Guatemala Today

Last week the media reported that President Alvaro Colom has taken a bold and unexpected step in his housecleaning of the government's security apparatus with the firing of the high-ranking advisor Victor Rivera Azuejo -- a tremendously powerful former Venezuelan intelligence officer who has served as a top consultant to the Guatemalan police since 1996 on kidnapping cases and other specialist matters.

Rivera, who is also known by his alias "Zacarias," first came under public scrutiny following the brutal slayings of the three Parlacen Congressman from El Salvador in Guatemala. These murders, carried out by a suspicious organized "death squad" which was also believed to be involved in social cleansing operations, were linked directly to Rivera. Colom's opponent in the presidential campaign, Gen. Otto Perez Molina, and his chief deputy Roxana Baldetti of the Partido Patriota, filed a complaint before the attorney general, claiming they had proof of Rivera's involvement as a commander of the death squads and other links to organized crime. A congressional investigation was launched as a result, eventually leading to the resignation of Interior Minister Carlos Vielmann and Chief of Police Erwin Sperisen. Rivera, however, was able to keep his position thanks to protection from supporters among the elite, as well as Vielmann’s replacement, Adela de Torrebiarte.