The body of René Maldonado from Prensa Libre (
On New Year’s Eve, the body was found of the magistrate (juez), Fausto René Maldonado Torres. He worked in Quetzaltenango and his body was found in Mazatenango. He had been beaten beyond recognition and had suffered knife wounds to his body, arms and fingers before dying when his throat was cut. He had received death threats and had reported these, in confidence, to the Human Rights Attorney of Quetzaltenango. He had also stated that he had refused to accept a bribe of 15,000 Quetzals to leave at liberty three suspects. In addition to this, he had accused his legal colleagues of receiving money to fix outcomes. It seems that he was also due to name names linked to corruption. The new President, Álvaro Colom, will be sworn in on 14th January at 14.00 hrs and brings with him the usual agenda, including security and justice. It has been said that he has links with the criminal underworld and is in the pocket of big business (CACIF) and the oligarch families. The latter was not an issue for the outgoing President, Óscar Berger. He will shamelessly scurry back into the arms of the elite families, from whence he came, having delivered nothing to the people of There is a sign on the Pan-American Highway, a little outside the capital on its way west, thanking the people of Guatemala for their taxes to rebuild the road after the damage caused by Hurricane Stan in 2005. This new structural investment will be of immense benefit to CACIF and oligarchs and it would be interesting to know how much, by way of taxes, escaped their grasping hands. The pain of poverty, violence, hunger, impunity and death suffered by Guatemalans continues to enrich the same few vampiric families. Will the cowardly killers of Fausto René Maldonado Torres be bought to justice during the Presidency of Álvaro Colom, or will this Presidency even care? Don’t hold your breath.
