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[Music] Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at
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any time you need support, please contact your local crisis center. For suggested phone numbers, for
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confidential support, and for a more detailed list of content warnings, please see the show notes for this
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episode on your app or on our website. [Music] In early May of 2009, a prominent
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Guatemalan attorney named Rodrigo Rosenberg Mazano began receiving threatening phone calls.
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The call started on Tuesday, May 5, and always played out the same way. Rodrigo's cell phone would ring, he
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would answer, and the person on the other line would issue a menacing message before terminating the call.
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These calls came through once or twice a day and were typically between 10 to 15
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seconds long, just enough time to deliver a death threat. Sometimes the caller said nothing at
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all. They just left a heavy, drawn out silence before hanging up. Most disturbingly of all, sometimes
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Rodrigo's phone would ring as soon as he returned home to his apartment after leaving work for the day. Just as he
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answered his phone, the person on the other end would hang up. The caller didn't block their number,
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and Rodrigo could see its unfamiliar digits appear on his phone screen each time they called.
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He jotted the number down and passed it on to a longtime friend and mentor, explaining that he was being stalked and
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his apartment was likely under surveillance. Other friends and family members of
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Rodriggo's noticed how nervous he seemed during this time. His adult son, Eduardo, observed how
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Rodrigo had started looking over his shoulder every time he got into his car. On Saturday, May 9, 5 days into the
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threatening calls, Rodrigo invited Eduardo to take a day trip with him to the pretty colonial city of Antigua,
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which was popular with tourists. Eduardo noticed how nervous his father seemed, dithering over which car they
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should take for the hour-long drive from Guatemala City and then constantly glancing anxiously around him when they
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arrived at their destination. The final threatening call from the mysterious phone number came through
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early the following morning of Sunday, May 10. Within minutes of receiving the call,
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Rodrigo would be dead. [Music] the Republic of Guatemala is a Central American country located immediately
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south of Mexico. Rich in history and natural resources, its striking landscapes are dotted with
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volcanoes, rainforests, and sprawling plantations that grow coffee beans, cacao, bananas, and sugar cane.
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But the wealth of its land is not shared by the majority of its people. While Guatemala is relatively small in terms
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of size, its population is one of Central America's largest. And in 2009, roughly half of that population lived
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below the poverty line. Colonization and exploitation of the country's natural resources have led to
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generations of Guatemalans suffering violence, political turmoil, and racism. In 1954, the country's second ever
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democratically elected president was overthrown in a coup d'etat orchestrated by the United States Central
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Intelligence Agency and a multinational corporation called the United Fruit Company.
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They didn't approve of the employment and agrarian reforms being made by Guatemala's then president. The United
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Fruit Company's profits from bananas produced and harvested in Guatemala were being impacted by the country's
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softening of exploitive labor practices. Believing Guatemala's administration was
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too left-leaning and therefore communist in nature, the CIA installed a right-wing military dictatorship in the
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foreign country. This ultimately triggered a four decadesl long civil war between the
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military and leftist rebel groups. More than 200,000 Guatemalans were killed during the Civil War and more
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than 70,000 disappeared without a trace. At least 90% of the killings were committed by state military forces or
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paramilitary death squads and every single Guatemalan was affected either directly or indirectly by the violence.
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The military dictatorship finally ended in 1985 with the civil war concluding a decade later and a peace accord reached
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between the government and the rebels in 1996. But life didn't improve for many Guatemalans.
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The conclusion of the war had sidelined soldiers and paramilitary units. So they
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transitioned from state sanctioned violence to the illegal kind. They formed organized crime gangs known
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as illegal clandestine security apparatuses or seaks which trafficked drugs, facilitated illegal adoptions,
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crafted fake passports, kidnapped victims for ransom, embezzled and laundered money, and provided murder for
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hire services. These criminal networks even infiltrated government and law enforcement agencies,
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leading to corruption and chaos at the highest levels. Instead of violence reducing after the
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war, it increased. In 2009, almost 15 years after the Civil War ended, the country's homicide rate
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peaked with 46 murders per 100,000 people. 98% of these crimes would go unsolved
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with no arrests or resolution via the country's justice system. In 2007, one United Nations official
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remarked, "Guate is a good place to commit a murder because you will almost certainly get away with it."
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The citizens who suffered the most from Guatemala's instability and discord were
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members of the indigenous Mayan population who experienced the brunt of the violence and criminality.
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Many Mayans also lived in impoverished conditions, suffering from income inequality, chronic malnutrition, and
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lack of education. Guatemala's upper class is mostly made up of European immigrants and their
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descendants. In 2009, 47year-old corporate attorney Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano was a member
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of this elite group. Rodrigo was born 6 years after the CIA's installation of a dictatorship toppled
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Guatemala into chaos and his parents were very wealthy. His mother had inherited her money while his father was
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a highly successful businessman. Their wealth allowed Rodrigo to attend the country's best schools and then
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later study at England's University of Cambridge as well as Harvard in the US. But even as a highly privileged
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individual, Rodrigo was impacted by the violence that was so prevalent around him. When he was 18 years old, his
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brother Bobby was kidnapped for ransom after being targeted as the child of a wealthy couple. Before Rodrigo's parents
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could exchange money for Bobby's release, his body was found off the side of a road outside of Guatemala City, the
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nation's capital where the family resided. Bobby's captives were never arrested or
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charged for his murder. [Music] Despite this family tragedy, Rodrigo went on to obtain his bachelors and
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masters in law. In 1987, when he was still in his 20s, he co-founded a prestigious corporate law firm, making
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him wellknown in business and legal circles. He also raised a family, marrying twice
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and fathering four children. Yet, by the spring of 2009, both of his marriages had ended in divorce, and he
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was living alone in a luxury apartment located in Guatemala City's affluent zone 14 neighborhood.
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Life was comfortable, if not entirely smooth sailing. Rodrigo was still going through a difficult custody battle with
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his second wife, and his mother had recently died. But on the whole, he was the picture of success when he started
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receiving threatening phone calls in early May 2009. The calls over six consecutive days had
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left Rodrigo visibly rattled and impacted a day trip to Antigua with his son Eduardo on Saturday, May 9.
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He was back home at his apartment in Guatemala City that night and called a longtime friend to chat.
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Rodrigo told his friend Aziza Musa about the latest goings on in his life, adding
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that he planned to go on a long bike ride the next morning to clear his head. The next morning, he woke early. At
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6:30, he received yet another threatening call from the unknown caller. Like all of the others, it was short and
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unsettling. Still, Rodrigo went about his morning as planned and called his personal driver
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at 7:58 a.m. to let him know he was headed out on a bike ride. At about 8:05, he wheeled his bicycle
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out of his apartment building, mounted the bike, and cycled away along the two-lane treelined street, dressed in
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navy shorts, a navy t-shirt, and white Adidas runners. He listened to music on an iPod as he
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rode several hundred meters down the street before turning onto a service road. Shortly after this, a chauffeur named
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Luis Lopez Florenne made his way over to Rodrigo's apartment. Luis had been Rodrigo's personal driver
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for a long time, and their relationship went beyond that of an employer and employee.
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Rodrigo considered Louise a trusted friend and a confidant, and the two were very close.
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As Louise drove down a service road near Rodrigo's home, he noticed a number of paramedics and police officers crowded
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around a figure lying on the ground. It was Louis's boss, Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano.
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He had been shot five times with a 9mm handgun. Three times in the head, once in the neck, and once in the back.
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Luis phoned Rodrigo's son, Eduardo, and told him to go immediately to his father's apartment.
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He didn't want the young man stumbling upon the grizzly crime scene. Luis refused to tell Eduardo what had
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happened, but made it clear there was an emergency. Eduardo hung up and began dressing in a
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panic before calling Louise back and demanding answers. "Is my dad dead?" Eduardo asked. "Yes," replied Louise.
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[Music] The Rosenberg family was devastated by the sudden and brutal murder of Rodrigo,
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but quickly set about making plans for his funeral. The service was held the following day
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of Monday, May 11, at a cemetery on the outskirts of Guatemala City. May is the beginning of the rainy season
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in Guatemala, and heavy clouds gathered overhead as the mourers made their way across the cemetery's trimmed green
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lawns. Organizers played Blues for Salvador, a song by the American rock band Santana
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that Rodrigo had always said he wanted to play at his funeral. His son Eduardo gave a moving eulogy wherein he thanked
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everyone for attending and helping the family as they began their grieving process.
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Towards the end of the funeral, as Rodrigo's casket was being lowered into the ground, a man named Luis Mendesal
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stepped forward and requested permission to speak. Luis Mendesal was a longtime friend of
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Rodriggo as well as his mentor and confidant. The older man had known Rodrigo since he
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was a boy and had helped find Rodrigo's brother's remains after he was kidnapped.
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Luis was holding a bag filled with the DVDs in blank cases. He announced to the crowd of mourners,
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"All of us who are here loved Rodrigo very much, and all of you are wondering why someone like Rodrigo, who never
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harmed anyone, was murdered." Well, Rodrigo left me with the answer. If you want to know the truth about what
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happened to him, then here is his testimony. He held up the DVDs, adding that anyone
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who wanted a copy could take one. Many onlookers took Louise up on the offer, grabbing a DVD in the hopes that it
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might answer the mystery of Rodrigo's murder. Those who took one and watched it upon
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returning home were first met with the sight of Rodrigo alive and well and seated behind a desk.
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A microphone was set up on the desk and a dark blue sheet or curtain had been hung up behind Rodrigo.
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It looked like an amateur setup, but Rodrigo had clearly taken care with his appearance. dressed in a navy suit, a
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white shirt, and a pale blue tie. His dark hair, balding on top, was neatly combed.
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As soon as the video began, the 47year-old lawyer gave a quick nod, then began to speak.
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Good afternoon. My name is Rodrigo Rosenberg Mazano and unfortunately if you are currently watching or listening
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to this message it's because I was murdered by President Alvaro Colom. 57year-old President Alvaro Colum had
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been the leader of Guatemala for just over a year. After winning the nation's presidential election in November 2007,
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he took office the following January. Colum's election was a significant moment for Guatemala. It was the first
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time that a left-leaning politician had been in charge of the country since the 1954 coup d'etar.
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Colom had won by focusing on winning votes from Guatemala's poorer rural areas, ultimately defeating his
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opponent, a former general who had overseen military intelligence. The election had been violent.
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More than 50 local candidates and party activists were killed throughout the campaign, and President Colam's own
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campaign manager almost died when several grenades were thrown at his motorcade.
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After taking office, Colom had vowed to end Guatemala's long-standing problems with violence and corruption, but his
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own administration had also been plagued with corruption allegations. Two of his interior ministers were
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indicted on corruption charges, while the third was killed in a mysterious helicopter accident.
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Colom's wife, Sandra, Guatemala's first lady and a politician in her own right, was even suspected of corruption and
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money laundering after she refused to allow the auditing of social programs she oversaw.
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Nevertheless, Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano's declaration that if he were to die, then the president was to blame was
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shocking. As the testimony he'd recorded before his murder continued, Rodrigo explained
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why he had been targeted. He had knowledge of a far-reaching conspiracy that had resulted in others
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being killed as well, including one of his own clients. Khalil Musa had been a wealthy client of
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Rodriguez and a member of Guatemala's elite. He had immigrated to Guatemala from Lebanon in 1949 when he was just 17
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years old and initially worked as a laborer picking coffee beans alongside Mayan peasants.
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Over the years, Khalil learned Spanish, married and started a family before later opening a textile factory and
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becoming a coffee producer. His businesses took off and Khalil Musa became a captain of industry who was
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well known and respected for his honesty and integrity. By 2008, he was in his mid70s and in the
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process of handing over his business to his two daughters, Aziza and Marjgerie. Khalil wanted to spend more time
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enjoying the life he'd built and bonding with his young grandchildren. But an opportunity to keep contributing
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to Guatemala more broadly arose when Khalil was offered a position on the board of Anna Cafe, Guatemala's National
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Coffee Association. Khalil had spent many years working alongside the laborers who picked a
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Guatemala's coffee beans and was eager to take on the role. The only problem was that he'd also have
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to serve on the board of Ban Rural, Guatemala's rural development bank. Ban Rural provided funds for the rural
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and microenterprise sector in Guatemala. And while it was a private business, 30%
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of its shares were owned by the government, giving them three seats on the board of directors.
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Khalil was far less enthusiastic about this part of the offer. While he was eager to serve Guatemala's coffee
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sector, he had little interest in Ben Rural. Khalil had discussed the matter with his
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lawyer, Rodrigo Rosenberg Mazano, in December of 2008 and sought his advice. Rodrigo was opposed to getting involved
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with Guatemalan politics and told Khalil as much. Plus, there were rumors that ban Rural was rife with embezzlement and
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moneylaundering scandals. Nevertheless, Khalil accepted both nominations, seeing it as his duty to
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give back to the country that had given him so much. On Tuesday, April 14, 2009, Khil got up
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early and went to his textile factory as was his routine. Every day he would return home to eat
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lunch before heading back to work. Usually his eldest daughter, Aziza, drove him home. But on this particular
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day, she was in the middle of a long-distance phone call to Lebanon. She asked her sister, 42-year-old
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Marjgerie, to drive their father instead while she wrapped up her call. Khalil and Marjgerie, who was a married
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mother of two and her father's favorite, headed down to Marjgery's green station
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wagon at 12:50 p.m. They both got in and Marjorie drove them out of the factory parking lot.
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They headed down a busy street that was full of traffic and dotted with street vendors.
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About five blocks from the factory, Marjgery breaked at an intersection. Suddenly, a motorcycle sped up to the
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passenger side of the car and pulled over. Its rider hopped off the bike and walked straight up to the car window.
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Without hesitation, he pulled out a gun and fired nine shots through the passenger window in the vehicle.
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Then the rider jumped back on his motorbike and sped away. Khalil Musa had been hit by each of the
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nine shots and was dead. One of the bullets had traveled through him and then struck Marjorie in her
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aorta, killing her, too. When Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano heard of the execution style slayings that same
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day, he was devastated. It was clear Khil had been the target of the attack, and Marjgery was collateral
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damage. Rodrigo was certain Khil had been murdered to prevent him from joining Ban
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Rural's board, where he would have no doubt uncovered embezzlement and government corruption.
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Khalil Musa was renowned for his integrity and would not have stood for such abuses of power.
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Rodrigo deeply regretted not urging Khalil more strongly against accepting the nominations.
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Rodrigo wasn't the only high-profile Guatemalan who was outraged and distraught by the double homicide.
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Shortly after the Muses were murdered, business leaders held a press conference declaring that the public execution of
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the father and daughter was another sign of how helpless Guatemalans were. They demanded a thorough investigation of the
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murders by the authorities. Rodrigo had no faith in Guatemala's judicial system and told family and
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friends that the case would never be solved. He had no doubt that powerful forces were behind the crime.
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This meant that the criminal organizations that had infiltrated Guatemala's government would block any
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attempted investigation and destroy evidence. Determined that the case wouldn't go
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unresolved like the majority of Guatemalan murders, Rodrigo decided to launch an investigation of his own.
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Rodrigo approached his friend and mentor Luis Mendes and asked for his help in trying to solve the case. Luis agreed.
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He was well placed to assist Rodrigo as Louise also happened to have been Guatemala's most infamous spy. He owned
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a clothing shop called Boutique Amelio out of which he operated a clandestine intelligence unit he dubbed the little
00:23:50
office. Luis would later tell people he worked to solve kidnappings and murders that
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the officials failed to investigate, just as he'd helped find Rodrigo's murdered brother decades earlier.
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He had also advised several Guatemalan presidents, including the most recently elected Alvaro Colom.
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Luis had contacts everywhere. Luis and Rodrigo were able to obtain security footage from the Musa's textile
00:24:21
factory so they could replay what had happened immediately preceding the killings.
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They noticed that a truck had been parked in front of the factory and the driver kept getting out of the vehicle
00:24:32
to look down the road. He was clearly acting as a lookout. After cameras captured Khalil and
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Marjgerie getting into Marjgery's car and driving away, they also caught a hit squad following closely behind on
00:24:46
motorcycles. Rodrigo spoke with Khalil Mus's surviving daughter, Aziza, who was also
00:24:54
a friend of his. She told him that her father had received thinly veiled threats from
00:25:00
powerful individuals after being offered the board nominations. Officials connected to Ban Rural and Ana
00:25:08
Cafe strongly and repeatedly advised Khalil Musa against accepting the positions.
00:25:14
One individual sent him a link to a story about a coffee farm that had been burnt down after its owner started
00:25:21
meddling in board dealings. Eventually, the threats became more overt and violent as Khalil received
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text messages and phone calls threatening his life. Rodrigo gained access to Khalil's
00:25:36
personal papers and found documents relating to the appointments. One was a copy of a letter Khalil had
00:25:43
sent to a group of people associated with Ben Rural in which he stated that he would not tolerate messages filled
00:25:50
with double meaning. Writing, I protect myself from my enemies. As Rodrigo continued digging into the
00:26:01
Musa case, he started receiving death threats of his own in early May, less than a month after the murders.
00:26:09
He decided that he needed to record a statement that could be shared in the event of his death so that the public
00:26:15
would know what he had uncovered. While seated at his desk he'd set up to be filmed at, Rodrigo explained that
00:26:24
during the course of his investigation, he had found the documents and evidence proving that the Musa murders went all
00:26:31
the way to the top. The president, Alvaro Colom, his wife Sandra, and the president's private secretary, Gustavo
00:26:39
Alleos, had been embezzling and laundering money from ban Rural alongside other members of their
00:26:45
administration. Knowing that Khalil Musa would speak out against this corruption if he joined the
00:26:52
board, they had orchestrated his murder. In total, the video Rodrigo had recorded
00:27:01
went for 18 minutes. As well as being an explanation for why he might be killed, it was an
00:27:08
impassioned plea to Guatemalans to fight for change in their country by speaking
00:27:13
out against its long- entrenched corruption. It's the same story we've been hearing
00:27:19
and repeating in recent years, Rodrigo stated. And us Guatemalans continue to do nothing because there's nothing left
00:27:27
to do because we can't do anything. What can I do? We say, "But we have to do something. And the only way to do
00:27:37
something is to say what we already know." Rodrigo repeatedly demanded President
00:27:44
Alvaro Colom's resignation and imprisonment and urged the country's vice president, whom he said was
00:27:51
honorable, to take over the leadership. We can't allow Guatemala to keep falling
00:27:57
into the hands of these people. He said, "It's our country. It belongs to us, not
00:28:03
to thieves, killers, and drug dealers. Guatemala is not theirs. Let's not keep giving it to them.
00:28:13
He concluded with a prediction that the government would try to conceal the truth he was revealing, stating, "Ladies
00:28:21
and gentlemen, my death has a first and a last name. They will try to sully the name of Khil Musa, Marjgerie Musa, and
00:28:30
will try to make up whatever they feel like making up. The one and only truth that matters is
00:28:36
that if you're watching and hearing this message, it is because I was killed by Alvaro Colom and Sandra de Colom.
00:28:44
Guatemalans, it's time. Please, it's time. Good evening. It didn't take long for the video to
00:28:55
spread from those who'd received copies at Rodrigo Rosenberg Mazano's funeral. It was broadcast on every television
00:29:03
news channel that evening of Monday, May 11, just hours after Rodrigo was buried.
00:29:10
At 10:29 that night, it was uploaded to the YouTube account of Guatemala's leading newspaper, El Periodico.
00:29:18
By the next day, it had gone viral, and so many people went online to watch the video that servers crashed.
00:29:27
The reaction was immediate. By the afternoon of Tuesday, May 12th, protests had erupted in the streets of Guatemala
00:29:35
City in response to Rodrigo's claims. Thousands of people, most of them young adults from Guatemala's conservative
00:29:43
upper class, gathered in squares and shouted chants directed at President Alvaro Colom, such as, "Murderer,
00:29:50
murderer, and resign, resign." The protesters wore white t-shirts as a symbolic statement against the dirty
00:29:59
politics. They held up signs that read, "I am Rodrigo. We want justice. Rodrigo,
00:30:07
thanks for waking us up. No more violence." And Sandra and Colom to resign. The leader of Guatemala's opposition
00:30:18
party, General Otto Perez Molina, spoke to journalists saying, "We are here to demand justice. We want
00:30:27
a transparent investigation. The only way for that to happen is if the president agrees to stand down."
00:30:35
Others agreed with him, arguing that Rodrigo's murder couldn't be properly investigated while its main suspect
00:30:42
remained leader of the country. The demonstrations grew over the following days with thousands and
00:30:50
thousands of people cramming into Guatemala City's largest public square. Rodrigo's video was projected onto a
00:30:58
large movie screen that someone had set up and played repeatedly on a loop with the sound turned up loud enough so that
00:31:05
the entire crowd could hear his voice. A shrine was erected at the site where he was murdered with a large wooden
00:31:12
cross. Flowers and photos of the deceased lawyer. Handwritten notes and signs were also
00:31:20
left, including one that read, "You didn't die in vain." The internet became a space to protest,
00:31:28
too, with posts spreading across Facebook and Twitter denouncing the Guatemalan president as a murderer.
00:31:36
One young man was arrested after tweeting, "The first concrete action should be to take cash out of Ben Rural
00:31:43
and bankrupt the Bank of the Corrupt." As the protests grew, so did the Guatemalan government's panic.
00:31:55
Just days earlier on Monday, May 11, President Alvaro Colom had been in the middle of a meeting that was suddenly
00:32:02
interrupted by his private secretary, Gustavo Alleos. Gustavo had just received a call from
00:32:09
his cousin, who had been at Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano's funeral that same day. Gustavo's cousin told him how a friend
00:32:18
of Rodriguez had claimed that the lawyer knew the reason for his own murder and had video evidence to prove it. The
00:32:26
cousin had taken one of the DVDs being handed out and was rushing to the president's office at that exact moment.
00:32:36
President Colum and his inner circle all gathered in his office to view the recording. All of them were left stunned
00:32:43
by the end. Gustavo Alleos, who was one of the administration members Rodrigo had
00:32:50
accused of murder, called his wife and told her to leave the country with their son.
00:32:56
Then he offered his resignation to the president. The president refused to accept it,
00:33:02
assuring Gustavo they would survive any ensuing storm. issuing a short statement via two aids
00:33:10
who delivered his words to reporters. The president denounced Rodrigo's accusations as false.
00:33:18
The brevity of his response and the fact that the president hadn't even appeared
00:33:22
himself seemed to enrage the public further. Within 48 hours, Guatemala was engulfed
00:33:30
by chaos. President Colom agreed to give a televised interview with the news network CNN, but looked scared
00:33:38
throughout the entire appearance, often blinking rapidly. He didn't look like someone who was
00:33:44
being honest. The editor of the newspaper, El Periodico, wrote in response, "I can't help but express the repugnance
00:33:54
I felt during the declarations of President Alvaro Colum. The only thing missing now is for the president and his
00:34:02
henchmen to say that it was Rodrigo himself who emulated himself kamicazi style in order to discredit the
00:34:09
government and that he himself paid the assassins to murder him. Nobody trusted Guatemalan authorities to
00:34:19
investigate the very crime they were accused of committing. The US ambassador to Guatemala urged
00:34:26
President Colom to hand over the investigation to the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala
00:34:33
or CEIG, a UNbacked organization created just 3 years earlier. CEIG was formed as a way to fight
00:34:42
Guatemala's rampant corruption and systemic violence problem. Its members were judges, prosecutors, and law
00:34:50
enforcement officers from all over the world who investigated high-profile crimes.
00:34:56
They worked within Guatemala's legal system to prosecute members of organized crime and remove their presence from the
00:35:03
government. On Tuesday, May 12th, just 2 days after Rodrigo's murder, the case was referred
00:35:11
to CIG. They had a mammoth task on their hands with publications such as The New Yorker
00:35:19
and The Economist, declaring that the fate of Guatemala's democracy depended entirely on Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano's
00:35:26
true murderers being identified and brought to justice. CEIG was led by 51-year-old Carlos
00:35:37
Castraana, a Spanish former prosecutor and judge who would be responsible for the investigation.
00:35:44
Carlos had moved to Guatemala to head up seasig and had barely seen the country since arriving.
00:35:52
Due to the nature of his work, his life was often at risk, and he had a team of internationally recruited bodyguards who
00:36:00
accompanied him everywhere. Carlos resided in a room above his office in Seig's compound, and whenever
00:36:07
he left, he had to travel in armorplated vehicles. Carlos took his job seriously and was
00:36:14
aware of its risks. Every morning and evening, his office was checked for covert surveillance
00:36:20
equipment just in case there was a mole inside CIG leaking information. He would only discuss sensitive matters
00:36:28
while a white noise machine was operating to muffle any audio if he was being secretly recorded.
00:36:36
After being assigned Rodrigo's case, Carlos Castrasana met with Rodrigo's son, Eduardo, assuring the young man, "I
00:36:45
give you my word that if we have to, we will bring down the president and impeach him."
00:36:52
Eduardo trusted Carlos and willingly handed over his father's office computer and his personal laptop for examination.
00:37:01
Carlos Castraana selected about a dozen of CIG's top investigators to work closely alongside him, telling them
00:37:10
this is the most important case of this commission. Almost 300 other officials would operate
00:37:17
as functionaries in the investigation as well. They came from countries all over the
00:37:23
world, including Canada, France, Costa Rica, Italy, and Sweden. One of the first things the
00:37:31
investigative team did was check CCTV footage from cameras operating in the area where Rodrigo had been on the
00:37:38
morning of his murder. As Rodrigo resided in a wealthy neighborhood with plenty of security
00:37:44
cameras, there was lots of footage to check. In total, four separate cameras had footage of the events leading up to
00:37:52
the crime. While reviewing this footage, the investigators noticed that a number of
00:37:58
vehicles were clearly circling the block for around 30 minutes prior to the attack against Rodrigo.
00:38:06
At about 8:00 a.m., they seemed to assume positions. A black Mazda 6 idled out the front of
00:38:14
Rodrigo's apartment building. The car's number plate wasn't visible, but it had several distinctive features.
00:38:22
It had red markings on its hub caps, a rear spoiler, and a sticker over the petrol cap. At around 8:05 a.m., Rodrigo
00:38:32
emerged from his apartment building and cycled away on his bike. The car followed.
00:38:40
At 8:07, a camera filmed Rodrigo cycling past. The black Mazda followed 1 minute
00:38:47
and 36 seconds later. Then another camera captured Rodrigo again cycling past a parked car.
00:38:57
The Mazda appeared 1 minute and 26 seconds later, getting closer. The Mazda continued to tail Rodrigo
00:39:06
until he turned onto the service road where his body was later found. As there were no cameras along that service road,
00:39:14
the murder itself hadn't been recorded, nor had any eyewitnesses come forward. But presumably, the Mazda had dropped
00:39:23
off after radioing a co-conspirator an update on Rodrigo's location. That co-conspirator had then driven into
00:39:32
the service road and delivered the five fatal shots. When Rodrigo's body was discovered, he
00:39:39
was lying on his back on a grassy embankment that flanked the right side of the road. His ankles dangling over
00:39:46
the curb. His bike lay abandoned on the road. It was on its side, facing the other way
00:39:53
from Rodrigo with its handlebars towards the street. This positioning indicated that at the
00:40:00
time Rodrigo was shot, he'd no longer been riding his bike. If he'd been shot while cycling, then the bike would have
00:40:08
fallen in the same direction as him, backwards instead of forwards. Rodrigo's position was consistent with
00:40:16
him having hopped off the bicycle and sitting on the curb, perhaps to take a phone call. He had also been listening
00:40:23
to his iPod at the time. Near to where Rodrigo's body was found were several deep grooves in the dirt
00:40:32
next to the road. They looked like tire tracks. With a clearer idea of the crime scene,
00:40:42
the investigators turned their attention to the video Rodrigo had recorded. It was clear he hadn't filmed it alone.
00:40:51
At the end of the video, a second person who was off camera could be heard switching off the recording equipment.
00:40:58
Not long after the murder, two men came forward and admitted to helping Rodrigo film the testimony.
00:41:05
One was his longtime friend and mentor, Luis Mendesar, the man who had handed out copies of the testimony at Rodrigo's
00:41:13
funeral. Luis's boutique had been used as the set for the video. Another man who had assisted with the recording was
00:41:22
a journalist and a former presidential candidate named Mario David Garcia. Both men vehemently denied having
00:41:31
anything to do with the crime. They said that Rodrigo had come to them with his accusations against the government and
00:41:39
they had merely helped him. Mario David Garcia even noted that Rodrigo had planned to appear on his
00:41:47
radio show on Monday, May 11 to go public with his allegations against President Colom,
00:41:54
but his murder had prevented that appearance from happening. Meanwhile, Carlos Castraana was
00:42:04
beginning to suspect that President Colom's administration was interfering with the investigation.
00:42:10
When Carlos had taken on the case, he'd told the president that he would need complete independence in order to
00:42:16
complete a thorough investigation. But Carlos suspected the president was ignoring his demand.
00:42:24
On one occasion, CIG agents had been campusing Rodrigo's neighborhood when they noticed an unmarked vehicle
00:42:31
following them. One of the car's occupants was taking photographs of them. Several weeks later, agents were meeting
00:42:39
with a possible witness in the lobby of a hotel. Their meeting was abruptly interrupted
00:42:45
by swarms of police officers bursting into the lobby and attempting to arrest the witness.
00:42:52
The Casc agents managed to quickly usher the witness into one of the hotel's rooms. They feared that if the police
00:43:00
arrested him, he might never be seen again. Half expecting the police to open fire
00:43:07
in their desperation to take the witness, one of the agents called out, "You will have to kill us all."
00:43:14
As they attempted to manage the situation, Carlos Castraana was able to call the vice president and the head of
00:43:21
the national police, who told the police to withdraw. It turned out that the potential witness
00:43:29
knew nothing of note, but it was clear someone had thought that he did. Seas agents soon caught wind of another
00:43:38
possible witness when a government minister notified Carlos Castraana that he knew someone who could blow the case
00:43:45
wide open. Investigators met with this new witness at a soccer field near the Mexican
00:43:51
border. He claimed to be associated with a gang called Pitagoras, which had been hired
00:43:58
to kill Rodrigo for $180,000. The witness said he was close to the gang's leader and was terrified for his
00:44:08
life, adding, "I do not want to continue to kill people. This will explode because there are politicians involved."
00:44:19
The politicians the witness implicated were not from the Colom administration but from the opposition.
00:44:27
The vice presidential candidate to General Otto Perez Molina who had lost to President Colom at the previous
00:44:34
election was named as being involved. As the agents continued to speak with the witness at the soccer field, a crowd
00:44:43
of journalists suddenly appeared and interrupted the interview. They published articles about the
00:44:49
witness's allegations that it was actually the opposition party and not the government who had murdered Rodrigo.
00:44:57
The unexpected appearance of reporters at the secret meeting was frustrating to Carlos Castrasana, especially as he told
00:45:05
President Colom to ensure no one from the media knew about it. When the Casc agents looked into the
00:45:12
witness's allegations, his entire story quickly fell apart. There was no evidence to support his claims, and he
00:45:20
eventually admitted that he'd made it all up, stating, "I received a call from a member of the government saying, "I
00:45:28
have a job for you." And he offered me money to give false evidence. He alleged that Colum's spokesman and
00:45:36
the first lady were part of the scheme. All of this misdirection only made Carlos Castrasana more suspicious that
00:45:45
the government was trying to cover something up. He sent a formal complaint to the
00:45:54
government about their meddling and also forwarded it to the United Nations. From that moment on, the SEC agents were
00:46:03
left alone to complete their investigation. They turned their attention to the black
00:46:09
Mazda 6 that had been captured on security cameras trailing Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzono on the morning of his
00:46:16
murder. The vehicle had several notable features, including red rims on the hub caps, a rear spoiler, and a sticker over
00:46:24
the petrol cap. CIG agents obtained a record of all black Mazda 6s registered in Guatemala.
00:46:33
There were only 50 in the entire country. Over the next few weeks, Seig agents tracked
00:46:40
down each and every one and carefully photographed them, looking for the right car.
00:46:47
They finally found it at a home just outside of Guatemala City. The car had the exact same distinctive
00:46:54
features as the vehicle captured on camera. It was registered to a 33-year-old named
00:47:01
William Hilberto Santos Diva. Notably, Santos was a former member of the National Police, which seemed to be
00:47:10
a certain indicator of some kind of conspiracy. CIG agents gained access to Santos's
00:47:17
mobile phone records and found that on the morning of Rodrigo's murder, Santos's phone had been making and
00:47:23
receiving numerous calls within the vicinity of the shooting. Now that they had the name of a suspect
00:47:30
who might have been involved in the hit, agents got to work at gathering evidence.
00:47:36
They set up a wire tap on Santos's mobile phone so they could listen in on all of his calls. It was the first time
00:47:44
ever in Guatemala where a wiretap was legally implemented. Prior to CIG's investigation, they'd
00:47:51
only ever been used by unauthorized organizations. It turned out that William Hilberto
00:47:59
Santos Diva was part of a crime gang. Investigators were able to identify 10 members of the criminal network by
00:48:07
surveilling Santos and recording his conversations. All of the members were men aged between
00:48:14
20 and 40. Like Santos, eight of the others were either current or former police officers.
00:48:22
The final member was a military veteran. This kind of corruption within Guatemala's armed and law enforcement
00:48:30
agencies wasn't unusual. Case agents gained access to the other gang members' phones as well. For
00:48:38
several months, the CE agents listened in on Santos and his affiliates, mapping out their relationships to one another
00:48:45
and decoding the language they used to communicate. The agents recorded 12,000 phone calls.
00:48:55
It became clear from the group's communications that they were involved in all sorts of criminal activity
00:49:00
ranging from robberies to kidnappings for ransom. They were also professional hitmen who
00:49:07
killed targets in exchange for money. One phrase the agents became accustomed to was to knock over a big stick. A
00:49:16
secret phrase the criminals used to refer to killing a significant individual. One of the big sticks they referred to
00:49:25
was Rodrigo Rosenberg Mazano, with one of the gang's leaders remarking on one occasion that he wanted to hear zero
00:49:33
comments about the Rosenberg job because there were extremely powerful people involved in that particular hit.
00:49:41
The CC agents checked the gang's phone data for the time of Rodrigo's murder and were able to place many of them at
00:49:49
the scene of the crime. Carlos Castraana and his colleagues knew they had identified Rodrigo's killers.
00:49:58
They just didn't know who had hired them or why. Sometimes the Seasig agents overheard
00:50:08
the gang discussing impending crimes they were preparing to commit like a bank robbery and a kidnapping for
00:50:14
ransom. Seig subtly intervened by alerting the intended targets. The bank the group had planned to rob
00:50:23
increased their security. A Korean businessman the group wanted to kidnap abruptly left to Guatemala.
00:50:31
As their crimes were foiled, the gang began to worry that there was a rat amongst them who was leaking their
00:50:37
plans. They had a suspect in mind, the one former military officer in the group who hadn't been recruited from the same
00:50:46
police force as the rest. On Tuesday, September 8, 2009, 5 months after Rodrigo's murder, Seig agents
00:50:56
overheard a conversation between two of the gangs leaders in which they discussed the possible mole in their
00:51:02
group. "We have a problem," one said. "He's going around talking about Rosenberg."
00:51:10
The two leaders agreed that the member they'd identified as a mole had to be killed.
00:51:16
They planned to murder his girlfriend as well, who was underage and pregnant. Although Carlos Castraana hadn't yet
00:51:25
learned enough to figure out who had ordered the gang's hit against Rodrigo, he realized they would have to step in
00:51:31
immediately to prevent the double homicide. At 6:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 11,
00:51:38
Case agents launched 14 simultaneous raids at homes across Guatemala City and two other cities.
00:51:46
By 610, all 10 members of the gang were arrested and in custody. More than 30 cell phones were seized in
00:51:55
the raids along with other evidence. The arrests were hugely publicized with the suspects being paraded in front of
00:52:03
news cameras as Carlos Castraana assured reporters and the public that the killers of Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano had
00:52:11
been apprehended. It was only a matter of time until they identified the person who' hired them.
00:52:23
When CC agents examined the phone seized in the raid, they noticed there was a phone number that had been inconsistent
00:52:30
contact with the gang members on the day of Rodrigo's murder. It belonged to a man named Jesus Manuel
00:52:38
Cardono Medina, who went by the alias of Mamine. Medina was another crooked ex- cop
00:52:45
involved in criminal activity. CIG agents brought Medina in for questioning, and he eventually agreed to
00:52:53
confess to his involvement in the murder for hire in exchange for a reduced sentence and a new identity in the
00:53:00
country's witness protection program. Two of the other gang members followed suit, and investigators soon had a
00:53:08
detailed picture of the days leading up to Rodrigo's murder, as well as the crime itself.
00:53:15
Medina was the intermediary who had approached the gang with the murder request after being hired by somebody
00:53:22
else. Medina said that person was a professional bodyguard whose bosses were having problems with an extortionist.
00:53:32
The bosses wanted to get rid of the extortionist ultimately identified as Rodrigo Rosenberg Mazano.
00:53:40
Medina agreed to take on the job and met with the bodyguard's bosses. They would give him a burner phone he
00:53:47
was to use to speak with a man on the inside who would provide further details about the target, Rodrigo, his
00:53:55
movements, where he lived, and what he looked like. It was his suggestion that the hitman
00:54:02
attack Rodrigo as he left his apartment building. The inside man would pay $40,000
00:54:09
in exchange for the hit and Medina outsourced the murder to the organized crime gang.
00:54:17
On Friday, May 8, 2 days before Rodrigo's murder, the gang met up at a Burger King restaurant in an upscale
00:54:24
neighborhood to plan the hit for that Sunday morning. Then they scoped out Rodrigo's apartment
00:54:31
building, checking it out from all angles and planning the logistics of the crime.
00:54:37
2 days later, the gang rose early and met at a gas station at 6:30. They were traveling in four different
00:54:45
cars. By 6:40, they were at Rodrigo's building. The early morning streets were silent
00:54:54
with no one to be seen. Waiting ready in place, the gang members just had to wait for the inside man to
00:55:02
give them the signal to go. At 8:00 a.m., the inside man called Medina, the intermediary, to give him a
00:55:11
heads up that Rodrigo was about to go on a bike ride. The gang members were to follow him and carry out the hit then
00:55:19
and there. Medina in turn notified William Santos Diva who was parked by the apartment
00:55:26
building in his black Mazda 6. Within 5 minutes, Rodrigo left the building on his bicycle and rode away.
00:55:35
Santos followed him until Rodrigo turned onto a service road. Then Santos radioed
00:55:42
another gang member named Lucas Santiago who was waiting in a white truck and handed over the job to him.
00:55:50
The white truck turned into the service road and Santiago spotted Rodrigo who was sitting on the curb listening to
00:55:58
music on his iPod. Santiago jumped out of the truck, shot Rodrigo five times with a 9mm gun, then
00:56:07
got back in the truck and sped away. The hit now complete, the gang met up again at the same Burger King where
00:56:16
they'd gone days earlier and had breakfast together. Medina tried calling the inside man to
00:56:24
confirm that the job was done, but he didn't answer the phone. The phone number belonging to the inside
00:56:36
man was one that the Casc agents recognized. It was the same number behind the threatening calls Rodrigo had received
00:56:44
in the week leading up to his murder. Records showed that the inside man's phone had only ever interacted with two
00:56:52
other numbers. One was Rodrigo's cell phone, and the other was the burner phone Medina had been given by the
00:57:00
powerful bosses, who said they needed an extortionist taken care of. It hadn't been used since making the 8:00 a.m.
00:57:08
call to Medina on Sunday, May 10, alerting him that it was time to kill Rodrigo.
00:57:15
This burner phone was never found. Carlos Castraana knew that identifying who this phone belonged to was key to
00:57:24
solving the case. They tried to trace the owner by looking into when and how it was purchased.
00:57:32
The phone had been bought from a shopping center on Monday, May 4, just 1 day before the threatening calls to
00:57:38
Rodrigo began. The buyer hadn't used a card to pay for the phone. instead opting for cash.
00:57:46
This meant the purchase couldn't be traced to a bank account. However, investigators caught a lucky
00:57:53
break when they found a sales tax form for the purchase that featured a faded signature.
00:58:00
The signature belonged to Luis Lopez Florianne, Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano's personal driver.
00:58:10
CCTV footage from the store confirmed that Louise had bought the phone. This revelation didn't make sense as
00:58:19
Louise was known to be a devoted employee and close confidant of Rodrigo. Investigators couldn't understand why he
00:58:27
would be behind the scheme that resulted in his boss's murder. Investigators approached Louise, but he
00:58:34
refused to talk. The driver remained tight-lipped until Rodrigo's son, Eduardo, made contact
00:58:42
with him. Eduardo couldn't believe that his father's trusted driver could have anything to do with his death and
00:58:50
promised Luis that he would stand by him. Eduardo just had one condition. If Luis
00:58:57
had made any promises to Rodrigo before his murder, he had to break them now for
00:59:03
the sake of the case. When investigators reached out to Louise again, he began talking.
00:59:11
He admitted that he had purchased the phone, but insisted that he had done so under strict instructions.
00:59:19
On Monday, May 4, Rodrigo had taken an unofficial leave of absence from work. He then got in touch with Louise and
00:59:27
asked him to run some errands for him. Rodrigo wanted Luis to go out and buy two prepaid cell phones from two
00:59:36
separate shopping centers. Louise was to pay with cash and provide no form of identification when making
00:59:43
the purchase. Louise did as his boss asked, but slipped up when he accidentally signed
00:59:50
the sales tax form for one of the phones with his name. A secretary at Rosenberg's law firm
00:59:57
subsequently confirmed that Luis had handed in receipts for the phones for reimbursement, seemingly verifying his
01:00:04
claim that he believed the purchase was workrelated. Surely, if Luis were conspiring to
01:00:11
commit murder, he wouldn't have made this mistake. [Music] Louise said that he'd taken the phones
01:00:18
to Rodrigo, who had kept one of them. He asked Luis to deliver the other one to a
01:00:24
close friend of his named Francisco Valdez Pis. Once again, the driver did as he was
01:00:32
told. Francisco Valdez Pais had known Rodrigo since childhood. Francisco and his brother Esto owned one
01:00:46
of Guatemala's largest pharmaceutical companies and their cousin Rosa had been Rodrigo's first wife.
01:00:54
Even though Rodrigo and Rosa had long since divorced, the Valdez Pers brothers still considered Rodrigo a member of the
01:01:01
family, referring to him as their cousin. On Sunday, May 3, the day before Rodrigo
01:01:09
asked his driver to buy two burner phones, Rodrigo asked Francisco to visit him at home.
01:01:16
When Francisco arrived and sat down with Rodrigo, the latter made a startling confession.
01:01:23
He had been madly in love with Marjgerie Musa, and her murder less than one month
01:01:28
earlier had utterly devastated him. That coming Thursday, May 7, would have been their third anniversary.
01:01:38
The couple had been secretly seeing each other for a long time. They'd first met
01:01:44
while dropping their children off for school at the same bus stop near the apartment building where they both
01:01:49
lived. Over time, a romance blossomed between them. Even though Marjgerie was married,
01:01:57
Marjgerie had been the one to recommend Rodrigo's legal services to her father, Khil, and that was how Khil had become
01:02:05
his client. The business relationship also allowed Rodrigo to spend more time with
01:02:11
Marjgery. Rodrigo's romance with Marjgery brought him a lot of joy. The twice divorced father of four
01:02:20
believed he had finally met his soulmate. The couple desperately wanted to be together, but the situation was
01:02:28
difficult. Marjgerie wanted to obtain a divorce before going public with another
01:02:34
relationship. However, her father was very traditional and there were rumors that he disinherited his eldest
01:02:41
daughter, Aziza, following her own divorce. For years, Rodrigo and Marjorie had to
01:02:48
remain content with seeing one another in secret. They sent one another adoring messages with Rodrigo calling Marjorie,
01:02:56
Marjorie D. Rosenberg, and my Tinkerbell. Every Tuesday, they shared a romantic lunch together at Rodrigo's apartment.
01:03:06
He had his driver, Louise, fill the apartment with red roses prior to each date.
01:03:13
When Marjgerie hadn't arrived for their long-standing lunch plans on Tuesday, April 14, Rodrigo had known something
01:03:21
was wrong. When he heard that two people were killed in a shooting nearby, he had
01:03:27
screamed desperately at a friend over the phone. They killed her. They killed her.
01:03:34
Friends and family had witnessed Rodrigo's intense grief over the ensuing days. He had cried for 2 hours straight
01:03:42
after the murders were confirmed. His son Eduardo described Rodrigo as completely destroyed.
01:03:51
The reaction had seemed disproportionate until Rodrigo confided in Eduardo and several others about his true
01:03:59
relationship with Marjorie. In a letter to one friend, Rodrigo admitted that he felt like he was
01:04:06
disintegrating little by little. After Marjgery's death, Rodrigo received a call from a jeweler informing him that
01:04:15
Marjgerie had ordered a wedding ring for him shortly before her death. The pair had frequently discussed
01:04:22
marrying when the time was right. Rodrigo wore the ring daily after that, telling a friend, "This is the message
01:04:31
she sent me." He can be seen wearing it in the 18-minute video testimony to be released
01:04:38
in the event of his murder despite being unmarried at the time. When Rodrigo summoned his friend
01:04:46
Francisco Valdez Pers to his home on Sunday, May 3, he told him that Marjorie had been planning to leave her husband
01:04:54
on May 7, the date of their third anniversary. According to Francisco, during that same
01:05:02
conversation, Rodrigo had said he was very scared that his life was in danger. He asked for Francisco's help in finding
01:05:11
a bodyguard who could protect him. Rodrigo said he would send a phone to pass along to the potential bodyguard.
01:05:20
He didn't want the bodyguard making contact using his usual device because Rodrigo was worried he was being
01:05:27
surveiled. This version of events is at odds with the confessions made by hired intermediary Medina and the hitman.
01:05:37
They identified Francisco and his brother Esttoardo as the two powerful bosses who said they needed an
01:05:44
extortionist killed. Investigators believed Francisco and Esttoardo knew Rodrigo was hiring hitman
01:05:52
to kill someone, a person they believed to be a blackmailer. They hadn't known that the true victim
01:06:01
was Rodrigo himself. After the gang members carried out the hit, they had repeatedly tried to call
01:06:10
the number of the inside man who had provided them with all of the information necessary to murder Rodrigo.
01:06:17
The phone was never answered again. The gang members began to worry that they weren't going to be paid. So, they
01:06:25
contacted the bodyguard who had originally set up the hit for his two powerful bosses.
01:06:32
He informed them that his bosses were currently unavailable due to a family emergency,
01:06:38
but the gang insisted that they needed to be paid. So, a meeting was set up later that day at the boss's workplace,
01:06:45
the headquarters of their pharmaceutical company. Medina went on behalf of the gang and
01:06:52
was greeted by Francisco and Estoardo Valdez Pis. Both were visibly shaken as they
01:06:59
informed Medina that the wrong person had been murdered. The gang had killed their cousin, Rodrigo.
01:07:08
[Music] The Seig's complex investigation had led them to a shocking revelation. The person who had orchestrated the hit
01:07:19
against Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano was none other than Rodrigo himself. Although this seemed too bizarre to be
01:07:29
believable, it also led to some elements of the crime finally making sense. If Rodrigo had been fearing for his life,
01:07:38
then why would he have gone out for a bike ride on a Sunday morning in a dangerous city, making himself a
01:07:44
vulnerable target? This ride had not been part of Rodrigo's typical schedule. In fact, his bicycle had actually been
01:07:54
damaged for some time and was in need of repair up until right before the murder.
01:08:00
Rodrigo had asked his driver, Louise, to make sure it was fixed by that Sunday morning.
01:08:07
The only way the hitman could have known about Rodrigo's bike ride that day was if someone in Rodrigo's inner circle had
01:08:14
tipped them off. and the only people who had known when he was departing were Rodrigo himself
01:08:21
and his driver. Moreover, Rodrigo had been shot after getting off his bike and sitting for
01:08:29
several minutes on the curb. Phone records revealed he hadn't received or made any calls at this time.
01:08:36
It was as though he'd just been sitting there waiting. Phone data also revealed that the
01:08:44
supposed threatening calls he'd received from the same phone he'd had his driver
01:08:48
buy were made from inside his own apartment. CIG agents discovered that just before
01:08:55
his death, Rodrigo had issued a check for $40,000 and asked his secretary to deliver it to
01:09:02
the Valdez Pers brothers. This was the same amount of money promised to the criminal gang in
01:09:10
exchange for the hit. The Valdez Py brothers had been unwitting pawns in Rodrigo's scheme.
01:09:18
Rodrigo had lied to them to obtain their help in finding hitmen for hire. He had also lied to numerous friends and
01:09:27
family members in the week leading up to his death, repeatedly talking about his
01:09:32
fear that he would be killed and how he was being stalked by sinister forces. 6 days before his murder, Rodrigo told
01:09:42
his friend Luis Mendes that the president's secretary had overtly threatened him, demanding that he stop
01:09:48
blaming President Colom for the murder of the Muses or the same thing would happen to him.
01:09:55
Rodrigo claimed that he'd replied, "Neither you or anyone else are going to shut me up. You are a bunch of shitty
01:10:04
murderers." Rodrigo had then enlisted Louis's help in recording a final testimony to be
01:10:11
released in the event of his murder. Rodrigo had set other plans in motion prior to his death. Just days before he
01:10:21
was killed, he purchased two burial plots, one for himself and an adjoining one where he hoped Marjgery would be
01:10:29
moved to. He handed over his law firm to his son Eduardo. He gave away several family heirlooms
01:10:38
and he bought a beach house as a gift for his family situated on Guatemala's Pacific coast.
01:10:46
All of these actions suggested he was preparing to die rather than taking actions to prevent it. If Rodrigo's
01:10:54
driver hadn't mistakenly signed his name on the sales tax form for one of the burner phones, then Rodrigo's scheme
01:11:01
might have never been discovered. Carlos Castraana and the other Case agents believed Rodrigo had been
01:11:09
motivated by multiple factors. For starters, he had been in a highly distraught state following numerous
01:11:16
stressful events in his life. He was estranged from some of his children who were living in Mexico and undergoing a
01:11:24
bitter custody battle with their mother. His own mother had recently died and finally he had been plunged into extreme
01:11:32
despair and feelings of guilt by the violent murder of his girlfriend Marjgerie Musa.
01:11:39
To some extent he blamed himself for her death due to not having advised Khil Musa more strongly against becoming
01:11:47
involved in the Ban Rural bank. Rodrigo seemingly lost the desire to live and also wanted revenge against the
01:11:56
Colom government whom he blamed for Marjgery's murder. Rodrigo was convinced the Coloms had
01:12:04
killed Marjgerie and Khalil Musa thanks to intelligence he'd mostly received from his friend Luis Mendes.
01:12:12
But Luis had told Rodrigo that he didn't stand a chance against the nation's president and his administration.
01:12:20
Rodrigo agreed, realizing he didn't have strong enough evidence to take to court,
01:12:26
especially in a country where 98% of murders went unsolved. So, he fabricated documents that
01:12:34
implicated the president, as well as putting together an even more drastic plot.
01:12:40
With the help of Luis Mandisal and right-wing radio host Mario David Garcia, Rodrigo filmed a video blaming
01:12:48
the government for his murder, instructing Luis to release it if he was killed. Then he orchestrated his own death so he
01:12:58
could blame the government from beyond the grave in the hope that they would be overthrown by a furious public and
01:13:05
political opponents. After 8 months on the case, lead investigator Carlos Castraana was
01:13:15
certain he had solved it, but was terrified about making his findings public. Rodrigo's murder had stirred up
01:13:23
so much anger and passion amongst the Guatemalan people, many of whom believed their government had engaged in multiple
01:13:31
conspiracies. The revelation that Rodrigo himself had been behind the entire thing might seem
01:13:38
unbelievable and could lead to further unrest. On Monday, January 11, 2010, Castraana
01:13:46
met with Rodrigo's son, Eduardo, and shared his findings. Eduardo would later say he was initially
01:13:54
infuriated by what he was told. It seemed so convenient for the victim to be blamed, which left nobody really
01:14:02
taking responsibility at all. In a feature article about the case for the New Yorker, writer David Gran said that
01:14:10
Eduardo subsequently seemed to make peace with the findings. Quote, he later told me that he had been forced to face
01:14:19
a lot of dark truths. In the meeting with Castraana, he made one request. If Castra Senna believed
01:14:28
that his father had been trying, even if mistakenly, to help his country, then he
01:14:34
should say so at the press conference. Castraenna's press conference announcing the result of the investigation was held
01:14:42
the following day. He and his team had reviewed more than 100,000 phone calls, 5,000 documents,
01:14:50
and databases, and conducted countless interviews. They had left no stone unturned.
01:14:58
Speaking to the media and the Guatemalan people, Castraana methodically laid out
01:15:03
the evidence before declaring who planned the act. We have to conclude that it was Rodrigo Rosenberg himself.
01:15:13
Nobody else but him is responsible for his own death. He planned it all. Rosenberg felt guilty about the
01:15:21
assassination of Marjgerie Musa. He began a desperate search all over to find the Musa's killers, but he found no
01:15:30
proof. He decided to sacrifice his life in exchange for a change in the country.
01:15:38
There can be no other explanation. Castra Santa also kept his promise to Eduardo, adding
01:15:47
he was an honorable person. Those listening to the press conference were left stunned by Castrasana's words.
01:15:57
President Alvaro Colom had not been informed of the findings prior to Castrasana's announcement. He held his
01:16:04
own press conference 2 hours after Castraanners, his wife Sandra standing by his side as he stated.
01:16:11
Today, a sad but very important chapter in the history of Guatemala is closed. May 11th of last year, we were accused
01:16:21
of causing a tragic death without proof and without any foundation. CIG agents had uncovered no links
01:16:30
between the crime and President Colom, his wife or any other members of his administration accused by Rodrigo
01:16:37
Rosenberg Marzano. For some Guatemalans, this was vindication. Although many citizens had believed
01:16:46
Rodrigo's postumous accusation, they had mostly been members of Guatemala's wealthy elite who disliked President
01:16:53
Colom and his wife Sandra. Others had always been suspicious that the video was part of a right-wing plot
01:17:00
to overthrow a government that wanted to raise business taxes and improve the circumstances of the country's
01:17:07
poverty-stricken Mayan population. [Music] Investigators had even looked into whether the president had any connection
01:17:15
to the Valdez Py brothers, who were responsible for setting up the hit, but found none.
01:17:22
In December of 2009, CC issued arrest warrants for Francisco and Esttoad Valdez Pers, who had since gone into
01:17:31
hiding. They spent almost 7 months overseas on the run before returning to Guatemala
01:17:38
and handing themselves over to the authorities on Monday, June 28, 2010. The brothers maintained their claim that
01:17:47
they'd thought they were simply hiring a bodyguard for Rodrigo. They were transferred to a military-based prison
01:17:54
for their own protection. In another public press conference, Carlos Castraana accused the two
01:18:01
brothers of destroying evidence and sabotaging the state's case against them. In July 2013, more than 4 years
01:18:10
after the crime, the chief witness against the brothers, Jesus Manuel Cardona Medina, suddenly retracted his
01:18:18
testimony against them. Medina claimed he had been coerced into certain statements by Seig.
01:18:26
Four years later, the charges against the brothers were dropped due to a lack of evidence.
01:18:32
They were released after spending 7 years in custody. Although Medina and all 10 gang members
01:18:39
were convicted for their role in Rodrigo's murder, no one has ever been held responsible for planning it.
01:18:50
Although the murder of Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano had been officially solved, a number of unanswered questions remained,
01:18:58
some people who trusted the result of Seig's investigation still wondered whether Rodrigo had been helped by
01:19:05
co-conspirators in carrying out his plan. Namely, they suspected that Rodrigo's longtime friend and mentor
01:19:13
Luis Mendesal and right-wing radio host Mario David Garcia had been in on Rodrigo's scheme. the entire time.
01:19:22
Luis Mendes was a well-known spy who was not a fan of the Colom government. Mario
01:19:29
David Garcia was also opposed to Colom's administration. It was speculated that the two, who had
01:19:37
admitted to helping Rodrigo film his testimony, had been the architects of the murder.
01:19:44
However, they completely denied any knowledge of Rodrigo's plans to have himself murdered.
01:19:50
Lead investigator Carlos Castraana told New Yorker writer David Gran that while he wasn't sure if the two men were in on
01:19:59
the plot, he did believe they had tried to exploit the murder for their own political purposes.
01:20:05
They were preparing some kind of coup. Castraana said Casik had managed to find a witness who
01:20:13
claimed Mario David Garcia encouraged Rodrigo to take his own life and release the video he'd recorded stating, "Do it
01:20:22
for your country." There were also claims that the country's vice president had tensioned
01:20:28
with President Colom and ambitions to become the president himself. According to another witness who was
01:20:36
friends with Luis Mandazabul one week before Rodrigo was killed, the vice president was told about Rodrigo's
01:20:43
investigation into the Musa murders and asked if he was in a position to take control of the country if necessary.
01:20:52
Yes, was Vice President Esparta's reply. When asked about this conversation, Vice
01:20:59
President Esparta denied it. In his recorded testimony, Rodrigo had encouraged the vice president to assume
01:21:07
power from President Colom. Although Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano's case was solved, the double homicide
01:21:18
that had motivated his killing was still open. Although President Colum had been
01:21:24
absolved in the Rosenberg case, many still blamed him for the murders of Khalil and Marjgerie Musa. But
01:21:31
investigators had found little evidence to support Rodrigo's claims surrounding the Musa murders.
01:21:38
It turned out that the story that Khalil Musa had been asked to join Ana Cafe's board wasn't even true. It had actually
01:21:47
been Khalil who'd approached the board to make the request himself. Moreover, Khalil Musa had ultimately
01:21:54
turned down the offer to join the Banurel Banks board. That matter had been resolved prior to his death,
01:22:02
removing the supposed motive for his murder that Rodrigo had cited. Seig were eventually able to identify
01:22:10
the hitmen who had killed the Muses. Several confessed after being arrested and said that the reason for Khalil's
01:22:18
murder was related to his textile business. Although he had a reputation for integrity, Khalil Musa was said to be
01:22:26
purchasing contraband fabric for his factory from a criminal gang. When he got into a dispute with the gang and
01:22:34
refused to pay the agreed upon amount for the fabric, the distributor arranged to have him killed. His daughter
01:22:41
Marjgerie was collateral damage in the attack. 12 gang members were arrested for their
01:22:48
role in the Musa murders and taken to trial. Eight men were convicted for the crime.
01:22:55
Although the court found these hitmen guilty, it ruled that prosecutors had not proven a motive.
01:23:03
The Musa family, who had rejected CIG's reasoning for Khalil Musa's murder, took
01:23:08
out a full page newspaper advertisement asserting the court's ruling was proof of the absolute integrity of Mr. Khalil
01:23:16
Musa and his impeccable business ethic. Casig remained confident in their findings and considered the case solved
01:23:25
and closed. Khalil Musa's eldest daughter, Aziza, has since published a book about her
01:23:32
father's life titled A Lebanese from Guatemala. It turned out that several of the
01:23:39
criminals who had participated in the contract killing also played a part in the murder of Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano.
01:23:47
He had inadvertently hired some of the men who had killed his beloved girlfriend to end his own life as well.
01:23:59
In his piece for the New Yorker, writer David Gran reflected on how Rosenberg's mistaken belief about the Musa murders
01:24:07
almost upended the Guatemalan government. Writing, Rosenberg, who in the land of the blind
01:24:15
had seemed like a oneeyed king, had been wrong about who killed the Muses, triggering a series of tragic events
01:24:23
that nearly rewrote a nation's history based on a lie. After the truth was revealed, the Colom
01:24:32
administration was able to continue running the country. President Colom completed his 4-year term in January of
01:24:40
2012. As Guatemalan presidents are only permitted to serve a single term, he did
01:24:46
not run for reelection. His wife Sandra later ran for president in three separate elections, but never
01:24:53
won. In 2019, she was arrested on charges of violating campaign finance rules. The
01:25:02
case was dismissed 3 years later in 2022. President Alvaro Colom died in January
01:25:09
2023 at the age of 71. He had been suffering from esophageal cancer and pulmonary emphyma. His legacy
01:25:19
as president was significant with a focus on expanding social programs and assistance to Guatemala's poorest
01:25:27
citizens who gained increased access to health services, education, and social security.
01:25:34
President Colom also built a strong relationship with the country's Mayan peoples, making him one of the first
01:25:40
presidents in Guatemala to do so. But his government was also tainted by corruption which made him strongly
01:25:48
disliked. Despite some of the accomplishments he achieved while in office, President
01:25:54
Colom left office with a 95.83% disapproval rating. Guatemala today has much lower violent
01:26:04
crime than it did in 2009. The homicide rate has dropped from 46 per 100,000 people to 16.
01:26:13
The country still faces challenges with organized crime, drug trafficking, the justice system, and violence, but
01:26:20
improvements have been made. In October 2022, writer and narrator Edgar Castillo, a first generation
01:26:29
Guatemalan American, launched a 10 episode podcast about the murder of Rodrigo Rosenberg Mazano.
01:26:36
titled The Rosenberg Case. It was executive produced by Hollywood star Oscar Isaac, another Guatemalan
01:26:43
American. In the series, Castillo reflects on how this particular murder seemed to usher
01:26:50
in a new era of political conspiracy theories, the likes of which are far more prevalent today than they were in
01:26:56
2009. Castillo credits Rodrigo's video with giving his story greater impact. And
01:27:04
thanks to the then relatively new social media platform of YouTube, his story was
01:27:09
able to reach millions of people who otherwise might never have seen it. Over the years, YouTube has become home
01:27:17
to a plethora of conspiracy theory content, making such theories more accessible and seemingly credible than
01:27:24
they might otherwise be. quote, "YouTube isn't just about uploading and watching
01:27:30
videos. It's also the second largest search engine in the world." So, what does this mean for the creation and
01:27:37
dissemination of conspiracy theories? The obvious answer is that it's never been easier to do both.
01:27:45
What no one knew, what no one could have possibly anticipated was that the story
01:27:51
Rosenberg told was almost completely fictional, manufactured. It was as if he had put it together on a
01:27:58
storyboard with a crack team of writers. Rosenberg, perhaps with the help of Luis
01:28:04
Mendesal and Mario David Garcia, had effectively created a piece of content, conspiracy as content, and had chosen
01:28:13
the perfect platform upon which to disseminate it. And in my opinion, the whole Rosenberg affair inaugurated a new
01:28:22
era of political disinformation. It served as a prototype for what a conspiracy theory could do when turned
01:28:30
into entertainment and deployed on social media. After the truth about Rodrigo's murder
01:28:38
was revealed by Carlos Castraana and Seig, vandals destroyed the shrine that had been built for the lawyer at the
01:28:45
sight of his death. Photos and trinkets that had been left there were thrown about the street. A
01:28:51
cross that had been erected there was left defaced and crooked. But to many people, Rodrigo Rosenberg
01:28:59
Marzano was still a hero who had died because he wanted to inspire positive change for his country.
01:29:06
To those who knew and loved him, Rodrigo was a respected lawyer, a doting father,
01:29:12
a beloved friend, and a passionate advocate for Guatemala. In 2011, Rodrigo's son, Eduardo, wrote
01:29:21
an op-ed in which he reflected on his father's legacy, writing, "What defined my father was his
01:29:29
life, regardless of the circumstances under which it came to an end, whatever they were." In that realization
01:29:38
lies our peace. [Music] [Music]