40 matter who was responsible for it. Therefore, he coordinated and supervised his staff to conduct that investigation. When he was assigned the case there was a report entitled “Preliminary Investigation, Myrna Mack,” with a single page, possible drafted on September 11, 1990. This document contained information gathered at the scene of the crime and it pointed to robbery as the motive of the crime. He did not go to the scene of the crime, but the investigators of the homicide division who went there to cover this case stated that, curiously enough, the Director of the Police, colonel Julio Caballeros, did show up there. He assigned the case to homicide investigator José Mérida Escobar, who had the necessary knowledge, the training and the experience in homicide investigations, and whom he trusted. He had a strong character and he was tenacious and persistent in the investigations. He authorized José Mérida Escobar to choose who would work with him on the investigation, for which reason he designated Julio Pérez Ixcajop, who currently lives in Canada. One of the most important witnesses in the investigation, a policeman whose surname is Masariegos, better known as “Troncoso,” recognized the direct perpetrator of the murder, and that he worked at the “Archivo” or “G2”, and he stated that the murderer had worked for the Investigations Department before. This witness warned both Mérida Escobar and Pérez Ixcajop to be careful regarding this case, as there were cases that should be investigated and others that should not. He told them that they were very young and that they should not investigate. After the investigation, a report dated September 29, 1990 was prepared and immediately submitted to the Director of the Police, colonel Julio Caballeros, who ordered that it be kept secret and not sent to the court, as their lives were at risk. Said report, based on the interviews to the witnesses, identified Noel de Jesús Beteta Alvarez as the main suspect and stated that the motive of the murder could have been the fact that Myrna Mack Chang had written a book dealing with institutional policies toward the internally displaced population in Guatemala which, at the time, was considered a very sensitive topic in Guatemala. The report also stated that at least three persons had kept watch on Myrna Mack Chang’s house and that at least three individuals had murdered her. Complying with the orders of the Director of the National Police, colonel Julio Caballeros, he kept that file secret. A second report, possible dated November 4, 1990 and prepared by orders of the Director, was submitted to the courts. The substantive difference between this report and the former one was that the stated motive of the crime was robbery. However, in late December, 1990, the Director of the Police was dismissed, for which reason the witness waited until the new director took office, and then he mentioned the existence of the September 29, 1990 report. The new director general decided to submit that file, and for this he contacted the Attorney General and head of the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the time. Mérida Escobar mentioned several times that he was being watched and followed because of the Mack Chang case investigation, for which reason he asked Mérida Escobar to formally report said surveillance, and he did so. One of Mérida Escobar’s reports states that when he arrived to interview one of the witnesses at AVANCSO’s offices, the witness told him that a man who said he was an Army Captain, by surname Estrada, had come and told him that he was in charge of the investigation in the Myrna Mack Chang case, and he asked him for the name of the homicide investigator of the National Police who was in charge of the investigation.