Originally perceived to be a high profile murder with possible political links, it turned out that Rodrigo Rosenberg ordered a hit on himself, a suicide.
The media in general accepts the findings of CICIG; they congratulate CICIG for their professional work. But many publications include a paragraph where it is made clear that the case is not solved entirely until the murders of Khalil Musa and his daughter Marjorie Musa have been solved too.
This implies that for many of the editorialists and columnists the original accusations launched by Rosenberg in his video, against the government and government associates regarding the Musa murders, money laundering and corruption are still considered valid until proven otherwise. There is no real separation between the death of Rosenberg and the Musa murders. The two cases are considered one.
The private sector representative, Chamber of Industry, Andres Zepeda, has emitted a statement accepting the findings of CICIG, but calling for the investigation of the Musa murders to finalize the case. The private sector, CACIF, Chamber of Commerce, the Association of Agro-industries, where the sectors who invested the most resources in paid declarations and calling for public demonstrations against the government, when lawyer Rosenberg was killed.
Analyzing the internet comments of the readers on the different newspapers websites, it is clear that most of them do not believe the facts presented by CICIG.
The demographics of internet use in Guatemala is a definite factor on who writes comments to newspaper articles on the internet and who has no access to the internet, or does not opine online.
CICIG did an excellent job in team work with the Guatemalan Public Ministry. Despite enormous pressures from political opposition sectors and certain elements of the media, Castresana applied the appropriate police investigation techniques and solved the case.
As he said, this is how all murder cases should be investigated in Guatemala, and we agree fully with that statement.
It also means, that the police investigations in Guatemala can work, if applied correctly and with the proper resources.
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CICIG has stated that their priority now is to solve that murders of Khalil and Marjorie Musa, the disadvantage in this case is that CICIG was called in several weeks later. This makes the investigations much more difficult.
One of the reasons why the Musa murders and the Rosenberg case are so firmly linked is because they both seemed to implicate the current government.
The cases have become a political weapon, very convenient for the already beginning election race for 2011. President Colom is a Social Democrat; his relationship to the Guatemalan private sector is strained.
A Social Democrat in Guatemala is considered a leftist by the conservative sectors of society; the US Think Tanks also call Colom a leftist. Being a leftist in Latin America today means you are in bed with Chavez, a terrible and tragic oversimplification of the regional political tendencies, that can have grave consequences, as has been demonstrated already by the Honduras coup.
These murder cases and the reaction of Guatemala's society are very symbolic of Guatemala's persisting class and caste system; there are two Guatemala's, the powerful and the powerless, that have existed since the colonial times. To understand the intricacies, idiosyncrasies and nuances of Guatemalan society in the present, it is indispensable to understand Guatemala's history.
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