US embassy cable - 03GUATEMALA651

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUATEMALA 000651 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PREL, KJUS, GT, OAS 
SUBJECT: MACK CASE MISSTEP INCREASES SUSPICION 
 
REF: GUATEMALA 623 
 
1. (U) Summary: The case against the GOG on behalf of the 
family of murdered anthropologist Myrna Mack was presented 
February 18-20 in the Inter-American Court in San Jose, Costa 
Rica.  In the days leading up to the trial, FM Gutierrez 
attempted to short-circuit this hearing by publicly accepting 
state responsibility for Mack's death and withdrawing GOG 
representative Ricardo Alvarado Ortigoza from the trial.  The 
court would have none of this.  GOG lawyers returned for the 
closing arguments and Gutierrez, a co-founder of the Myrna 
Mack Foundation, took responsibility for the misstep.  Mack's 
sister, human rights activist Helen Mack, pushed the case 
forward despite Gutierrez's antics.  In the wake of the 
public audience, both sides await the IACHR's decision, 
expected in about three months. End summary. 
 
Background 
---------- 
 
2. (SBU) Before Foreign Minister Edgar Gutierrez was 
appointed by President Portillo as head of the GOG 
Secretariat for Strategic Analysis, he was one of the 
 
SIPDIS 
co-founders, along with Helen Mack, of the Myrna Mack 
Foundation (FMM).  The Mack Foundation was established in 
1993 in memory of Myrna Mack, a slain anthropologist who was 
a close friend (and by some accounts an intimate) of 
Gutierrez's.  Gutierrez worked at the Mack Foundation until 
1998, when he left to work at the Archbishop's Office of 
Human Right's Historical Memory Project (RHEMI).  In 2000, 
Portillo offered Gutierrez the senior GOG advisory position 
because of the close personal relationship they developed at 
the University of San Carlos in the 1970s.  As a colleague of 
Gutierrez's put it, "Gutierrez thought this was an 
opportunity to do some good within the government," after a 
career of working on civilian security issues from an NGO 
perspective. 
 
3. (SBU) Human rights leaders tell us that while many were 
suspicious of Gutierrez after he joined the GOG in 2000, 
Helen Mack was initially his constant defender.  That 
relationship soured in recent years, as trust turned to 
suspicion.  Human Rights Ombudsman Sergio Morales still 
professes confidence in Gutierrez, but many other human 
rights leaders now see the divide between Gutierrez and his 
former colleagues in the human rights movement as 
insurmountable.  The misstep in San Jose made the breach 
final, according to our human rights contacts. 
 
Confused Correspondence 
----------------------- 
 
4. (U) On February 17, the day before the trial at the IACHR 
in Costa Rica was set to begin, Gutierrez announced that the 
Government of Guatemala admitted responsibility for the 
murder of Myrna Mack Chang in September 1990.  Gutierrez had 
sent a letter on February 14 to the IACHR accepting state 
responsibility.  The GOG did not, however, address the other 
charges (including delayed justice and the involvement of the 
Presidential Guard (EMP) in the murder).  The IACHR and the 
Mack family, which appeared as the plaintiff in the case, 
considered the admission of state responsibility in the 
murder insufficient, and pushed forward with the trial on 
February 18.  On February 19, the GOG removed its 
representatives, including Ricardo Alvarado Ortigoza, since 
appointed as Ambassador to Geneva (reftel), from the 
proceedings. 
 
5. (U) With the GOG representatives absent, the Mack team 
presented their evidence against the state and concluded the 
proceedings on February 20.  The GOG team returned for the 
final arguments, after the presentation of evidence phase 
concluded.  Both sides are waiting for the IACHR to present 
its conclusion, which Helen Mack told us could take up to 
three months.  What is unknown at this point is whether the 
GOG's partial withdrawal from the proceedings will influence 
the court's decision. 
 
6. (U) Gutierrez has argued that his ministry's actions were 
well-intentioned but misunderstood.  Gutierrez has responded 
to criticism by stating that the GOG's intent was not to 
limit state's responsibility for the murder, but instead to 
clarify state involvement in Mack's murder.  Gutierrez 
claimed that the GOG, under President Portillo, supports full 
investigation of human rights crimes of the internal 
conflict.  Gutierrez publicly lamented the fact that his 
first letter to the IACHR caused skepticism about the GOG's 
motives and denied he was "covering up" for the EMP or other 
GOG entities charged with human rights abuses, as his critics 
claim. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
7. (SBU) This debacle at the IACHR further undermines 
Gutierrez's credibility with former friends in the human 
rights community and will make achieving consensus on a 
CICIACS all the more difficult.  Time will tell if Gutierrez 
can make it up to civil society, but we see reconciliation as 
highly unlikely before Portillo and Gutierrez leave office. 
HAMILTON