Byron Lima Oliva, Bishop’s Killer, Is Assassinated in Guatemala Prison

[Judi Lynn]

Source: New York Times

Byron Lima Oliva, Bishop’s Killer, Is Assassinated in Guatemala Prison

By ELISABETH MALKIN and NIC WIRTZ
JULY 18, 2016


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Byron Lima Oliva in 2012. Mr. Lima, convicted in the 1998 murder of Bishop Juan José Gerardi, built a criminal operation in prison, prosecutors said.
Credit Moises Castillo/Associated Press
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MEXICO CITY — Convicted of killing a bishop who had cataloged human rights crimes during Guatemala’s long civil war, Byron Lima Oliva, an army captain, went to prison and, prosecutors said, built a powerful criminal operation from behind bars.

Yet it did not keep him safe. On Monday, Mr. Lima was attacked and killed inside the Pavón prison in an assassination, said the director of the country’s prison system, Luis Carlos de León Zea. The National Police said that 12 more had been killed in unrest at the prison. The death toll was expected to rise as the government tried to establish full control of the prison late Monday.

“It’s unfortunate,” Attorney General Thelma Aldana said of Mr. Lima’s killing. Investigators from her office were “working on getting the information so we can give the definitive truth,” she said.

Mr. Lima, 46, was serving a 20-year sentence for the 1998 murder of Bishop Juan José Gerardi, who was bludgeoned in his quarters just two days after presenting a voluminous human rights report on atrocities in the civil war.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/19/world/americas/guatemala-byron-lima-oliva-killed.html?_r=0

[Judi Lynn]

1. Byron Lima: Killer of Guatemala bishop dies in jail riot

Byron Lima: Killer of Guatemala bishop dies in jail riot

2 hours ago

The authorities in Guatemala say an army officer convicted of killing an outspoken Catholic bishop has died in a prison riot. Byron Lima had been serving a 20-year sentence for the murder in 1998 of Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi, an opponent of the then military regime.

His lawyer said he had been shot by a rival gang within the jail.
The former army captain is reported to have been one of the most powerful inmates in Guatemala's prison system.

. . .

Lima was convicted along with his father, an army colonel, and a third soldier of the murder of Bishop Gerardi.

The cleric, who was the head of the Guatemalan Catholic Church's division on human rights, was killed two days after publishing a report in which he blamed the Guatemalan army for most of the human rights abuses committed during the country's 36-year armed conflict.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-36831365

[AngryAmish]

2. Anyone ever hear of the Bitch Wars?

Being in a Mexican prison and having the priest killer tag on you is not a good spot.

[GOLGO 13]

3. “It’s unfortunate,” Attorney General Thelma Aldana said of Mr. Lima’s killing...

Yeah, that's how I would put it.

[geek tragedy]

4. Oh. nt