WITNESSES AND MATERIAL EVIDENCE PRESENTED

Guatemala, April 15, 2011. The trial of the case concerning the murder of the former advisor to the Ministry of the Interior, Víctor Rivera, continued today before the High-Risk Trial Court. The acts took place on April 7, 2008 on Boulevard Vista Hermosa, located in Zone 15 of Guatemala City. In addition, the testimony of the former cohabitee of Jorge Alberto Choto Zepeda (murdered in January 2009) was also heard. The testimony confirmed that an apartment with a view of Boulevard Vista Hermosa had been rented in Zone 15 of the capital where Choto Zepeda kept a pair of binoculars. According to the hypothesis of the Public Prosecutor's Office, Choto Zepeda used the binoculars to monitor the victim in order to kill him.

The former manager of the Las Verapaces petrol station also provided a statement indicating that the family of Jorge Mario Paredes Córdova (alias "el gordo Paredes"), an alleged mastermind of the murder, were the owners of the business. According to the witness, Juan Antonio Vásquez (alias "maco"), an accused party, worked at the business as an accountant, and Aurelio Ruiz, another accused party, had ties to it. Another witness confirmed Paredes Córdova as the owner of the Las Mercedes ranch in San José Pinula, where Werner Gómez Sandoval (alias "Lupe") lived—a potential perpetrator of the murder whose whereabouts is unknown.

Material evidence was presented in the afternoon, including a nine millimeter Pietro Beretta firearm—one of the weapons used to murder Víctor Rivera. A deed was also presented which had been used to try to change the ownership of the weapon.