(영어번역사자격증학원)A Video from the Grave Sends Guatemala into Crisis(09.05.15)
When Rodrigo Rosenberg turned up dead on Mother's Day in an upscaleneighborhood in Guatemala City, his murder was seen as little more thananother execution-style shooting in one of Latin America's mostdangerous countries. Now, after a video emerged in which Rosenbergaccused Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom of orchestrating the murder,the killing has sparked civic unrest that threatens to topple thePresident of this fledgling democracy.
Thousands of protesters have demonstrated daily in front of thepresidential palace, calling for Colom's resignation. And politicianshave said Colom should step aside during the investigation intoRosenberg's death. "This is the most serious political crisis thecountry has faced since the signing of the peace accords" in 1996, saidAnita Isaacs, a Haverford College political science professor whostudies democratization in Guatemala. "The country is hanging on by athread."
The video spread across the Internet after family members handed itout during Rosenberg's funeral on Monday. In the 18-minute tape, aseemingly calm Rosenberg, sitting behind a desk and microphone, allegesthat Colom, the First Lady and two associates were involved in murder,corruption and money laundering. The group, he says, filtered publicfunds through a state-owned bank for personal gain and to finance drugtraffickers. Rosenberg then claims that after Khalil Musa, a prominentbusinessman and bank board member, had learned of the Coloms' scheme,Musa and his daughter were shot to death in front of a shopping centerin April. Rosenberg says the President signed off on the killings. (Watch the Rosenberg video.)
On Sunday, Rosenberg was shot in the head while riding his bicycle.In the previously recorded video, he declares, "If you are watchingthis message, it is because I was assassinated by President AlvaroColom, with help from [presidential secretary] Gustavo Alejos ... Iknew exactly how [they] were responsible for that cowardly murder [ofMusa], and I told them so and told those who wanted and could hear it."
Colom has repeatedly denied the allegations and refused calls totemporarily step down. "There is no proof, aside from the recording,which I discredit completely," he said. Colom also asked for assistancefrom international bodies, including a U.N.-backed investigatory bodyand the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations. Embassy officials saidan FBI agent arrived in Guatemala on Wednesday to help the government.
Colom won the presidency in 2007 with strong support from thecountry's impoverished indigenous Mayans. He ran on a leftist platformthat included confronting government corruption and violent crime,legacies of the country's 36-year civil war. That war ended in 1996,giving way to rampant street crime and drug trafficking. An average of18 people are killed daily in Guatemala, making it one of the mostdangerous countries in the Americas. (Read about the Guatemalan village that cocaine built.)
For Guatemalans and political observers, the implication of Colom'sinvolvement in Rosenberg's murder has recalled the days in which tensof thousands of political dissidents were abducted and killed by thegovernment. Colom's own uncle, a former mayor of Guatemala City, was"disappeared" in 1979. "Rosenberg's death mirrors the tactics themilitary government used during the 1970s and 1980s when they wantedsomeone silenced," says Isaacs.
Colom has said the Rosenberg video is part of a right-wingconspiracy designed to destabilize the government and ultimately bringhim down. In a broadcast interview, he suggested that Rosenberg wascoerced into making the video. Colom pointed to a radio journalist,Mario David Garcia, as the key link to the conspiracy. Garcia, apresidential candidate for an ultra-right-wing party in the 1980s, toldTIME he helped Rosenberg record the video in his office the week beforethe murder. "It's outrageous. There was never any coercion," Garciasays. "I even left the office while he was recording the video." Garciasays Rosenberg came to him for help and to appear on Garcia's radioshow but changed his mind and decided to record the video. (Read a story about the turmoil in Guatemala in the 1980s.)
Nevertheless, Colom supporters have seized the conspiracy theory todefend the President. "We're here in support of our President andagainst these lies trying to bring him down," said Anita Lopez, 32, asshe rallied in front of the presidential palace on Wednesday. Studentsof the left-leaning public university and indigenous Mayans joined her.Many said the government bused them to the city from the suburbs.
Steps away, thousands of protesters, including students fromright-leaning private universities, marched in front of thepresidential palace, carrying signs calling Colom an "assassin" anddemanding his resignation. The competing protests are the most visiblesign of a politically charged environment that has the potential tocause Colom to resign, Isaacs says. "This country has for so long beenparalyzed by the pervasive violence and the potent mix of gangs andnarcotraffickers," she says. "Now that paralysis has turned into rage.And if these demonstrations pick up momentum, they could have asnowball effect."
Organizers are planning to continue the demonstrations andanti-government activists are collecting signatures on a petitionagainst Colom. Says Javier Ogarrio, a leader of the group opposed tothe President: "We plan to keep the protests going and collectsignatures until we put enough pressure on him."
(영어번역사자격증학원)A Video from the Grave Sends Guatemala into Crisis(09.05.15)
