The Assassination of Myrna Mack

Myrna Mack, an American anthropologist was assassinated on September 11, 1990 by Sergeant Noel de Jesus Beteta, member of the Security Department of the Presidential General Staff, who stabbed her 27 times.

In 1993, Beteta was sentenced to 25 years of jail. Later, Lieutenent Colonel Juan Valencia Osorio, Colonel Guillermo Oliva and General Edgard Godoy Gaitan were accused of being the intellectual authors. In October of 2002, Valencia Osorio was sentenced to 30 years of prison, while Godoy and Silva, even after being first acquitted, remained in jail awaiting another trial against them.

By order of the Fourth Court of Appeals, the guilty sentence of the three military men was reversed, arguing supposed contradictions in the case. The new ruling was a source of public outrage in Guatemala and a slap in the face for the Mack family, especially for Helen Mack, Myrna’s sister, who, since 2000, had been fighting for justice in the case of her sister.