US embassy cable - 03GUATEMALA2587

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GERARDI WITNESS MURDERED

Identifier: 03GUATEMALA2587
Wikileaks: View 03GUATEMALA2587 at Wikileaks.org
Origin: Embassy Guatemala
Created: 2003-10-07 17:15:00
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Tags: PHUM PGOV KCRM ASEC GT
Redacted: This cable was not redacted by Wikileaks.
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.


 
UNCLAS GUATEMALA 002587 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, KCRM, ASEC, GT 
SUBJECT: GERARDI WITNESS MURDERED 
 
 
1.  Press reported the murder on October 5 of Erick Urizar, a 
defense witness in the murder case of Bishop Juan Gerardi. 
Urizar was shot while exiting his gun shop in the capital 
with his brother.  He had provided an alibi for ex-Capitan 
Byron Lima Oliva, convicted to 30 years imprisonment (since 
appealed) as the intellectual author of the Gerardi murder, 
which occurred April 26, 1998.  Ivan Urizar, Erick's brother, 
was wounded in the attack and is in serious condition in 
hospital.  There are no indications at this time that 
Urizar's murder was politically motivated. 
 
2.  Comment:  Several prosecution witnesses and one of the 
three military agents convicted of the Gerardi murder have 
been murdered since the start of the Gerardi investigation. 
The murder of Urizar does not appear to be 
politically-motivated, and may be attributable to spiraling 
violent crime in the capital. 
HAMILTON 

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