Post by THE Man They Call Uberto on May 20, 2009 17:29:58 GMT -5
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GUATEMALA CITY (May 20) -- Guatemala finds itself in a crisis after a lawyer's 18-minute video from the grave implicates the country's president in his slaying.
On Monday, government opponents submitted 35,000 signatures to demand that Congress start procedures to strip President Alvaro Colom of immunity from prosecution over allegations that he ordered Rodrigo Rosenberg's murder. Colom, Guatemala's first leftist president in more than 50 years, has faced mounting calls for his resignation since the video surfaced.
He denies the accusations and has asked the FBI and a U.N. panel to investigate.
After Rosenberg was found shot in the head in an upscale Guatemala City neighborhood on Mother's Day, his family distributed a video in which he named the country's president as his killer.
Rosenberg, sitting behind a desk and microphone, alleges that Colom, the country's first lady and two associates were involved in murder, corruption and money laundering. In the video, Rosenberg said officials might want to kill him because he represented businessman Khalil Musa, who was slain in March along with his daughter. The lawyer said Musa, who had been named to the board of Guatemala's Rural Development Bank, was killed for refusing to get involved in purported illicit transactions at the bank.
On Monday, government opponents submitted 35,000 signatures to demand that Congress start procedures to strip Colom of immunity from prosecution over allegations that he ordered Rosenberg's murder. Colom, Guatemala's first leftist president in more than 50 years, has faced mounting calls for his resignation since the video surfaced.
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posted: 4 HOURS 16 MINUTES AGOcomments: 39filed under: World NewsPrintShareText SizeAAAGUATEMALA CITY (May 20) -- Guatemala finds itself in a crisis after a lawyer's 18-minute video from the grave implicates the country's president in his slaying.
On Monday, government opponents submitted 35,000 signatures to demand that Congress start procedures to strip President Alvaro Colom of immunity from prosecution over allegations that he ordered Rodrigo Rosenberg's murder. Colom, Guatemala's first leftist president in more than 50 years, has faced mounting calls for his resignation since the video surfaced.
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Crisis in GuatemalaAP82 photos Days after a lawyer was shot in the head in Guatemala City, a video of the man naming the country's president as his killer has spread across the Internet and thrown the Latin American country into tumult. Rodrigo Rosenberg's 18-minute video from the grave, above, alleges that President Alvaro Colom, his wife and two associates were involved in murder, corruption and money laundering.(Note: Please disable your pop-up blocker)
He denies the accusations and has asked the FBI and a U.N. panel to investigate.
After Rosenberg was found shot in the head in an upscale Guatemala City neighborhood on Mother's Day, his family distributed a video in which he named the country's president as his killer.
Rosenberg, sitting behind a desk and microphone, alleges that Colom, the country's first lady and two associates were involved in murder, corruption and money laundering. In the video, Rosenberg said officials might want to kill him because he represented businessman Khalil Musa, who was slain in March along with his daughter. The lawyer said Musa, who had been named to the board of Guatemala's Rural Development Bank, was killed for refusing to get involved in purported illicit transactions at the bank.
On Monday, government opponents submitted 35,000 signatures to demand that Congress start procedures to strip Colom of immunity from prosecution over allegations that he ordered Rosenberg's murder. Colom, Guatemala's first leftist president in more than 50 years, has faced mounting calls for his resignation since the video surfaced.
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He denies the accusations and has asked the FBI and a U.N. panel to investigate.
The video was shot in the office of journalist Mario David Garcia, who says he tried to persuade Rosenberg to denounce what he knew on the air but ran out of time.
"This is the most serious political crisis the country has faced since the signing of the peace accords [in 1996]," Anita Isaacs, a Haverford College political science professor told TIME magazine. "The country is hanging on by a thread."
The process for stripping presidential immunity starts with the attorney general, who decides whether there is enough evidence to open an investigation. Then he must ask Congress to lift the president's immunity.
The petition asks Congress to pressure Attorney General Amilcar Velasquez to start that process. The petitioners decided to go through Congress because they did not trust Velasquez — a Colom appointee — to act on his own, said Luis Pedro Alvarez, one of the lawyers who submitted the petition.
Colom allies hold enough legislative seats to block Congress from sending the petition to the attorney general, however.
Alvarez warned that petition organizers would call for a national strike if Congress does not act within eight days.
In response to Colom's request, an FBI agent arrived in Guatemala last week to coordinate with local prosecutors and with the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, a U.N. panel set up in 2007 to clean up corruption.
Colom's 2007 election victory gave Guatemala its first leftist leader since Jacobo Arbenz was thrown out of office in 1954 by a CIA-orchestrated coup.
GUATEMALA CITY (May 20) -- Guatemala finds itself in a crisis after a lawyer's 18-minute video from the grave implicates the country's president in his slaying.
On Monday, government opponents submitted 35,000 signatures to demand that Congress start procedures to strip President Alvaro Colom of immunity from prosecution over allegations that he ordered Rodrigo Rosenberg's murder. Colom, Guatemala's first leftist president in more than 50 years, has faced mounting calls for his resignation since the video surfaced.
He denies the accusations and has asked the FBI and a U.N. panel to investigate.
After Rosenberg was found shot in the head in an upscale Guatemala City neighborhood on Mother's Day, his family distributed a video in which he named the country's president as his killer.
Rosenberg, sitting behind a desk and microphone, alleges that Colom, the country's first lady and two associates were involved in murder, corruption and money laundering. In the video, Rosenberg said officials might want to kill him because he represented businessman Khalil Musa, who was slain in March along with his daughter. The lawyer said Musa, who had been named to the board of Guatemala's Rural Development Bank, was killed for refusing to get involved in purported illicit transactions at the bank.
On Monday, government opponents submitted 35,000 signatures to demand that Congress start procedures to strip Colom of immunity from prosecution over allegations that he ordered Rosenberg's murder. Colom, Guatemala's first leftist president in more than 50 years, has faced mounting calls for his resignation since the video surfaced.
News Alerts
The latest updates sent straight to your inbox.
Get AOL News Alerts » Slain Lawyer's Video Rattles GuatemalaAOL / Wire Services
posted: 4 HOURS 16 MINUTES AGOcomments: 39filed under: World NewsPrintShareText SizeAAAGUATEMALA CITY (May 20) -- Guatemala finds itself in a crisis after a lawyer's 18-minute video from the grave implicates the country's president in his slaying.
On Monday, government opponents submitted 35,000 signatures to demand that Congress start procedures to strip President Alvaro Colom of immunity from prosecution over allegations that he ordered Rodrigo Rosenberg's murder. Colom, Guatemala's first leftist president in more than 50 years, has faced mounting calls for his resignation since the video surfaced.
Skip over this content
Crisis in GuatemalaAP82 photos Days after a lawyer was shot in the head in Guatemala City, a video of the man naming the country's president as his killer has spread across the Internet and thrown the Latin American country into tumult. Rodrigo Rosenberg's 18-minute video from the grave, above, alleges that President Alvaro Colom, his wife and two associates were involved in murder, corruption and money laundering.(Note: Please disable your pop-up blocker)
He denies the accusations and has asked the FBI and a U.N. panel to investigate.
After Rosenberg was found shot in the head in an upscale Guatemala City neighborhood on Mother's Day, his family distributed a video in which he named the country's president as his killer.
Rosenberg, sitting behind a desk and microphone, alleges that Colom, the country's first lady and two associates were involved in murder, corruption and money laundering. In the video, Rosenberg said officials might want to kill him because he represented businessman Khalil Musa, who was slain in March along with his daughter. The lawyer said Musa, who had been named to the board of Guatemala's Rural Development Bank, was killed for refusing to get involved in purported illicit transactions at the bank.
On Monday, government opponents submitted 35,000 signatures to demand that Congress start procedures to strip Colom of immunity from prosecution over allegations that he ordered Rosenberg's murder. Colom, Guatemala's first leftist president in more than 50 years, has faced mounting calls for his resignation since the video surfaced.
Skip over this content
Watch more YouTube videos on AOL Video
He denies the accusations and has asked the FBI and a U.N. panel to investigate.
The video was shot in the office of journalist Mario David Garcia, who says he tried to persuade Rosenberg to denounce what he knew on the air but ran out of time.
"This is the most serious political crisis the country has faced since the signing of the peace accords [in 1996]," Anita Isaacs, a Haverford College political science professor told TIME magazine. "The country is hanging on by a thread."
The process for stripping presidential immunity starts with the attorney general, who decides whether there is enough evidence to open an investigation. Then he must ask Congress to lift the president's immunity.
The petition asks Congress to pressure Attorney General Amilcar Velasquez to start that process. The petitioners decided to go through Congress because they did not trust Velasquez — a Colom appointee — to act on his own, said Luis Pedro Alvarez, one of the lawyers who submitted the petition.
Colom allies hold enough legislative seats to block Congress from sending the petition to the attorney general, however.
Alvarez warned that petition organizers would call for a national strike if Congress does not act within eight days.
In response to Colom's request, an FBI agent arrived in Guatemala last week to coordinate with local prosecutors and with the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, a U.N. panel set up in 2007 to clean up corruption.
Colom's 2007 election victory gave Guatemala its first leftist leader since Jacobo Arbenz was thrown out of office in 1954 by a CIA-orchestrated coup.
