Priest’s Arrest Tied to Bishop’s Killing

Authorities arrested a Roman Catholic priest in connection with the killing of Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi, who was slain in April by an attacker who crushed Gerardi’s head with a concrete block. Witnesses told Reuters that Mario Orantes, the priest who found Gerardi’s body in the garage of the parish where they worked, was in handcuffs in Guatemala City’s main courthouse, awaiting processing and questioning. Gerardi was killed April 26, two days after he released a landmark report on human rights during Guatemala’s long civil war. Many Guatemalans believe that it was a political assassination. But six weeks ago, rumors surfaced that it was a crime of passion and that Gerardi and Orantes were involved in a love triangle. “If you allow me to use the word, that is stupid,” Orantes told local Radio Sonora about the crime-of-passion theory.