Saturday, March 26, 2005
Gen. Otto Perez Molina
Clandestine Powers: A 1973 graduate of the military academy (Escuela Politécnica), Otto Pérez Molina (born 01/12/1950) is said to be one of the prominent leaders of 'El Sindicato'. From 1992 to 1993, Pérez Molina served as head of the Army Intelligence Directorate (D-2). In 1993, he led the group of military officers who opposed then- President Elías Serrano’s auto-golpe (self imposed coup). In the aftermath, he replaced Francisco Ortega Menaldo as head of the Presidential General Staff (EMP). This sequence of events sparked an intense rivalry between the two men that continues to this day. Perez Molina was head of the EMP when Jorge Carpio Nicolle was assasinated.
Pérez Molina has played a complicated role in Guatemala. Appointed Inspector General of the Army (Inspector General del Ejército) in 1996, Pérez Molina was the Guatemalan military’s representative at the negotiations of the Peace Accords between the guerrillas and the government. Two years later Pérez Molina went to Washington, DC to head the Guatemalan delegation before the Inter-American Defense Board. He was forced into retirement at the beginning of the Portillo administration. Pérez Molina has been implicated in a number of human rights violations. According to the Human Rights Office of the Archdiocese of Guatemala (ODHAG), there is evidence that links the EMP with the 1994 assassination of Judge Edgar Ramiro Elías Ogaldez.
General Héctor Alejandro Gramajo, who served as Defense Minister from January 1987 to May 1990, once described this strategy more crassly, stating:
Pérez Molina’s role as a leader of the network of current and retired military officers known as the El Sindicato has put him in the company of men, such as Gen. Roberto Letona Hora, who have been accused of corruption. Peréz Molina fiercely criticized the Portillo administration for undue political influence of ex-military officers connected to military intelligence.
On February 24, 2001, Pérez Molina formed the Patriot Party (Partido Patriota, PP). In March 2002, Pérez Molina and his political allies, including the presidential candidate of the National Unity of Hope (Unidad Nueva Esperanza, UNE) Álvaro Colom, led a march of about 3,000 demonstrators through the capital to demand the resignation of President Portillo and Vice President Francisco Reyes López because of their alleged funneling of state resources into bankaccounts in Panama.
In 2003, the Patriot Party banded together with the Reform Movement (Movimiento Reformador, MR) and the National Solidarity Party (Partido de Solidaridad Nacional, PSN) to form the Great National Alliance (Gran Alianza Nacional, GANA) coalition. On November 9, 2003, Pérez Molina was selected a deputy to the Guatemalan Congress for GANA. (SOURCE: Washington Office on Latin America)
According to Fundacion Myrna Mack, Perez Molina has been fortunate that Berger needed party political backing, which perhaps gave the Patriot Party a better showing at the polls as part of GANA. Perez Molina was Commisioner for Security, but left after disagreements, ostensibly for Berger's contact with Rios Montt.
According to the Interior Ministry, Perez Molina has been an assassination target with three others, for his role in apprehending Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, a Mexican drug trafficker. He escaped from prison in Mexico in January, 2001. In March, 2005, wanted posters and a $5 million cash reward has been offered for his arrest from the DEA - http://crime.about.com/od/wanted/a/chapo_reward.htm
Pérez Molina has played a complicated role in Guatemala. Appointed Inspector General of the Army (Inspector General del Ejército) in 1996, Pérez Molina was the Guatemalan military’s representative at the negotiations of the Peace Accords between the guerrillas and the government. Two years later Pérez Molina went to Washington, DC to head the Guatemalan delegation before the Inter-American Defense Board. He was forced into retirement at the beginning of the Portillo administration. Pérez Molina has been implicated in a number of human rights violations. According to the Human Rights Office of the Archdiocese of Guatemala (ODHAG), there is evidence that links the EMP with the 1994 assassination of Judge Edgar Ramiro Elías Ogaldez.
General Héctor Alejandro Gramajo, who served as Defense Minister from January 1987 to May 1990, once described this strategy more crassly, stating:
“You needn’t kill everyone to complete the job.... We instituted Civil Affairs, which provides development for seventy percent of the population, while we kill thirty percent.”He has also been implicated in the murder of guerrilla leader Efraín Bámaca. According to press accounts, a detailed document delivered to the U.S. Embassy in 1996 revealed that Bámaca’s fate was weighed by military leadership. The document stated that it was Pérez Molina, then head of theEMP, who ordered two of his officers “to make Bámaca disappear.”
Pérez Molina’s role as a leader of the network of current and retired military officers known as the El Sindicato has put him in the company of men, such as Gen. Roberto Letona Hora, who have been accused of corruption. Peréz Molina fiercely criticized the Portillo administration for undue political influence of ex-military officers connected to military intelligence.
On February 24, 2001, Pérez Molina formed the Patriot Party (Partido Patriota, PP). In March 2002, Pérez Molina and his political allies, including the presidential candidate of the National Unity of Hope (Unidad Nueva Esperanza, UNE) Álvaro Colom, led a march of about 3,000 demonstrators through the capital to demand the resignation of President Portillo and Vice President Francisco Reyes López because of their alleged funneling of state resources into bankaccounts in Panama.
In 2003, the Patriot Party banded together with the Reform Movement (Movimiento Reformador, MR) and the National Solidarity Party (Partido de Solidaridad Nacional, PSN) to form the Great National Alliance (Gran Alianza Nacional, GANA) coalition. On November 9, 2003, Pérez Molina was selected a deputy to the Guatemalan Congress for GANA. (SOURCE: Washington Office on Latin America)
According to Fundacion Myrna Mack, Perez Molina has been fortunate that Berger needed party political backing, which perhaps gave the Patriot Party a better showing at the polls as part of GANA. Perez Molina was Commisioner for Security, but left after disagreements, ostensibly for Berger's contact with Rios Montt.
According to the Interior Ministry, Perez Molina has been an assassination target with three others, for his role in apprehending Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, a Mexican drug trafficker. He escaped from prison in Mexico in January, 2001. In March, 2005, wanted posters and a $5 million cash reward has been offered for his arrest from the DEA - http://crime.about.com/od/wanted/a/chapo_reward.htm
# posted by Pad @ 9:24 AM 
