Guatemalans Mourn Killing of Activist Bishop

Thousands of leftist unionists, middle-class neighborhood watch members and human rights activists gathered at dusk Tuesday for an eerily silent, five-block pilgrimage to pay tribute to slain Roman Catholic Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi and insist that his killer be found.

Many carried placards that read “We demand justice,” a theme that echoed full-page advertisements in Tuesday’s newspapers. Marchers walked from the cathedral where Gerardi is to be buried today to the plaza outside the parish house--the site of his killing--where they lighted candles.

As Guatemala grieved for the 75-year-old human rights activist, a U.S. forensics expert consulted with Guatemalan officials and visited the scene of the cleric’s slaying.

Thousands of mourners filed past Gerardi’s casket in the cathedral as doorways were hung with black ribbons and flags flew at half-staff. Messages of condolence and condemnation of the crime poured in from around the world. Local newspapers dedicated front pages to photographs of the bishop and his mourners, many of whom wore the traditional Indian dress typical of the provinces of Quiche and Verapaz, where he once ministered to the poor.

But police did not seem to be any closer to finding a suspect or a motive for the late-Sunday slaying, which occurred two days after Gerardi released a report on atrocities committed in the 35-year civil war that ended in 1996. The strongest lead still appeared to be the testimony of a vagrant who saw a man leaving the garage where an assailant had crushed the bishop’s skull with a triangular piece of concrete.

A police sketch has been widely distributed, and authorities said they received two tips about possible suspects, neither of whom had been arrested. Guatemalan authorities have accepted an offer of U.S. aid in the investigation, though its form was unclear.

Dr. Robert Kirschner, of Physicians for Human Rights, arrived here late Monday at the request of the Guatemalan Archbishop’s Office of Human Rights, which Gerardi founded and served as coordinator. But Kirschner, a forensics expert, has been left to rely on police-gathered evidence because the crime scene was cleaned and he arrived after the police finished their autopsy.

With an autopsy completed, the bishop’s body was on display in a 24-hour vigil with continuous Masses in the packed cathedral. Two lines of mourners--one for groups from parochial schools and another for the public--formed outside to view the body, which lay in a plain wooden casket surrounded by flower wreaths.

A delegation of 16 students from a Guatemala City high school bore flowers for the bishop. “We bring this to express our condolences to the people of Guatemala for the loss of Monsignor,” said Walter Rivera, 17, the student body president. “How can we achieve a society at peace when even a person as important as the bishop can be the victim of an attack?”

Murcia Caal, 30, a mother of two young daughters, had never met Gerardi but still felt drawn to the vigil. “We always saw him on television,” she said. “He fought so that Guatemala would be more just. I feel sad that a person like him had such a terrible death.”

Messages of condolence also flooded in from abroad. “I deeply hope that this abominable crime, which has taken the life of a true servant of peace and tireless worker for harmony among all sectors of the population, clearly shows the futility of violence,” Pope John Paul II said.”