From: Aftenposten
Date: 05.05.2006
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 CARACAS 001213
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958:
DECL: 05/03/2021
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, KIRF, KCRM, VE
SUBJECT: MURDER OF PRIEST PITS BRV AGAINST CHURCH
REF: A. CARACAS 959 B. VATICAN 70
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Classified By: Robert Downes, Political Counselor, for Reason 1.4(b).
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Summary
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1. (C)
The recent murder of Catholic Priest and senior official of
the Venezuelan Bishops´ Conference (CEV) has touched off
another round of recriminations between the church and state.
Father Jorge Pinango was found murdered in a seedy Caracas
hotel room on April 24, two days after disappearing. Attorney
General Isaias Rodriguez divulged very personal details of the
case and implied that the priest had been murdered during a
homosexual tryst with a prostitute, an allegation that drew
fiery criticism from the church, and even caused some recoil
within Chavismo. The three theories about the case are:
1) a street crime involving a hallucinogenic drug;
2) a prostitution case gone bad; and
3) a government operation to sully Venezuela´s most trusted
institution.
While the real facts of the case will probably never be known,
we would not completely discount the pretty far-fetched
government conspiracy theory, especially given the
government´s adversarial relationship with the Catholic
Church. End summary.
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A Real Life Murder Mystery
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2. (U)
The body of Father Jorge Pinango, who was the sub-secretary
general of the CEV, was found April 24 in the Bruno Hotel near
Caracas´ Sabana Grande, an area dotted with such
pay-by-the-hour establishments. Pinango, 47, had last been
seen alive the early morning of April 22, when he dropped off
his niece in the tough Caracas neighborhood of El Valle after
a family graduation party. He was wearing street clothes and
not attired as a priest. When Pinango failed to return that
night to the CEV compound where he resided, senior CEV bishops
filed a formal missing persons report. The priest´s putrefied
body was discovered by the hotel´s cleaning staff the
following day. His Ford Explorer, registered to the CEV, was
found the next day, April 25, at a shopping center in eastern
Caracas. There were some reports that a security camera at the
shopping center showed more than one person in the vehicle.
3. (U)
The first press reports, based on testimony of hotel staff,
stated that the priest had driven to the hotel at 0540 the
morning of April 22 in the company of a young man later
identified as Andres Rodriguez Rojas, 26, who was subsequently
apprehended on April 26. Rodriguez Rojas reportedly left the
room at 0830, paid for the next 24 hours, and then departed
the hotel in the Ford Explorer. Rodriguez Rojas then
reportedly ran up US$1,000 in bills on Pinango´s credit cards.
Investigators found two empty beer cans in the room and a drug
later identified as Rivotril (also called Klonopin), an
anti-anxiety prescription drug often abused as a depressant.
According to medical examiners, Pinango was murdered by
suffocation and had scratches on his nose and mouth, and a
wound in the anal area.
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Attorney General Meltdown
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4. (U)
Attorney General Isaias Rodriguez gave a press conference
April 25 with very different details from those described
above. He asserted that Pinango´s companion was dressed as a
woman but was actually a man. He said the priest had left the
room a few hours after entering ask where he could buy drugs
(stimulants, Rodriguez said, not depressants), departed the
hotel, and returned three hours
CARACAS 00001213 002.2 OF 004
later. Rodriguez spoke rather indelicately about the injuries
to Pinango´s private areas, clearly implying that Pinango had
been engaged in homosexual activity. Rodriguez said he was
forced to reveal these details because the media was
attempting to spin the priest´s death as an example of
Venezuela´s growing crime problem. When the head of
Venezuela´s technical police (CICPC), Marcos Chavez, publicly
contradicted many of Rodriguez´ facts and said the motive of
the murder appeared to be car theft, Rodriguez lashed out at
the police chief and announced plans to re-assign
investigators and bring Chavez up on charges for conspiring to
discredit him. Minister of Interior and Justice Jesse Chacon
came out as a sort of Bolivarian referee, declaring that while
it was fairly clear the priest was engaged in homosexual
activity, it was possible that the priest was asleep at the
time. Chacon also noted that the accused had a history of
drugging victims in order to rob them.
5. (U)
Undeterred, Rodriguez staged a second, lengthy, and emotional
press conference in which he assured reporters that the
autopsy results would back up his initial claims of an illicit
tryst, and asserted that Pinango was partially responsible for
his own murder. He also hinted that Pinango suffered from
AIDS. Rodriguez then threatened to resign if authorities
covered up the truth, leading to a rambling monologue about
how Rodriguez had never aspired to the position of Attorney
General, was fed up with the BRV bureaucracy, sick of having
to have "14 bodyguards," and had very few days left in office.
(Note: Rodriguez´ seven-year term ends next year.)
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The "Burundanga" Drug: Scopolamine
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6. (U)
The autopsy results, however, showed no traces of a stimulant
in the priest´s system, according to press reports. The
toxicology study did confirm, however, the presence of
scopolamine, commonly known as the "date rape drug" or
"Burundanga" in Venezuela and Colombia, which reportedly
induces a hypnotic state and retrograde amnesia (i.e., victims
do not remember details before ingestion). The drug is
commonly used in robberies in Caracas, with some reports
telling of victims aware enough to operate automatic tellers
at the bidding of the perpetrators. (Note: According to
Internet sources, the drug was once used as a crude truth
serum.)
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Catholic Bishops Demand Fair Investigation
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7. (U)
The CEV issued a communique rejecting Rodriguez´ statements,
accusing him of tainting the investigate. The bishops
admonished the government not to release information at the
preliminary stage of the investigation and to pursue the facts
of the case. The bishops said Pinango´s murder once again
showed the "grave situation of lack of security and moral
decay" affecting the country. CEV Vice President and
Archbishop of Coro Roberto Luckert, an outspoken BRV critic,
called for Rodriguez´ resignation because, he said, the
Attorney General lacked "the common sense and judgment" to
handle such a complicated murder case.
8. (C)
CEV Secretary General Jose Ramon Viloria told Poloff May 3
that the CEV had asked veteran criminal lawyer Juan Marin
Echeverria (who is also the lawyer for the NGO Sumate) to
represent the Church´s interests in the case. Viloria said
that Minister of Communications Willian Lara had visited CEV
headquarters after Rodriguez´ outburst and apologized on
behalf of the government. Chacon also phoned CEV President
Ubaldo Santana with apologies, and agreed to meet privately
with him on May 3. Viloria doubted the BRV was capable of
conducting a fair investigation of the priest´s murder.
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Murder Theories: Conspiracy The Early Favorite
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9. (C)
Viloria noted that there were three possible explanations for
Pinango´s murder. First, he said, Pinango might have been
murdered during an attempted robbery using the hypnotic drug.
Second, he said, it was possible Pinango was engaged in a
secretive encounter with a male prostitute. While he said he
was fairly sure Pinango was not a homosexual, he thought it
unlikely that the priest would imprudently pick up a
prostitute and drive with him to a hotel in a CEV vehicle.
Also, he recalled Pinango´s professional performance during
this three years at the CEV, pointing out that Pinango had an
appointment at CEV at 0800 that same morning that he
uncharacteristically missed. Pinango had never spent the night
away from his CEV residence before, Viloria added. He also
said he had received word that the hotel room had been
reserved the day before, suggesting the crime was not the
result of a chance encounter.
10. (C)
The third possibility was a government-inspired attempt to
discredit the Church, which Viloria thought at least 60
percent likely. Information filtered to the CEV from the
autopsy indicated that there was no indication of homosexual
activity (read, no semen traces). He alleged that the murder
suspect had ties to the government, pointing out that his
defense attorney, Carlos Duran, is a prominent pro-Chavez
attorney who has defended revolutionaries such as Lina Ron.
According to Viloria, the suspect also had two government
police credentials, though he admitted the suspect was also a
known document counterfeiter. Viloria said the bishops suspect
that BRV authorities had wanted to kidnap Pinango, apply the
"truth serum" drug, and then extract information about former
CEV President (and ardent Chavez foe) Baltazar Porras. Viloria
said the Pinango murder had put all of the bishops on alert
against similar crimes being committed against them.
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The Victim Claims Torture
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11. (U)
Suspect Andres Rodriguez Rojas, through his attorney, alleged
he was innocent of the murder charges. Attorney Carlos Duran
said his client boarded the priest´s vehicle with the
intention of applying the sleeping drug Rivotril, but the
latter became nervous when he suspected they were being
followed. Duran claims Venezuelan police held his client for
several days, applying torture methods to get a confession.
Rodriguez Rojas was then taken to a bus station where, Duran
asserted, police staged a public arrest.
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Comment
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12. (C)
This case will no doubt join the pantheon of Venezuela´s
unsolved mysteries, such as the car-bombing of prosecutor
Danilo Anderson and the burning death of the soldiers at
Fuerte Mara. An investigation free of political tint is all
but impossible. We of course cannot draw a conclusion about
how or why Pinango was murdered. The idea of BRV operation to
discredit the Catholic Church is pretty far-fetched, but not
out of the realm of possibility, especially given the Church´s
recent sparring with the BRV over the Fadoul murders (ref a)
and the general tension between the two institutions. Prior to
that scrap, it had appeared that the BRV and the Church under
Urosa had been seeking a closer relationship, and Bolivarian
sources are now pushing the idea of a "moderate" Church
faction led by Urosa, challenged by a radical, "golpista"
faction, whose patron was retired Cardinal Lara. The BRV´s
suggestion of this kind of "schism" in the Church will do
nothing to calm the waters. Also notable is Attorney General
Rodriguez´ near implosion and damage control efforts by other
Bolivarians. Rodriguez´ trademark verbal incontinence has been
running fairly wild
CARACAS 00001213 004.2 OF 004
lately, causing us to wonder if the increasingly uneven A/G
will reach the end of his term.
BROWNFIELD