ID:146476
    Date:2008-03-19 13:39:00
    Origin:08GUATEMALA355

VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB
DE RUEHGT #0355/01 0791339
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 191339Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY GUATEMALA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5007
INFO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0206
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMCSUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 1181
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 4778
RUEHSN/AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR 4139
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 0405
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL//SCJ2-JIC-IRD/OPSD//
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
    
C O N F I D E N T I A L GUATEMALA 000355 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/14/2028 
TAGS: PTER, KCRM, ASEC VZ, PREL, PHUM, KJUS, PGOV, GT 
SUBJECT: CICIG COMMISSIONER DISCUSSES PROGRESS AND 
CHALLENGES 
 
REF: A. GUATEMALA 135 
     B. GUATEMALA 313 
 
Classified By: Ambassador James M. Derham for reasons 1.4 (b&d). 
 
Summary 
--------

1. (C) Summary:  In a March 14 meeting with the Ambassador 
and Pol/Econ Counselor, CICIG Commissioner Carlos Castresana 
discussed progress in establishing the CICIG office and 
beginning its first investigations.  He outlined concerns 
over the extent to which some Guatemalan law enforcement 
organizations have been compromised by organized crime and 
corruption, and discussed the status of CICIG's current 
investigations, including progress in its investigation of 
the recent killings of bus drivers, organized crime rings 
within the police, and the high-profile February 2007 murder 
of three Salvadoran representatives of the Central American 
Parliament.  Castresana underscored the need to collaborate 
with the U.S. and other donor countries to provide reliable 
witness protection.  Among other challenges, he cited the 
lack of coordination between the Ministry of Government and 
the Public Ministry, CICIG's lack of third-country security 
officers, and the lack of counter-surveillance expertise 
among Guatemalan security officers.  End Summary. 
 
Guatemalan Law Enforcement Institutions are Unreliable 
------------------------------------------------------ 

2. (C) CICIG Commissioner Carlos Castresana told Ambassador 
and Pol/Econ Counselor March 14 that the biggest challenge 
that CICIG has encountered in carrying out its mission is the 
extent to which Guatemala's law enforcement institutions have 
been compromised by organized crime and corruption, which he 
characterized as worse than he had initially anticipated. 
According to Castresana, neither Attorney General Juan Luis 
Florido nor Minister of Government Vinicio Gomez is in 
control of their ministries.  Castresana allowed that the PNC 
has conducted some competent investigations, but expressed 
doubts about the legality of their methods.  He observed that 
various security organs of the Guatemalan state are riven by 
rivalries and lack of communication, and that senior leaders 
of some law enforcement agencies have private agendas which 
include crime and corruption. 
 
CICIG Investigating Bus Driver Murders 
--------------------------------------

3. (C) Castresana discussed the status of cases currently 
under CICIG investigation, including the investigation of the 
spate of murders of public bus drivers in early 2008 (ref A). 
 The Ministry of Government (MOG), he said, had conducted a 
simple but reasonably competent investigation that relied 
heavily on one 17 year-old witness (whom the PNC claimed was 
18 so that his testimony would be admissible) who was a 
member of a gang.  The MOG had concluded that two gang 
leaders, who are imprisoned in Chimaltenango, had given 
instructions to their gang to kill the bus drivers because of 
their failure to pay protection money; the PNC had captured 
two gang members as they were entering the offices of a bus 
two gang members as they were entering the offices of a bus 
company to demand an extortion payment; and the PNC had 
arrested one of the alleged murderers.  PNC protection for 
the witness had been inadequate, however.  On a Friday 
afternoon, they gave the witness approximately $130 for the 
weekend, and told him to go find a hotel.  He did not return 
Monday morning, and his whereabouts are unknown. 
 
4. (C) This case highlighted CICIG's need to work with third 
countries -- including the U.S., Mexico, and Colombia -- to 
get cooperating witnesses into reliable witness protection 
programs outside the country.  It also highlighted the lack 
of cooperation between the MOG and Public Ministry, 
Castresana said.  While the PNC had made some progress in its 
investigation of the bus driver murders, the Public 
Ministry's dossier on the case differed (and was more 
incomplete) from that of the MOG, mentioning none of the 
MOG's witnesses or arrests.  Castresana believed that members 
of Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) were probably responsible for the 
murders.  He said that bus companies are so at the mercy of 
MS-13 gang members who extort them that many have resorted to 
hiring gang members as their security chiefs.  The hired gang 
members take a share of the profits and generally guarantee 
that the companies do not suffer other criminal acts. 
However, gang turf disagreements often arise, with bloody 
results.  Castresana suspected that the latest spate of 
killings was the result of just such a disagreement. 
 
Organized Crime Rings Within the Police 
--------------------------------------- 

5. (C) CICIG is also investigating a group of five transit 
police officers who branched out from car theft into other 
crimes, Castresana said.  The officers allegedly abducted an 
adolescent couple and their children, tortured them, raped 
the young woman, stole their belongings, and then released 
them.  Up to that point, the case had been common and 
unremarkable, Castresana said.  However, the young man 
involved was a nephew of former Minister of Defense General 
Julio Balconi.  Given their powerful connections, he and his 
girlfriend had felt empowered to file a criminal complaint 
against the police.  In retaliation, the same police two or 
three months later again abducted the young woman and a 
female friend who was with her, and murdered them both. 
Castresana said the case highlighted the presence of 
organized crime within a state structure, which falls within 
CICIG's purview for investigation. 
 
Murder of 9-Year-Old Girl 
------------------------- 

6. (C) In contrast, a case which does not fit CICIG's 
parameters, Castresana said, is one that First Lady Sandra 
Torres de Colom publicly asked CICIG to investigate in the 
course of a public speech March 6 (rf B).  Torres de Colom 
raised the case of 9-yearold Alba Mishell Espana from 
Camotan, Chiquimula, an extremely poor area.  In Espana's 
case, a local criminal gang had kidnapped her apparently with 
the intention of extorting ransom from her family.  However, 
its plans went awry when her abduction was immediately 
denounced in local media.  Their plans thus complicated, 
Castresana said, they raped and murdered the girl and dumped 
her body.  Given the facts of the case, CICIG viewed it as a 
common crime, and not as an emblematic case that would 
logically fall within CICIG's purview.  Torres de Colom, 
however, is of the view that investigating the gang would 
uncover more serious organized crime links. 
 
PARLACEN Murders 
---------------- 

7. (C) CICIG is also investigating the infamous February 2007 
murders of three Salvadoran Central American Parliament 
(PARLACEN) representatives.  Castrasena said that all signs 
continue to point to fugitive former Congressman Manuel 
Castillo of Jutiapa.  However, he said, in a likely attempt 
to distract public attention, Castillo's lawyer had recently 
gone to the offices of Human Rights Ombudsman Sergio Morales 
with a man purporting to be a witness to the crime. 
Specifically, the man claimed to have been the driver of 
Specifically, the man claimed to have been the driver of 
Javier Figueroa, a senior police official and close associate 
of the then Chief of the National Police, Erwin Spiresen. 
Castillo's attorney and the alleged witness claimed to have 
tapes of conversations implicating Figueroa in the PARLACEN 
murders.  Castresana commented that the driver was likely a 
Castillo plant intended to confuse the investigation. 
 
CICIG's Budget Adequate, But Security Lacking 
--------------------------------------------- 

8. (C) Regarding CICIG's organizational issues, Castresana 
said his funding was adequate.  While third-country 
prosecutors, investigators, and other professional personnel 
continued to join his staff, lack of third-country security 
officers was hindering his operations.  Guatemalan Special 
Administrative and Security Service (SAAS) personnel assigned 
to his office were capable of performing "generic" security 
functions, but they lack the ability to perform special tasks 
such as information security or counter-surveillance, and are 
of unknown loyalty and reliability.  CICIG's original concept 
of operations had called for exclusive use of international 
security officers, but these had not been provided in 
adequate numbers.  Furthermore, only about half of the few he 
did have had GOG weapons permits, meaning that they had to 
perform their duties unarmed. 
 
European Donors Concerned About Death Penalty 
--------------------------------------------- 

9. (C) Regarding recent domestic polemics about restoration 
of the death penalty, Castresana said some European donors 
had threatened to withdraw support for CICIG unless President 
Colom publicly renounced application of the death penalty. 
European donors were loath to provide support to a 
quasi-judicial organ that would investigate and prosecute 
crimes that could potentially be punished with the death 
penalty.  The Ambassador opined that the resurgence of the 
death penalty issue is just political theater intended to 
placate a population increasingly worried about rampant 
crime, and that there was little likelihood that any 
executions would, in fact, be carried out.  (Note:  Later 
that same day, Colom vetoed the bill that would have possibly 
permitted the resumption of executions.  End note.) 
 
Comment 
------- 

10. (C) Amid numerous challenges confronting CICIG, 
Commissioner Castresana appears to be making some progress on 
investigations of clandestine criminal groups that have 
infiltrated all sectors of Guatemalan society, including 
state institutions.  He also appears to have a realistic 
sense of the challenges he faces.  In addition to whatever 
CICIG achieves during its two-year mandate, sustainability of 
CICIG operations will require strengthening of local 
institutional capacity to ensure proper transition of CICIG 
functions upon expiration of its mandate in 2010 (assuming 
its mandate is not extended). 

Derham