Guatemalan President Accused of Murder

Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom has been accused of murder, by a man already dead.  Attorney, Rodrigo Rosenberg made a video tape, days before his assassination, saying, that 'If you are watching this message, it is because I was assassinated by President Alvaro Colom with help from Gustavo Alejos" (the president's secretary).  Colom, the first left-of-center leader of Guatemala in half a century, an ordained Mayan minister, and a voice for the indigenous populations and working class, of which many live on $2 a day, is now being heavily challenged.

35,000 signatures were brought before the Congress today, asking for Colom to lose his immunity status, and be tried in court.  Many are calling for the leader to step down, with protests all weekend.  There is a danger of this becoming an issue between the rich and the poor, as those that want Colom impeached are business owners, and the more wealthy portion of the population.  His supporters, those that democratically elected him in 2007, are the poor.  They also staged demonstrations this weekend, in support of the President. 

Colom campaigned on a platform of social justice, and a crackdown on crime in Guatemala.  The country is only ten years beyond a three and a half decade long civil war, in which leftist groups fought against the US-backed government forces.  Hundreds of thousands were killed, or disappeared, many of them Mayan Indians.  In the aftermath, corruption and violent groups took hold of some of the nation's power structure, so that today organized crime is still an serious issue.  In 2007, the same year that Colom was elected, the UN set up the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) to address corruption.  According to the group, 98% of crimes in Guatemala go unpunished.  

Now the same man who promised to crack down on crime, is accused of being the criminal.  Rosenberg claims that he was a marked man because of his ties to Khalil Musa, a Guatemalan industrialist who was also murdered with his daughter earlier in the year.  Musa was supposedly working on exposing government corruption when he was killed.  Rosenberg says that Colom also was behind these crimes.  The President has asked the FBI and the UN to investigate, and clear his name.  Meanwhile, the political structure is at risk, potentially leaving a power vacuum in Guatemala.  

Does President Colom have anything to do with the murders of Musa, his daughter, and now Rodrigo Rosenberg?  Is he the people's false prophet, or a victim of his position?  If Rosenberg's accusations turn out to be true, where does that leave hope in one of the most beautiful and forgotten countries in the world?