under the direction of the General Director of the Police. The agents in the Criminal Investigations Department arrived at the scene of the crime immediately after the murder. 6. The Justice of the Peace on duty also appeared at the scene of the crime and ordered that Myrna Mack's corpse be taken to the Forensic Services Office for Autopsies at the Judical Organism. 7. The report prepared by the forensic physician concluded that Myrna Mack's death was caused by 27 wounds to the neck, thorax and abdomen and the resulting hypervolemic shock. The report also concluded that the weapon used was a knife. The report failed to include any analysis of the victim's hair or of the pieces of skin found under the victim's fingernails which presumably belonged to the aggressors. 8. During the investigations carried out by the Homicide Section of the Criminal Investigations Department of the National Police, negligent acts and omissions occurred which endangered and obstructed the assignment of responsibility in the case: -- At the scene of the crime, even with the Director of the National Police present, the police did not take the samples necessary to allow for fingerprint testing, alleging that rain precluded the completion of that task. However, there was no rain the day of the murder until several hours after the police arrived at the scene of the crime. -- The scene of the crime was not protected with a police cordon which would have kept those not involved in the investigations away from the scene. -- The police failed to analyze the remains of a plastic bag which was found in the victim's hands and which presumably would have been touched by the persons responsible for the murder. Nor was the victim's clothing held to allow for tracing of the blood stains left by the aggressors. 9. The head of the Homicide Section of the National Police, José Mérida Escobar, prepared a report dated September 29, 1990 with Julio César Pérez Ixcajop. In that report, Noél de Jesús Beteta Alvarez was identified as the suspected material author of the murder of Myrna Mack. The report also established that Beteta acted under orders from his superiors, high-level officials of the Guatemalan Presidential High Command ("EMP"). The report's conclusions were based on the statements of Noél Beteta, who declared that he had worked under the orders of Edgar Godoy Gaitán (an EMP official) and the statements of witnesses who provided descriptions of persons involved in the murder, stating that they appeared to be military persons. On June 26, 1991, investigator Mérida Escobar testified before the court ratifying his report of September 29, 1990. 10. On August 5, 1991, investigator Mérida Escobar was shot and murdered less than 100 meters from the offices of the police. At the time of his murder, Mérida Escobar was advancing in the investigations in the Myrna Mack case and in the preparation of the case for trial. However, the investigations into the death of Mérida Escobar do not treat his death as linked to his work in the Myrna Mack case. 11. In a new report dated November 4, 1990, the police concluded that the motive for the murder of Myrna Mack was theft and no member of the military or higher EMP official is implicated as a suspect. The November 4, 1990 investigative report of the Homicide Section of the National Police simply quotes directly from medical and other reports. The report shows no effort at independent evaluation or investigation. In addition, the police report fails to mention several important pieces of evidence. For example, the report does not mention that eyewitnesses stated that the persons who attacked Mrs. Mack took her portfolio and purse but not her jewelry or her car, implying that the motive for the murder was not robbery. 12. The original police report dated September 29 can no longer be ratified by its authors. Investigator Escobar was murdered and Mr. Pérez decided to leave Guatemala as a result of 2