The four police officers accused of the death of a man of Canadian origin and the disappearance of a neighbor in San Andrés Itzapa, Chimaltenango, They declared their version of the events recorded last Thursday, April 18, inside the town’s substation. The police officers appeared before a court in Sacatepéquez to face charges of crimes of extrajudicial execution and forced disappearance.
The four police officers were linked to proceedings and sent to preventive detention, while the chief and sub-inspector of the substation, Edy Leonel Vásquez Rabanales, remains a fugitive.
In the courtroom, two agents described how they were involved in the events and what happened during the hours in which Eldin Leonel Choc Xi, resident in San Andrés Itzapa, and Milton Nelson Santamariaa Canadian citizen, remained inside the police headquarters.
The prosecutors of the Public Ministry (MP) began by describing the moment of the arrest, when the agents Yulisa Ayala and Fredy Velasquez They responded to a call about drunk people causing a scandal on public roads. According to the investigation, they were Choc Xi and Santamaría.
When trying to stop the individuals, the Canadian allegedly hit Agent Ayala. The same agent testified later during the hearing and said that they even had a struggle with him and his uniform was torn.
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Agents declare facts
The two agents, Ayala and Velásquez, detained the two men and took them to the substation, where they revealed that Sub-Inspector Vásquez Rabanales would have committed the abuse. “He was hitting both of them”declared Agent Ayala about what happened inside the substation.
According to the officer’s testimony, Sub-Inspector Vásquez Rabanales questioned her about the altercation, it seemed to him that she had an upset reaction and began to hit the detainees.
“The boss kicked him pretty hard—the Canadian citizen—and he started bleeding. I didn’t know what to do,” said the agent, who described that later, when she tried to help the detainee, but her boss prevented her from doing so. He insulted her and ordered her not to intervene, she testified.
Ayala assured that in addition to trying to help Santamaría, he asked the sub-inspector to ask the firefighters to help.
“The man—a Canadian—started bleeding and then the boss started washing the floor because there was blood. He moved him to another place. He was like asleep; I told him to pick him up or sit him down.”explained the agent.
According to the official forensic report, the man referred from the Chimaltenango Hospital died of severe bleeding due to rupture of the abdominal aortasecondary to trauma to the abdomen.
During the hearing, it was established that the agents did not prevent the altercation. They revealed that Vásquez Rabanales had a “very strong character”who abused them verbally and physically.
Ayala went on to describe that the atmosphere “became more tense” when the detained man was “as if wanting to convulse.” That’s when he insisted that he ask the firefighters for help, but the sub-inspector told him to “let him drown…”.
A few minutes later, in front of the state of Santamaría, support was finally requested from lifeguards. “The chief was seeing what he was doing, he himself came out and handed him to the firefighters from the back… and he went in the unit to the hospital”he added.
Later, when the sub-inspector returned to the station, according to Ayala, he noticed that he was upset, exclaiming insults, and then he exclaimed to them: “I’d rather get blood on my hands than go to the boat.”and then threatened to shoot them if they talked about what happened.
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Agent declares about Choc Xi
Agent Fredy Velásquez, who in addition to being accused of extrajudicial execution and forced disappearance, was also accused of being the author of the events, explained the last moments in which he saw Eldin Leonel Choc Xi.
Velásquez, in his statement during the hearing, explained that upon returning from the hospital The sub-inspector ordered him to accompany him in a vehicle, as he stated, also under threats.
“If you are not going to help me, I know your family, I know where you live and I am going to terminate all of you if you do not support me in this regard”he assured that Vásquez Rabanales warned him.
“I left the substation again and the sub-inspector was approaching the person accompanying the Canadian, carrying a suitcase. After that, he took out his truck and told me ‘I’ll wait for you there on the way back,'” declared agent Velásquez.
Thinking about his family, the police officer assured that he complied with the order. He recalled that while the three of them were already on board a vehicle, he, along with the sub-inspector and Choc Xi, his boss, drove and when they reached the central park they drove several times. Then, the detainee, Choc Xi, asked them where they were taking him.
According to the agent, the sub-inspector simply told him that they would take him to his home.
Moments later, still moving, the sub-inspector would order Velásquez to get out of the vehicle on a stretch that leads to the village of Chimachoy, on the way to the local cemetery, and asked him to wait there.
“Around midnight I was waiting, thinking about my family, thinking that nothing would happen to them.” According to what he said, minutes later, the station chief would have returned to the same point: “Hand, get on. Thank God, the work is already done, said sub-inspector told me, so I boarded the truck.”revealed.
The sub-inspector runs away
During the trip back to the San Andrés Itzapa substation, according to Velásquez, the officer asked him to take off his uniform.
“Hand, take off your uniform, take off your vest, carry it in your hand so they don’t notice when we arrive. I’m not going to leave you near the substation because we’re going to ‘spray a lot of color’, so go ahead, I’ll follow.”
The two agents agreed in their statements that after these events, Vásquez Rabanales would have fled.
After the agents’ version was made known, as a resolution, the judge decided to link the four detainees to trial for the crimes of extrajudicial execution and forced disappearance.
Agent Velásquez was charged as the author, while the other three were considered accomplices.
Likewise, the preventive detention of the four was ordered and they were transferred to the Mariscal Zavala prison in Guatemala City.
Search continues
Almost four days after the disappearance of Eldin Leonel Choc Xi, the MP reported this Monday, April 22, that the investigation process is still ongoing.
Meanwhile, the PNC reported that three specialized teams are searching for the sub-inspector who fled and that actions have been coordinated to continue the search for the missing neighbor.
The community has been shocked by the death of Santamaría and the disappearance of Choc Xi. Since the afternoon of Saturday, April 20, neighbors gathered in front of the substation to demand answers and demand that a poster be placed to search for the sub-inspector.
Later, around midnight on that same Saturday, April 20, a group chose to take over the police headquarters, they extracted stationery and office supplies and set them on fire, both inside the substation and on the main avenue.
On Sunday, April 21, the neighbors organized themselves into small groups to continue searching for the neighbor, but they did not obtain results either.
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