41 Starting on September 29, 1990, Mérida Escobar’s life radically changed, as he began to suffer harassment, threats, surveillance, and various types of persecution. The life of the witness also changed. The first reprisal against him was removal from his position as head of criminological investigations and his subsequent appointment to a lesser position, where he was punished and arrested for alleged misdeeds in the performance of his duties, which he had not committed. Before rendering testimony before the courts, Mérida Escobar stated to him that he feared a second reprisal because he continued to be under surveillance and to receive threats. Despite the fear that he felt, he went to the court and told the truth about what he knew of the Myrna Mack Chang case. Weeks after his testimony, he was killed by assassins, expert shooters, one hundred meters from the headquarters of the National Police, with four shots to the face. There was a complete squad of armed policemen who merely watched how the crime was committed, in full daylight in a park. They left him there on the ground like a wounded animal. His killers left so much evidence at the scene of the crime and so many witnesses that it was possible to know where they came from. José Mérida Escobar was killed by the same persons who killed Myrna Mack Chang, for having rendered testimony in the case. Mérida Escobar’s academic qualities and professional performance were excellent. Before September 29, 1990, the witness only had recognitions and congratulations on his police record for his struggle against crime. After his colleague was murdered, he could not continue to live in his house, which was constantly being watched and was attacked with gunfire. Finally, he decided to go into exile in Canada in 1992. He asked the Inter-American Court, in its ruling, to vindicate the National Police as an institution and the memory of José Mérida Escobar, who was a symbol of sacrifice and example to others; an example that can be reflected on all the new generations of policemen, and perhaps with this example some day, relatively soon, that mentality of indifference will be changed into a true service vocation with a mentality of respect, adherence to the law, and social justice. f. Testimony of Henry Monroy Andrino, former Judge25 In 1990, he lived with his family in Guatemala and he was the regular judge at the Second Criminal Court of First Instance in Guatemala City. In January, 1999, after an objection and self-disqualification of the previous Judge, he was assigned the Myrna Mack Chang case. He was in charge of the hearing on whether or not to issue an order for trial to commence against the persons identified as those responsible for this crime. Based on that hearing and studying the file, his conclusion as a judge at the time was that there was sufficient evidence to presume the responsibility of the persons who were being accused by the Public Prosecutor’s Office for being the instigators or accessories before the fact in connection with the murder of anthropologist Myrna Mack Chang. Those individuals were three members of the Guatemalan Army: general Godoy Gaitán and two Army colonels, Juan Valencia Osorio and Juan Guillermo Oliva Carrera. The items of evidence for this decision were details regarding the chain of 25 The witness rendered testimony on what he knows for a fact regarding the murder of Myrna Mack Chang, on the threats he received and on other background pertaining to the object of the case.