Bishop Gerardi claimed that the Guatemalan authorities killed 100,000 civilians in the civil war which ended in 1996. Since 1996, political violence and intimidation have remained the norm.

After bizarre official explanations for the bishops's death, a Church team called Los Intocables (the Untouchables) investigated the murder.

It found that the military had tracked the bishop for years. Sergeant-Major Villanueva, a convicted murderer, was secretly released on the day of the killing. A taxi driver noted down the number of a military vehicle outside Gerardi's house.

A trial began in 2001, when no officer had yet been convicted of a human rights crime. In the face of threats and violence, the court convicted and imprisoned Villanueva, Father Mario Orantes, a priest who lived in Geradi's house, and a counterinsurgency commander and his son.

Francisco Goldman suggests that ultimate responsibilty for the killing lies withOtto Pérez Molina, a former general who stood for the presidency last year.

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