Guatemala President
Alvaro Colom Cleared Over Murder
A UN investigation has cleared Guatemala's
President Alvaro Colom of involvement in the
murder of a prominent lawyer, Rodrigo
Rosenberg.
Mr Rosenberg, who died last May, had warned
in a video that he would be killed on the
orders of the president.
Now UN investigator Carlos Castresana says
Mr Rosenberg ordered his own assassination.
He added that the lawyer's own cousins
carried it out without knowing Rosenberg was
the victim.
He was shot dead days after recording a
video saying the president was out to kill
him, and would be responsible if he were
found dead.
Investigators now believe that Rosenberg
asked cousins of his first wife to help him
contact a hitman.
He then fed information to his killers,
using a second mobile phone to leave himself
threatening messages.
'Distraught'
The newspaper The Guatemala Times says he
was distraught over what he claimed were
murders and money-laundering by the
president and his aides.
The paper adds that he may have planned his
own death to topple the government.
Colom has always denied any involvement in
the killing.
He suggested that both the murder and the
video were a reaction to his attempts to
tackle organized crime.
The investigation was carried out by the UN
agency known as the International Commission
against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG).
The commission was created in 2007 to tackle
widespread corruption in the country.
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