Belgian Priest's Murder Ordered by Government</tit le> <meta name="description" content="Belgian Priest's Murder Ordered by Government"> <meta name="keywords" content="World History Archives Guatemala human rights priest"> <meta name="owner" content="brownh@hartford-hwp.com"> <meta name="security" content="public"> <meta name="generator" content="Mozilla 2.02 (OS/2;I"> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=EUC-2"> <meta http=equip="creation-date" content="03-Oct-97">  </head> <BODY bgcolor="#FFFBF0"> <img src="../bin/arrow.gif"> <a href="index-cb.html">Documents menu</a> <hr /> <font size="-1"> Date: Mon, 30 Jan 1995 12:13:11 CST<br> Reply-To: nicanet@nyxfer.blythe.org<br> Sender: Activists Mailing List <ACTIV-L@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu><br> From: NY Transfer News Collective <nyt@nyxfer.blythe.org><br> Subject: Weekly Update on the Americas #261 1/29/95<p> WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS<br> ISSUE #261, JANUARY 29, 1995</p><p> NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK<br> 339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499 </font><hr> <H1>Belgian Priest's Murder Ordered by Government</H1> <h2>From <em>Weekly Update on the Americas,</em> Issue 261, 29 January 1995</h2> <P>An investigation by the Guatemalan Archbishop's Human Rights Office (ODHA) has uncovered the identity of the government official who ordered the Dec. 19 killing in Guatemala City of Belgian priest Alfons Stessel [see Update #256], according to ODHA spokesperson Ronalth Ochaeta. Ochaeta didn't release the official's name but said his office would turn over its information to the Public Ministry. He said Marco Tulio Alvarez Salazar, a young gang member arrested Jan. 11 [see Update #259], participated in the murder along with three others. But the youths were carrying out orders by the unnamed government official, Ochaeta said. Initial reports indicated the Catholic priest was beaten to death during a nativity march, but later versions say he was beaten and shot to death on his way home from the march. Police reports have suggested that the youths killed Stessel to steal a tape recorder, but 300 quetzals the priest had in his pocket were left untouched. Ochaeta accused the police of irresponsibility in their investigation. He said Stessel had been investigating an attack by the unnamed official on another person when he was murdered. [Cerigua Weekly Briefs #2, 1/17/95] </p><p> On Jan. 11, Nineth Garcia of the Mutual Support Group (GAM) for relatives of the disappeared told the press that 1,488 cases of human rights violations were reported to her organization during 1994, including 1,062 murders, 20 of which were clearly political. The GAM statistics also show 138 cases of extrajudicial executions and 108 political disappearances in 1994, although 50 of those who were disappeared were later found. [IPS 1/11/95] As of Dec. 15 the Center for the Investigation, Study and Promotion of Human Rights (CIEPRODEH) reported a total of 1,057 cases of violations for 1994--126 more cases than in 1993. [Cerigua Weekly Briefs #1, 1/10/95] </p><hr> </BODY></HTML>