Three ARENA politicians murdered in Guatemala

Three members of the Central American parliament (PARLACEN) from El Salvador's ARENA party were found murdered last night in Guatemala along with their driver. The group was traveling to a working group meeting of PARLACEN. Gunmen apparently attacked the SUV in which they were driving; the bodies were found in the burned out shell of the vehicle. Among the dead is Eduardo D'Aubuisson, son of the founder of ARENA. There is no known motive for the crime. You can read the news reports from Reuters, the BBC or El Faro.

Comments

Anonymous said…
In a strange way; justice has been done....
Tim said…
That comment is not appropriate and reflects the belief system which spawns death squads and vigilante killings in the region.

What we can hope for (but may not be realistic to expect) is a thorough and speedy investigation by Guatemalan authorities which brings the actual perpetrators to a trial in a court.
Unknown said…
Mis condolencias a la familia de mi amigo y ex-companero d'Abuisson. Su vacio se sentira entre nosotros.
Anonymous said…
The FMLN appears to agree with Tim on this issue. Here is the FMLN's response in CoLatino:

FMLN pedirá investigación a gobierno guatemalteco
El FMLN lamentó los asesinatos, y se solidarizó con los familiares de los fallecidos y con la bancada legislativa de ARENA, al tiempo que demandó del gobierno de Guatemala una exhaustiva investigación para encontrar a los responsables.
“Es un hecho repudiable, que debe condenarlo todo el país”, expresó el secretario de comunicaciones y diputado de la Asamblea Legislativa Sigfrido Reyes, quien considera necesario que las autoridades guatemaltecas implementen las medidas de seguridad que garanticen el funcionamiento del PARLACEN.
Laurie said…
Here is the article in Guatemala's Prensa Libre.
Rusty said…
I think Saca and ARENA are handling themselves extremely well through this, not using it for political gain (yet), waiting for the truth to come out. It seems more than coincidence to me that today is the 15th anniversary of Eduardo's father's death, and that recently we've had so much controversy about honoring Roberto. Roberto the father's actions were the reprehensible product of a horrible war. Eduardo the son had nothing to do with this, and the kind of disregard for human life and decency of democratic discussion this murder represents is what led to the war in the first place.

If this was an assassination, it reinforces my belief that perhaps the biggest threats to progressive development in El Salvador are the same people who should be supporting it: Salvadoran Leftists. Unfortunately, the experience of the war destroyed the moderate left and radicalized the progressive movement, and the salvadoran people don't have a viable alternative to the neoliberal, oligarchic politics of ARENA. Until El Frente proves it's a viable political force and not a bunch of thugs, people will continue to choose the lesser evil of ARENA.

The leftists who are applauding such assassinations as that of the police officer last year and this of D'abuisson should be working instead to organize unions, peaceably assemble, and work on get-out-the vote campaigns and community education in order to win a true, peaceful revolution based on respect for human life. But then, such democratic change takes a lot more work and releases a lot less anger than a well-placed bullet, and so the extremists take the day again.

The FRENTE needs to come out against this in a serious way to maintain unity in Salvadoran society.
Anonymous said…
"the lesser evil of ARENA."

I beg your pardon? Even the Satan himself basks in awe at ARENA's malevolence. Not only for whatever happened before, during, but also after the war. In my opinion, FMLN is just a virgin lass in comparison. Also, if you take notice of larry's post, it seems FMLN is stepping up and asking for an investigation into the issue.


Relating to the issue, I believe that this crime could be linked to organized crime. Why? Several members linked to the ARENA government have been involved in money-laundery, drug trafficking, gunrunning... I'm not really saying that one of the departed WAS in fact involved into one of these activities, but perhaps it is a possibility and would be interesting to see any pertinent organizations start investigating the departed's bank accounts (not only that, but PARLACEN isn't exactly sacrosanct-- with people like Oscar Arias calling it a pigpen of corruption).

Here take a look:

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/47/093.html
http://www.diariocolatino.com/nacionales/detalles.asp?NewsID=15643

Hm, all of this death squad talk, and the rumoured possible link to organize crime got me thinking if perhaps the material criminal could've been a kaibil (Guatemalan special ops with the distinguished honor of slaughtering thousands upon thousands of Mayans, that after the war sell their guns to the highest bidder to the point they've become cartel favorites to act as hitman or bodyguards)... Sick world... specially considering that those poor folks were buried alive, that is just flat out brutal.
Anonymous said…
*burned alive...
Anonymous said…
It's impossible to say who did it. It's been reported that the dead still had their valuables--watches, laptops--which could point to a political crime. I hope not. I support the left, and I don't think that "dueling death squads" is what the country needs. As we see in Iraq, once the gates of hell are opened, they're very hard to close again.

ARENA is smart to reserve judgement...perhaps remembering how Aznar and the Popular Party in Spain were punished electorally for immediately blaming ETA the Madrid bombings in March 04.
Anonymous said…
I don't think ARENA has been reserving judgement. The party as referred to these deaths as being the latest in a long line of martyrs of the anticommunist movement.