HomeNewsBriefPhone Calls Illustrate Power of Guatemalan Ex-Army Officer
BRIEF

Phone Calls Illustrate Power of Guatemalan Ex-Army Officer

ELITES AND CRIME / 10 SEP 2014 BY MARGUERITE CAWLEY EN

As the trial begins of a Guatemalan ex-military officer accused of running a bribery ring from prison, where he is serving a sentence for a high-profile murder, phone recordings presented as evidence provide an inside look at how the scheme played out.

Guatemala's Public Ministry is using more than 7,500 recordings as evidence in the case against former Captain Byron Lima Oliva, who allegedly directed an operation from Pavoncito prison -- south of Guatemala City -- in which prisoners paid him to have them transferred to other penitentiaries, reported Prensa Libre. National prison service director Edgar Camargo is among those accused of collaborating with Lima.

Some of these recordings were played on September 9 during the first hearing for Lima and other suspected members of the network. In a recording from July, two men identified by Prensa Libre as Lima and his associate -- ex-convict Carlos Cermeño Espina -- apparently discuss the transfer of Juan Fernando de Leon Amezquita, a prisoner convicted of fraud (listen below).

Cermeño: "Hello, how are we 'Mi Bravo'? A pleasure to greet you."

Lima: "Do you think we can move someone from sector 13 to here [Pavoncito]?"

Cermeño: "Certainly Mi Bravo, the tango [code for transfer] is all set, but you just need to pass by the BBM and coordinate with him [another assistant]. When do you want it for?"

In another recording, the two are heard discussing payments for the transfer, reported elPeriodico.

"For you to move him I'll give $5,000 [to Camargo, who is referred to as the 'Lord of the Skies'] and $2,000 to you," said Lima. 

A later recording details de Leon Amezquita happily settling into his new home in Pavoncito, reported Siglo 21

Conversations were also recorded in which Camargo and Cermeño apparently discussed both that transfer and the transfer of another prisoner (listen below).

InSight Crime Analysis

The recordings highlight the respect Lima was shown by other members of the network. This is likely thanks to his military background, a key factor in allowing Lima to construct such a major scheme while serving time in prison.

They also indicate the close relationship the transfer ring had with the prison director, and therefore the pivotal role official corruption played in the network. 

Lima is among Guatemala's most notorious criminals, making these accusations especially noteworthy. He was convicted in 2001 of the 1998 murder of Bishop Juan Gerardi, a prominent human rights activist who had released a damning report days before his death about atrocities committed by the army. Lima is now being tried for money laundering and organized crime, and a total of 12 suspects are accused of participating in his bribery network.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

CARTEL OF THE SUNS / 2 MAY 2022

In 2016, two adopted nephews of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro were found guilty of a conspiracy to bring 800 kilograms…

ELITES AND CRIME / 23 FEB 2022

With cries of corruption mounting against Guatemala’s president, the country’s Attorney General has taken minimal action and instead ramped up…

COCAINE / 7 SEP 2022

César Peralta, alias "El Abusador," became the most powerful and well-connected drug trafficker in the Dominican Republic.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…