Suspect’s Arrest in Guatemala Bishop’s Death Spurs Doubts

SAN SALVADOR —  Guatemalan police Thursday arrested a 24-year-old man with a police record as a suspect in the killing of Roman Catholic Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi, provoking more doubts than praise.

Two witnesses, examining photographs in police files, picked out Carlos Enrique Vielman Viani as the cleric’s killer, government Minister Rodolfo Adrian Mendoza Rosales told a packed news conference in Guatemala City. This was the first indication that police knew of a second witness.

Mendoza provided no further information about Vielman, except to remind reporters: “The captured man is a suspect. We are not sure that he committed the crime.”

International and Guatemalan civic groups were even less sure that Vielman is the killer. “I am almost certain they have the wrong guy,” said Dr. Robert Kirschner, a forensics specialist with Physicians for Human Rights.

Gerardi, 75, was beaten to death with an 8-pound concrete block Sunday, two days after he released a detailed study of human rights violations during Guatemala’s 35-year civil war. The 200-pound cleric’s body was dragged several feet after he was killed in his garage.

Vielman is a small man with a deformed right hand. “I can’t imagine him picking up an 8-pound slab of concrete and bashing someone repeatedly over the head with it,” Kirschner said.

Thousands attended Gerardi’s funeral Wednesday, many carrying placards with the bishop’s picture and the words “We Demand Justice.” The government also faces international pressure to solve the slaying.

Guatemala has a long history of political killings blamed on common crime.

“The government is determined to demonstrate that this was not a political crime,” said Oscar Recinos, founder of the Neighborhood Watch anti-crime organization. “We have been afraid that they would just grab some poor drunk.”

On Tuesday, several of the homeless men who live in the park outside the late bishop’s home expressed the same fear.

“They will try to blame us, and all we do is earn a few coins washing cars,” said one distressed man.