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Out now in documentary form, The Art of Political Murder presents a riveting narrative reconstruction of one of Latin America’s most controversial and bizarre criminal cases: the killing of Guatemala’s great human rights champion, Bishop Juan Gerardi.December 23, 2020 Bishop Juan Gerardi was savagely murdered on April 26, 1998, two days after presenting the Recovery of Historical Memory Project (REMHI), the Guatemalan Catholic Church’s report recounting the atrocities committed by the Guatemalan Army during its 36-year armed conflict. The 78-year old bishop, who led the unprecedented effort of collecting war testimonies, was bludgeoned in the head and face with a concrete slab outside his parish home in Guatemala City’s Zona 1. A grief-stricken nation mourned his loss as a direct affront to an incipient democracy, still unfamiliar with justice after a blanket amnesty left all those involved in civil war-era crimes unpunished. ....
A new HBO documentary on the legacy of Guatemalan Catholic Bishop Juan Gerardi, who was murdered in the aftermath of the country’s long civil war, highlights the courageous role of Catholic clergy in the fight for democracy in Central America. It also offers a model for struggling democracies today. “There are a lot of negative stories, films and documentaries about the Catholic Church that get made. I was attracted to the idea of this not being that,” said director Paul Taylor in a Zoom interview with Religion News Service last week. “I started to see that some of the issues at the heart of the case were still very relevant today and still very relevant outside of Guatemala,” he added. ....
Copy to Clipboard The Art of Political Murder (HBO) In April 1998, Bishop Juan Gerardi was attacked in his garage and beaten to death. The human rights activist had presented a report that outlined the atrocities of the army in the wake of the Guatemalan Civil War. Three army officers – Colonel Byron Disrael Lima Estrada and Captain Byron Lima Oliva (who were father and son), and José Obdulio Villanueva – were convicted of Gerardi s murder in 2001 and sentenced to 30-year prison terms. Bishop Geraldi had long been an advocate for the indigenous Mayans of the country and played a major role in getting indigenous languages recognized as official languages in Guatemala. HBO s latest documentary, The Art of Political Murder chronicles the investigation into Bishop Gerardi s murder, highlighting the team of young investigators who take on the case and begin to unearth deception, misconduct, and corruption that reach the highest levels of government. Read on to kn ....
Guatemalan Catholic Bishop Juan Gerardi. Photo courtesy HBO VATICAN CITY (RNS) A new HBO documentary on the legacy of Guatemalan Catholic Bishop Juan Gerardi, who was murdered in the aftermath of the country’s long civil war, highlights the courageous role of Catholic clergy in the fight for democracy in Central America. It also offers a model for struggling democracies today. “There are a lot of negative stories, films and documentaries about the Catholic Church that get made. I was attracted to the idea of this not being that,” said Director Paul Taylor in a Zoom interview with Religion News Service on Thursday (Dec. 10). ....