Five men accused of the 2011 murder of an Argentine singer-songwriter-philosopher who had legions of fans across Latin America went on trial Monday in Guatemala's capital, after years of delays spurred by defense motions.
Prosecutors say that Facundo Cabral was the unintended victim of a hit on a Nicaraguan promoter and nightclub owner whose car he was in when it was riddled with bullets in an ambush in Guatemala City on July 9, 2011.
The hugely popular Argentine, aged 74 at the time, had been on his way to the airport in the middle of a Central American tour. His death elicited outrage and mourning throughout Latin America.
The five defendants entered no plea, a spokeswoman for Guatemala's public prosecutor's office said.
The alleged mastermind behind the murder is a Costa Rican, Alejandro Jimenez Gonzalez, suspected of drug trafficking for Colombian and Mexican cartels and money laundering.
His four co-defendants, accused of being the trigger men, are all Guatemalans.
Jimenez, who goes by the nickname El Palidejo (roughly, "Pallid Man"), was arrested in Colombia in March 2012 using a false passport and extradited to Guatemala the following year.
The trial was meant to have begun years ago but was successively put off because of motions filed by Jimenez's lawyers. They initially sought to have him deported to Costa Rica to face lesser charges there of money laundering. The motions were denied.
Jimenez faces charges of criminal association and conspiracy to murder.
According to prosecutors, it is thought the gun ambush was to kill Cabral's concert promoter in Guatemala, a shady Nicaraguan named Henry Farinas who owned a string of erotic night clubs and was mixed up with organized crime.
Farinas and Cabral's agent were both badly wounded in the attack but survived.
Farinas has been in prison in Nicaragua since 2012, sentenced to 18 years for drug trafficking, money laundering and criminal association.
Five men accused of the 2011 murder of an Argentine singer-songwriter-philosopher who had legions of fans across Latin America went on trial Monday in Guatemala’s capital, after years of delays spurred by defense motions.
Prosecutors say that Facundo Cabral was the unintended victim of a hit on a Nicaraguan promoter and nightclub owner whose car he was in when it was riddled with bullets in an ambush in Guatemala City on July 9, 2011.
The hugely popular Argentine, aged 74 at the time, had been on his way to the airport in the middle of a Central American tour. His death elicited outrage and mourning throughout Latin America.
The five defendants entered no plea, a spokeswoman for Guatemala’s public prosecutor’s office said.
The alleged mastermind behind the murder is a Costa Rican, Alejandro Jimenez Gonzalez, suspected of drug trafficking for Colombian and Mexican cartels and money laundering.
His four co-defendants, accused of being the trigger men, are all Guatemalans.
Jimenez, who goes by the nickname El Palidejo (roughly, “Pallid Man”), was arrested in Colombia in March 2012 using a false passport and extradited to Guatemala the following year.
The trial was meant to have begun years ago but was successively put off because of motions filed by Jimenez’s lawyers. They initially sought to have him deported to Costa Rica to face lesser charges there of money laundering. The motions were denied.
Jimenez faces charges of criminal association and conspiracy to murder.
According to prosecutors, it is thought the gun ambush was to kill Cabral’s concert promoter in Guatemala, a shady Nicaraguan named Henry Farinas who owned a string of erotic night clubs and was mixed up with organized crime.
Farinas and Cabral’s agent were both badly wounded in the attack but survived.
Farinas has been in prison in Nicaragua since 2012, sentenced to 18 years for drug trafficking, money laundering and criminal association.
