VZCZCXRO2113
RR RUEHLA
DE RUEHGT #0241/01 0761507
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 171507Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY GUATEMALA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7112
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 0050
RHMCSUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUATEMALA 000241 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DOL FOR PCHURCH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM KCRM KJUS KDEM PGOV ELAB GT
SUBJECT: TWO POLICE OFFICERS ARRESTED FOR 1984 FORCED 
DISAPPEARANCE 
 
¶1. (U) Summary:  After 25 years of eluding justice, two 
suspects -- an active-duty police officer and a retired 
police officer -- were arrested March 5 and 6 for the 1984 
disappearance of labor leader Edgar Fernando Garcia, late 
husband of influential Congresswoman Nineth Montenegro.  The 
arrests, the first in Guatemalan history for a forced 
disappearance during the internal conflict, came after years 
of investigation by the Human Rights Ombudsman's Office and 
NGO Mutual Support Group, which Montenegro founded in 1984. 
Evidence linking the suspects and two others to Garcia's 
disappearance was found in the Historic National Police 
Archives dating back to the internal conflict period.  The 
arrests reflect political will in key Guatemalan 
institutions.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) On March 5, authorities arrested National Civil Police 
(PNC) officer Hector Roderico Ramirez Rios in Guatemala City 
for the 1984 forced disappearance of 27-year-old labor leader 
Edgar Fernando Garcia, late husband of Congresswoman Nineth 
Montenegro.  On March 6, authorities arrested a second 
suspect, former PNC officer Abraham Lancerio Gomez, in San 
Juan Sacatepequez.  Both were members of the extinct National 
Police (PN), precursor to the modern PNC that was established 
in 1997. 
 
¶3. (U) Garcia, a clandestine member of the underground 
Guatemalan Workers' Party (PGT), was last seen on February 
18, 1984 after leaving his home in Guatemala City to attend a 
meeting.  Witnesses reported that Garcia had been arrested 
and taken to the Fourth Police Precinct.  When Montenegro 
went to look for him at the precinct, police denied that 
Garcia had been arrested.  After months of searching for her 
disappeared husband, Montenegro founded the Mutual Support 
Group (GAM) in 1984 to provide support to other women in her 
situation.  The organization expanded to provide support to 
other family members of the disappeared and to demand 
justice.  In 1997, under a new mandate to investigate cases 
of forced disappearances, the Human Rights Ombudsman's Office 
(PDH) began to investigate Garcia's disappearance. 
 
¶4. (U) An investigation by PDH, using the National Police 
Archives under its custody, led to the arrest of the two 
police officers.  A police report of a February 18, 1984 
capture of "two subversives" at the time and place where 
Garcia was last seen, was used as evidence by PDH.  Other 
evidence included the orders to execute the illicit act and a 
1984 police report authorizing the decoration of four police 
officers for their participation in the arrest.  According to 
PDH, the Garcia file contains 1,375 pages of documents, of 
which 1,000 directly mention the accused.  Eight witnesses 
located by GAM during its investigation of the case, 
including the testimony of Danilo Chinchilla who was detained 
along with Garcia and wounded by gunfire, provided supporting 
evidence. 
 
¶5. (U) At the time of his arrest, Ramirez was a high-ranking 
PNC officer, serving in Quetzaltenango.  Lancerio retired 
from the PNC in 2005.  Both suspects remain in custody at a 
preventive detention center in Guatemala City.  Two other 
police officers are under investigation.  Ramirez and 
Lancerio are accused of illegal detention, kidnapping, abuse 
of authority, forced disappearance, and lesser crimes against 
humanity.  At a March 5 preliminary hearing, the judge 
ordered Ramirez detained on the first three charges.  (Note: 
Qordered Ramirez detained on the first three charges.  (Note: 
Neither suspect can be charged for forced disappearance or 
lesser crimes against humanity because they were not crimes 
in 1984, and the law cannot be applied retroactively.  End 
note.) 
 
¶6. (U) Human Rights Ombudsman Sergio Morales publicly 
announced that these arrests could lead to more arrests in 
this case and other similar cases.  PDH investigators noted 
that during the government of Gen. Humberto Mejia Victores, 
the National Police was used by the Army to repress those who 
opposed the state.  GAM, an NGO that for more than 25 years 
has sought justice in forced disappearance cases, was among 
those targeted, with reportedly 60 members killed and an 
additional 28 forcibly disappeared during the internal 
conflict. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Comment:  These arrests, which garnered front-page 
media attention, represent a significant development in the 
fight against impunity.  They are the first arrests for a 
forced disappearance committed during the nternal conflict, 
and may open the way for arrests in other such cases, with 
 
GUATEMALA 00000241  002 OF 002 
 
 
increased use of the police archives under PDH custody. 
(Germany and other European countries support conservation 
and cataloguing of the archives.)  Nineth Montenegro is a 
tenacious, influential, and well-regarded Congresswoman and 
human rights activist who fought for justice for 25 years and 
secured these arrests in part through her political 
connections and perseverance.  While these arrests are 
positive indicators of political will to combat impunity, it 
is too soon to tell if these arrests will eventually lead to 
trials and convictions in the thousands of other cases of 
individuals "disappeared" by the state during the long 
internal conflict. 
McFarland