Rosenberg plots his own death

CICIG investigation refutes video tape from beyond the grave 

Rodrigo Rosenberg became a household name in Guatemala after he posthumously accused the President and First Lady of ordering his Mother’s Day murder last year. His words, left behind in video taped days before he was shot to death on a tree-lined boulevard, sent tens of thousands of protesters into the streets and sparked youth-led reform movements: “If you are watching this message, it is because I was assassinated by President Alvaro Colom, with help from [presidential secretary] Gustavo Alejos... I knew exactly how [they] were responsible for that cowardly murder [of Musa], and I told them so." But the case that once seemed powerful enough to topple a presidency came to a bizarre end on January 12 as investigators concluded that Rosenberg, distraught over the murder of his girlfriend and her father, ordered his own death.

The Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), a UN-backed investigatory body, found that Rosenberg instigated his own killing. He told his cousins that he and his family were being threatened by an extortionist, and requested that they hire hitmen to end the situation. However, the extortionist was fictitious, and the cousins were unaware that the target of the assassination would be Rosenberg himself.  The cousins contracted 11 hit men, more than half of whom are former or current military or police officers, to carry out the killing, investigators said.

The results of the investigation have been tentatively accepted by the national media, and the CICIG's work on the case held up as the standard by which all Guatemalan enquiries of this kind should be conducted.

Colom regards the investigation's results are a "vindication". In fact, the prime minister has emerged from the case with high approval ratings, appearing very much the statesman. He says now his name has been cleared, he plans restart stalled initiatives, like a tax-reform package and fighting violent crime. “The issue of security is one of the most important reforms for my government,” he says. “It’s the issue that affects Guatemalans more than any other”. Indeed, the country has a murder rate more than 8 times that of the US. Only 3.5% of last year’s 6,451 slayings were solved, CICIG said. 

TV Maya: multicultural media for a multicultural nation

Guatemala has deep-rooted problems with its racial diversity. It is, of course, an issue that stems back to the conquistadors who divided the nations along race lines, and which resurfaced again during the 40 years of civil war when over --- indigenous people were murdered. 

So it is hardly surprising that the country suffers from representing its huge underclass in the mass media. 

Weight Watcher: Chavez takes on obesity

A sizable man himself, some might argue that Hugo Chavez is an unlikely ambassador for lean living. However, few topics escape the president's attention, and his own considerable girth has not prevented him from commenting on Venezuela's expanding waistbands.  

The average Venezuelan has risen from to . And obesity is a growing trend across Latin America in general. Unlike Asian countries, where the indigenous diet of fresh vegetables and little meat is threatened by American imports of fizzy drinks, processed meat and fast food chains, the Latin American problem is ostensibly a double-edged sword. 

Favourite snacks across the continent include deep-fried delicacies such as chinceron (pork fat), double fried enchilladas, empenandas and other carb-heavy creations. Add to this the increasing Americanisation of national pallettes -

Mexican Human Rights Worker in London

Last weekend I went to see Mexican human rights defender, Tita Radilla, speak at the Frontline Club in London. Her father, a popular mayor and folk singer, was disappeared during the Guerra Sucia (Dirty War) of the 1960s and 70s.  

Her struggle centres around La Cuidad de Servicios (The City of Services), a compound used for detaining and torturing left-wing opponents of the Government. Tita is certain that the body of her father and many others are buried in the vicinity of La Cuidad, and she is nearing the end of a lengthly battle to bring the Mexican Government to justice. Despite constant death threats she has succeeded in bringing the case to the Inter-American Court - hopefully they will not ignore the overwhelming evidence on their side.

Tita and her comrades have been supported by Peace Brigades International, an organisation that sends impartial observers from the international community to help keep human rights defenders from being harmed.

New documentary on bus driver extortions and murders in Guatemala City

Guatemala: Riding with the Devil is part of Channel4's Unreported World series. Reporter Seyi Rhodes lifts the lid on a large-scale problem that the national and international media rarely cover. 

Nearly 200 bus drivers have been killed in Guatemala City so far this year - and the money left in the bodies' pockets rules out robbery. The film focuses on the theory that the drivers are extorted for protection money by the city's two rival gangs. But the relatives of the murdered drivers say that the victims were up-to-date with their payments. Guate is run by a culture of fear; it could be that the murders take place to maintain fear and respect for the gangs, and keep people paying money to them. Another popular opinion is that hit men are being paid by anti-Government forces to destabilise the country and stoke dissatisfaction for Colom's government. 

Reading Between the Lines

The struggle of the Sandanistas against the US has become a story of left-wing legend. The news that the US was trying to crush a genuinely socialist government attempting to haul the Central American country out of poverty struck a chord around the world as crowds of 'internationalistas' came to join the revolutionary effort.

Far less is known about similar situations in the rest of the region.

International Pen Appeal: Guatemalan Publisher Imprisoned

The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN (WiPC) protests the one-year prison sentence and fine handed down to publisher Raúl Figueroa-Sarti on 6 August 2009 for alleged copyright infringement. Figueroa is currently under house arrest and there are concerns for his safety. There are significant concerns that the case against Figueroa has been brought in retaliation for his publication of books on human rights abuses in Guatemala. The WiPC is therefore calling for the case against the publisher to be dropped and for him to be allowed to return to the USA, where he is resident.

On 6 August 2009, a court in Guatemala City sentenced the publisher Raúl Figueroa-Sarti (F&G Editores) to one year in prison and a 50,000 quetzales (approx. US$6,080) fine for allegedly publishing a photograph on a cover of a novel without the permission of the photographer, Mardo Arturo Escobar. Figueroa denies the charges and the prosecution appears groundless given that, since filing the case, Escobar has reportedly twice admitted that he did in fact give permission for the photo in question to be used. The prison sentence is commutable to a daily fine plus litigation costs, but Figueroa is currently under house arrest and unable to return to the USA, where he and his family live.

Established by Figueroa in 2003, F &G Editores is an internationally acclaimed independent publisher based in Guatemala. It publishes fiction, poetry, social science and legal textbooks and is known for its titles on the human rights and socio-political situation in Guatemala, including the final report of the United Nations-backed Guatemalan Truth Commission (Comisión para el Esclarcimiento Histórico, CEH) and publications for the Myrna Mack Foundation.

According to Figueroa, Escobar - who works for a court of law - approached him in 2006 with some of his photographs and asked F&G Editores to publish them. Figueroa explained that he did not publish photos but agreed to use one of Escobar's images on the front cover of a forthcoming title (Rafael Menjívar Ochoa's novel Cualquier forma de morir), and in return to provide Escobar with a credit on the back cover and some copies of the book. This arrangement reportedly went ahead as planned.

In August 2007, nine months after the novel was published, Escobar filed a complaint against Figueroa for copyright infringement with the Public Prosecutor's office, claiming that he had only found out about the use of the photo when he saw the book in a shop window. At an initial hearing in early 2008, Escobar reportedly acknowledged that he had given verbal permission for the photo to be used but as there was no written contract, he was asking for "compensation" of 72,000 quetzales (approx. US$8,752) in lieu of unpaid copyright fees. Despite this, in November 2008 the court ruled that Figueroa could be criminally prosecuted and banned him from leaving the country without the court's permission. At another hearing in July 2009, Escobar again admitted that he had authorised the use of a photo but said he had not specified which one. The case went ahead regardless.

Figueroa, who is resident in the USA, remains under house arrest in Guatemala City. Under Guatemalan law, he should reportedly be permitted to return to leave the country while awaiting the outcome of his appeal. However, given the nature of the case, there are fears that he may be prevented from returning to the USA and therefore from seeing his family. His wife and four-year-old daughter live in New York and are unable to travel to Guatemala due to threats issued against his wife there in 2007.