was posted on the YouTube website after he was killed.
Alvaro Colom, the president of Guatemala, has asked US authorities to aid the investigation into the death of a prominent lawyer, saying he is "incapable" of ordering a murder.
Colom told Al Jazeera on Friday he has "nothing to hide" over the investigation into the death of Rodrigo Rosenberg, who filmed himself saying if he was killed, it was on Colom's orders.
"Those who know me they know I am incapable of ordering a murder," he said.
"I don't know the motives Rodigro Rosenberg had to film that tape but if you see those who were involved in filming the tape you understand who they are ... they are destabilisers."
Rosenberg's death has shaken the country and led to protests and calls for Colom's resignation.
However he told Al Jazeera he had no intention of stepping down over the matter.
"The people of Guatemala has the right to protest and ask for justice ... but be careful of crossing the line," he said.
"Accusing a president of murder publicly could be sedition, [it] is sedition if they cannot prove it. It's not against me, Alvaro Colom, they are accusing the constitutional president of the republic of a crime in which they have no proof."
Colom has already won support from the Organisation of American States (OAS), based in Washington, which passed a resolution on Wednesday approving support for his administration "in its obligation to preserve the institutions of democracy and the rule of law".
Colom's 2007 election victory gave Guatemala its first left-leaning leader since Jacobo Arbenz was thrown out of office in 1954 by a coup orchestrated by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
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