Three military officials, a priest and a cook face a three-judge panel in a closely watched trial that is expected to last at least two months. Gerardi, the auxiliary bishop of Guatemala City, headed the archdiocese's feisty human rights office. The killer used a large block of concrete to strike the bishop at least 14 times in the head. The judicial proceedings are taking place in an atmosphere of heightened tension. Rumors of a military coup have circulated for weeks.
Newspapers carry lurid details of a scandal linking several bankers and top government officials.
Guatemala is in the middle of a crisis, a critical moment in which the country's leaders and institutions have to decide whether they're going to respect the rule of law or let impunity continue to undermine the construction of a country at peace. The five defendants include Col. Disrael Lima Estrada and his son, Capt. Byron Lima Oliva, and Sgt. Lima Estrada is a retired military intelligence official. Lima Oliva and Villanueva are officials of the elite and brutal Presidential Guard.