International investigators working with local prosecutors and supported by the United Nations said on Tuesday that Rodrigo Rosenberg, gunned down in a wealthy Guatemala City suburb in May, actually plotted the murder himself to frame the president and spark a social outcry.
“Who planned the act? We have to conclude that it was Rodrigo Rosenberg himself,” said Carlos Castresana, the head of the independent commission set up in 2007 to give support to the weak justice system in Guatemala.
The day after he was killed, a recorded video and a written statement was delivered to the Guatemalan media with Rosenberg saying that Colom wanted him dead.
“If you are watching this message it is because I have been murdered by Alvaro Colom,” Rosenberg said in a spine-chilling 20-minute videotaped speech.
The scandal sparked a flurry of anti-government protests calling for Colom’s resignation and the case was passed to the commission.
Rosenberg — who was suffering from serious personal problems after a messy divorce, the death of his mother and the double murder of his client and his girlfriend — said in his speech that Colom, the first lady and one of the president’s advisors were embezzling government funds and laundering drug money.
He blamed Colom for the murder in April 2009 of one of his clients, prominent businessman Khalil Musa, along with Musa’s daughter Marjorie, who was Rosenberg’s girlfriend.
Rosenberg said on the tape he thought Musa was killed because he knew about the money laundering plot.
Castresana said Rosenberg hired his own killers by convincing two distant relatives he was being extorted and needed to find a paid hitman to kill the extortionists.
The relatives apparently did not know Rosenberg was actually the target of his own plan. He even sent himself threatening messages from a different cell phone.
Rosenberg recorded the ominous video with the help of friends, apparently thinking the murder scandal would spark a public movement against Colom’s government, Castresana said.
“He decided to sacrifice his life in exchange for a change in the country, and that’s what he did. There can be no other explanation,” said Castresana.
In a news conference Colom, a centre-leftist, hailed the findings of the commission as a victory and said the country could now leave the scandal behind.
