Saturday, March 26, 2005
Gen. Luis Francisco Ortega Menaldo
Clandestine Powers: In the late 70s and early 80s, Luis Francisco Ortega Menaldo worked in military intelligence out of an office in the Public Finance Ministry. He later served as sub-director, then director, of army intelligence. From 1991 to 1993, he was head of the Presidential General Staff (EMP). He reportedly was one of the most prominent supporters of President Serrano Elias’ unsuccessful effort to seize unconstitutional powers in an “auto-golpe” (self-imposed coup) in May 1993 (See REHMI).
Ortega Menaldo, a graduate from the notorious School of the Americas, was one of the chief architects of a powerful and sophisticated clandestine apparatus that grew out of the Public Finance Ministry- 'La Cofradía' with other retired Gen. Manuel Callejas y Callejas, ex-head of Customs Agency, which brings together members of military intelligence since the days of Lucas Garcia. In the late 70s, the Guatemalan army established an office in the Finance Ministry to detect the traffic of weapons destined for leftist armed groups. Ortega Menaldo was a key player there (1978-1982).
Ortega Menaldo networked to expand his reach into other state institutions and to carry out his own contraband operations, drug trafficking, and other illicit activities. During Ortega Menaldo’s tenure as head of army intelligence, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) coordinated its operations with military intelligence.
Ortega Menaldo allegedly recruited some of his closest confidants – including Col. Esdras Salán Sánchez, Gen. Robin Macloni Morán Muñoz, Col. Napoleón Rojas Méndez, and Lt. Col. Rolando Díaz Barrios – and used the information that he obtained to expand and assure impunity for the drug trafficking activities in which he and his cronies were involved.
In this same period, the DEA and the CIA financed new equipment and enhanced military intelligence’s technological ability to monitor and intercept telephone communications. To this day, Ortega Menaldo and others involved in clandestine groups allegedly use this equipment, until recently operated by the EMP, to conduct illegal espionage against their opponents.
In 1996, under President Arzú, Gen. Ortega Menaldo agreed to retire because of his involvement in a major contraband ring headed by Alfredo Moreno Molina.
With the electoral victory of Alfonso Portillo, Ortega Menaldo recouped his stature as a power broker. Although he did not hold an official government position, Ortega Menaldo was presumed to have been one of the President Portillo’s top advisors. (SOURCE: Washington Office on Latin America)
See also summary of Ortega Menaldo's network in a piece written by Jose Ruben Zamora, El Periodico (although badly translated)
Ortega Menaldo, a graduate from the notorious School of the Americas, was one of the chief architects of a powerful and sophisticated clandestine apparatus that grew out of the Public Finance Ministry- 'La Cofradía' with other retired Gen. Manuel Callejas y Callejas, ex-head of Customs Agency, which brings together members of military intelligence since the days of Lucas Garcia. In the late 70s, the Guatemalan army established an office in the Finance Ministry to detect the traffic of weapons destined for leftist armed groups. Ortega Menaldo was a key player there (1978-1982).
Ortega Menaldo networked to expand his reach into other state institutions and to carry out his own contraband operations, drug trafficking, and other illicit activities. During Ortega Menaldo’s tenure as head of army intelligence, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) coordinated its operations with military intelligence.
Ortega Menaldo allegedly recruited some of his closest confidants – including Col. Esdras Salán Sánchez, Gen. Robin Macloni Morán Muñoz, Col. Napoleón Rojas Méndez, and Lt. Col. Rolando Díaz Barrios – and used the information that he obtained to expand and assure impunity for the drug trafficking activities in which he and his cronies were involved.
In this same period, the DEA and the CIA financed new equipment and enhanced military intelligence’s technological ability to monitor and intercept telephone communications. To this day, Ortega Menaldo and others involved in clandestine groups allegedly use this equipment, until recently operated by the EMP, to conduct illegal espionage against their opponents.
In 1996, under President Arzú, Gen. Ortega Menaldo agreed to retire because of his involvement in a major contraband ring headed by Alfredo Moreno Molina.
With the electoral victory of Alfonso Portillo, Ortega Menaldo recouped his stature as a power broker. Although he did not hold an official government position, Ortega Menaldo was presumed to have been one of the President Portillo’s top advisors. (SOURCE: Washington Office on Latin America)
See also summary of Ortega Menaldo's network in a piece written by Jose Ruben Zamora, El Periodico (although badly translated)
# posted by Pad @ 9:10 AM 
