PRESS RELEASE 038
"EL TAQUERO" TO STAND TRIAL IN THE BUS NICARAGUA CASE
Guatemala, June 4, 2012. The Court A of the First Instance for High-Risk Matters ruled, in the case Bus Nicaragua, that Marvin Montiel Marín or Marvin Leonel Barrios (known as "el Taquero", the taco seller) be sent to oral and public trial on charges of unlawful association; conspiring to illegally obtain, store and traffic illicit substances; and the murder of 16 people.
Furthermore, Mynor Aroldo Gutiérrez and Francisco Concoguá Martínez will be tried on the same charges; however, Sara Elizabeth Cruz Mansilla, who lives with Montiel Marín, was sent to trial on charges of unlawful association.
During the intermediate hearing held today, the defense of the accused filed a motion to dismiss based on a lack of cause of action—aimed at removing the International Comission against Impunity in Guatemala from the proceeding, which it acts in as a complementary prosecutor. The judge overseeing the case dismissed the motion.
On Thursday, June 7, 2012, at 13:00 hours, the hearing to submit evidence will be held.
Case Background
On November 8, 2008, Montiel Marín—a suspected drug trafficker in the Zacapa area—and a group of hired assassins intercepted a bus that was en route from Nicaragua with 16 passengers on board, and they took it to his ranch in Río Hondo. At the ranch, they murdered all of the people who were travelling on the bus, later dousing them in gasoline and burning them.
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