倍可親

被預言的謀殺(1)

作者:nb945  於 2011-4-18 13:51 發表於 最熱鬧的華人社交網路--貝殼村

作者分類:時事|通用分類:網路文摘

 羅德里戈·羅森博格(Rodrigo Rosenberg)知道自己死期將至。這可不是因為年事已高,他還只有48歲。也不是因為診斷出了什麼不治之症;他可是一名狂熱的自行車手,身體非常健康。確切地說,在瓜地馬拉,羅森博格是一位頗受尊敬的企業律師,他料定自己會遭到暗殺。
Before he began, in the spring of 2009, to prophesy his own murder, there was little to suggest that he might meet a violent end. Rosenberg, who had four children, was an affectionate father. The head of his own flourishing practice, he had a reputation as an indefatigable and charismatic lawyer who had a gift for leading other people where he wanted them to go. He was lithe and handsome, though his shiny black hair had fallen out on top, leaving an immaculate ring on the sides. Words were his way of ordering the jostle of life. He spoke in eloquent bursts, using his voice like an instrument, his hands and eyebrows rising and falling to accentuate each note. (It didn』t matter if he was advocating the virtues of the Guatemalan constitution or of his favorite band, Santana.) Ferociously intelligent, he had earned master』s degrees in law from both Harvard University and Cambridge University.

  2009年春,他尚未預言自己被害命運之前,很難看出他會終結於暴力之手。羅森博格有四個小孩,是位和藹可親的父親。他自己當老闆,業務蒸蒸日上,作為律師,他素以不屈不撓和魅力不凡而享有盛譽,而且在領導與指揮別人上頗有天賦。他身形矯捷,英俊帥氣,只是黑黝黝的頭髮已經開始禿頂,在四周留下光光的一圈。言辭是他的謀生之道。他善於雄辯,妙語連珠,說起話來又像樂器一般悅耳,配上手與眉的或抑或揚,話音尤顯鏗鏘有力。(不論是為瓜地馬拉憲法搖旗吶喊,還是為鍾愛的樂隊桑塔納大聲叫好,他都是如此表現。)智力超群的他在哈佛和劍橋都拿到了法律碩士學位。
2

Rosenberg had been born into Guatemala』s oligarchy—a term that still applies to the semi-feudal Central American nation, where more than half of its fourteen million people, many of them Mayan, live in severe poverty. His mother had inherited a small fortune, and his father had acquired several businesses, including a popular chain of cinemas. (As a boy, Rosenberg had spent hours in the plush seats, entranced by the latest American films.) Rosenberg was accustomed to privilege. A car enthusiast, he drove a Mercedes and made an annual pilgrimage to Indianapolis to watch Formula 1 races. He had been married twice but was now single, living in an elegant high-rise overlooking Guatemala City.

  羅森博格生於瓜地馬拉的寡頭之家,寡頭這一術語仍然適用於這個半封建的中美洲國家,該國1400萬人口中超過半數(他們中許多是瑪雅人)生活極度貧困。他母親繼承了一大筆錢,父親則獲得了數份產業,包括一家大眾連鎖影院。(還是小孩時,羅森博格就在影院的毛絨座椅上度過了不少時間,他對最新的美國影片痴迷不已。)羅森博格養尊處優可謂習以為常。作為汽車發燒友,他開著一輛賓士車,每年都遠赴印第安納波利斯去觀看F1方程式大賽。他結過兩次婚,不過現在是單身,從他居住的豪華高層樓房裡,可以俯瞰瓜地馬拉城。

Though his wealth allowed him a desultory life, he was 「driven and motivated by his goals,」 as a relative put it. When he began his studies at Cambridge, he had spoken almost no English, so Rosenberg informed his professors that he had recently undergone surgery on his vocal cords, and could not yet talk in class; in the meantime, he bought a television and watched it each night with closed-captioning until, after three months, he spoke with confidence.

  雖然他的財富足夠讓他過上衣食無憂的生活,但如一名親屬所言,他「有自己的奮鬥目標,這一直鞭策和激勵著他」。剛進劍橋的時候,他幾乎不會說英語,於是羅森博格對他的教授說,他聲帶剛做過手術,目前還不能在課上講話;與此同時,他買來電視,關掉字幕,每晚觀看,三個月後,他已經能熟練自如地講英語了。

He was not a religious man, but he maintained a stark sense of good and evil, castigating others, as well as himself, for transgressions. When he was a child, his father had abandoned the family, a betrayal that Rosenberg had never forgiven; he even refused to accept an inheritance that his father had left him. One of Rosenberg』s closest friends noted that, if he thought you had crossed him, he could be brutal: 「He was always very honest—sometimes, perhaps, too honest. He would say things that are true, but sometimes things that are true that you shouldn』t mention.」 Though Guatemala』s judicial system was notoriously corrupt, Rosenberg was drawn to the clarity of the law, to its unflinching judgment. He argued, successfully, before the Constitutional Court, Guatemala』s equivalent of the U.S. Supreme Court, and in 1998 he became the vice-dean of a prominent law school. At the same time, he served as counsel for some of Guatemala』s most powerful élites—its coffee barons and corporate executives and government officials.

  他不信教,但善惡分明,既嚴於律人,也嚴於律己。當他還是個孩子時,他父親拋棄了家庭,對於這場背叛,羅森博格一直刻骨銘心;他甚至拒絕接受父親留給他的遺產。羅森博格最親密的朋友談到,若他認為你反對他,他會殘酷無情:「他總是非常直率,不過有時候,可能直率過了頭。他會說,這些是對的,但有時候事情即使是對的,你也不該提。」儘管瓜地馬拉司法系統的貪污腐敗是出了名的,羅森博格依然對法律的明晰和確定不移的判決傾心不已。在憲法法院(瓜地馬拉相當於美國最高法院的機構)上,他的辯論大獲成功,1998年,他成為一所知名法律學院的副院長。同時,他還在瓜地馬拉一些權勢煊赫的精英人士(咖啡巨頭、企業總裁和政府官員們)那兒擔任法律顧問。

And, according to Rosenberg, it was a case involving one of these clients, Khalil Musa, that had placed his life in jeopardy. A Lebanese immigrant, Musa had risen from poverty to great wealth, manufacturing textiles and producing coffee. Stern, traditional, and hardworking, he liked to recite the inspirational poetry of Khalil Gibran, and was admired as one of the few magnates in Guatemala who refused to plunder the state or make payoffs for favorable deals. At seventy-six, he suffered from vertigo, and he increasingly relied on the younger of his two daughters, Marjorie, to help him manage his business. Marjorie, who was forty-two, was married with two children, and she had an easy ebullience that infused her simple features with beauty. She had mastered the intricacies of finishing fabrics, and she had always been—as her sister, Aziza, acknowledges, without rancor—their father』s favorite.

  據羅森博格稱,這些客戶當中有一位叫卡里爾·穆薩(Khalil Musa),正是牽涉到他的一件案子將自己的生命置於危險境地。穆薩是黎巴嫩移民,出身貧窮,卻掙下了萬貫家財,他的生意主要是紡織與咖啡製造。他是個嚴苛、傳統而又勤勉的人,喜愛背誦紀伯倫鼓舞人心的詩篇,在瓜地馬拉,他是少數幾位受人尊崇的巨頭之一,他不會因有利可圖而蠹蝕國家或大行賄賂。76歲的他患有眩暈症,日益依賴於兩個女兒中的妹妹馬約莉(Marjorie),馬約莉時年42歲,已婚,有兩個小孩,她生性單純,熱情洋溢的性格為之更添一份魅力。她精通紡織印染的複雜工藝,她姐姐阿齊薩(Aziza)毫無私怨地承認,妹妹向來都是父親的掌上明珠。

Musa lived in an affluent neighborhood of Guatemala City, and Marjorie often drove him from their factory, on the outskirts of the capital, home for lunch. On April 14, 2009, they had set out on such a routine trip. The rainy season was a few weeks away, and so clouds had not obscured the steep volcanic cones that tower over the city, periodically showering the streets with ash. When Marjorie stopped at a red light, just outside the factory, a man got out of a car behind her and approached the Musas』 vehicle from the passenger side, as if to ask a question. He then aimed a 9-mm. pistol at Musa, and opened fire—a blur of smoke and light. The gunman sprinted to a motorcycle, where a driver was waiting for him, and hopped on the back seat. They sped away. The stoplight in front of the Musas』 car turned green, then red, and then green again, but the car remained in place, the engine still rumbling. One of the tinted windows on the passenger side had shattered, revealing father and daughter lying in one another』s blood. They had both been shot in the chest. The police arrived within minutes, but by then they were dead.

  穆薩住在瓜地馬拉城一個富裕小區里,馬約莉經常開車從位於首都郊外的工廠載著他回家吃午飯。2009年4月14日,他們跟往常一樣又啟程了。離雨季還有幾個星期,城市周圍高聳而險峻的火山還不見雲霧繚繞,不時會有火山灰掉落到大街上。出工廠沒多遠,當馬約莉在一處紅燈前停下時,一名男子從她身後的車裡鑽出來,接近了穆薩汽車的乘客位置,像是要問路。他隨即掏出9毫米手槍對準了穆薩,槍響處,一抹煙霧和火光迸射而出。槍手飛奔向一輛摩托車,那兒有一名車手已經在等候,他躍上後座,摩托車疾馳而去。穆薩車前方的交通燈變綠,又變紅,再變綠,車卻絲毫未動,引擎還在隆隆作響。乘客座位一側有扇染色玻璃已經粉碎,可以看到父親與女兒倒在血泊之中。他們都是胸部中彈。警察幾分鐘后趕到,不過那時他們都已命喪黃泉。

Rosenberg had frequently expressed despair over the violence that consumed Guatemala. In 2007, a joint study by the United Nations and the World Bank ranked it as the third most murderous country. Between 2000 and 2009, the number of killings rose steadily, ultimately reaching sixty-four hundred. The murder rate was nearly four times higher than Mexico』s. In 2009, fewer civilians were reported killed in the war zone of Iraq than were shot, stabbed, or beaten to death in Guatemala.

  對於吞噬瓜地馬拉的暴力,羅森博格常常感到絕望。2007年,在聯合國與世界銀行的一項聯合調查中,瓜地馬拉名列全球兇殺最嚴重國家的第三位。2000至2009年間,被害者數目逐年穩定增長,最終達到了6400人。該國的謀殺率將近比墨西哥高出4倍。2009年,伊拉克戰區報告罹難的平民數量甚至要少於瓜地馬拉被槍殺、刺殺或毆打至死的人數。

The violence can be traced to a civil war between the state and leftist rebels, a three-decade struggle that, from 1960 to 1996, was the dirtiest of Latin America』s dirty wars. More than two hundred thousand people were killed or 「disappeared.」 According to a U.N.-sponsored commission, at least ninety per cent of the killings were carried out by the state』s military forces or by paramilitary death squads with names like Eye for an Eye. One witness said, 「What we have seen has been terrible: burned corpses; women impaled and buried, as if they were animals ready for the spit, all doubled up; and children massacred and carved up with machetes.」 The state』s counter-insurgency strategy, known as 「drain the sea to kill the fish,」 culminated in what the commission deemed acts of genocide.

  暴力活動可追溯至政府軍與左翼叛軍的內戰,從1960年至1996年,戰爭持續了30多年,堪稱拉美骯髒戰爭中的極致。累計有超過20萬人被害或「失蹤」。據聯合國資助的一個委員會統計,至少90%的殺害是政府軍或准軍事組織——「以眼還眼」之類行刑隊所為。據一名目擊者透露,「慘景歷歷在目:燃燒的屍體、釘死和活埋的女人,彷彿他們是動物一樣,隨時都可能被屠戮,甚至變本加厲,兒童遭到大肆屠殺,就直接拿著大砍刀劈的。」該國的戡亂戰略以「趕盡殺絕」著稱,委員會認定這歸根結底是種族滅絕的暴行。

In 1996, the government reached a peace accord with the rebels, and it was supposed to mark a new era of democracy and rule of law. But amnesty was granted for even the worst crimes, leaving no one accountable. (Critics called the policy 「the piñata of self-forgiveness.」) In 1998, the Guatemalan Archdiocese』s Office of Human Rights, led by Bishop Juan Gerardi, released a four-volume report, 「Guatemala: Never Again,」 which documented hundreds of crimes against humanity, identifying some perpetrators by name. Two days later, Gerardi was bludgeoned to death, a murder that was eventually revealed to be part of a conspiracy involving military officers.

  1996年,政府與叛軍達成和平協議,本以為這標誌著民主法治的新時代即將來臨。但是,即使那些罪大惡極的犯人也被大赦,誰都不用承擔責任。(批評家稱該政策為「自我寬恕的皮納塔【譯註:皮納塔是拉丁美洲特有的一種泥制彩色裝飾品,此處用來形容該政策的華而不實和不堪一擊】」)1998年,由主教胡安·傑拉爾迪(Juan Gerardi)領導的瓜地馬拉總教區人權辦公室發布了一份長達四卷的報告《瓜地馬拉:前車之鑒》,其中記錄了違反人權的數百項罪行,並註明了作惡者的姓名。兩天之後,傑拉爾迪就被亂棒打死,最後發現,這次兇殺是陰謀策劃好的,參與密謀的就有軍官。

After the peace accord, the state』s security apparatus—death squads, intelligence units, police officers, military counter-insurgency forces—did not disappear but, rather, mutated into criminal organizations. Amounting to a parallel state, these illicit networks engage in arms trafficking, money laundering, extortion, human smuggling, black-market adoptions, and kidnapping for ransom. The networks also control an exploding drug trade. Latin America』s cartels, squeezed by the governments of Colombia and Mexico, have found an ideal sanctuary in Guatemala, and most of the cocaine entering America now passes through the country. Criminal networks have infiltrated virtually every government and law-enforcement agency, and more than half the country is no longer believed to be under the control of any government at all. Citizens, deprived of justice, often form lynch mobs, or they resolve disputes, even trivial ones, by hiring assassins.

  和平協議締結之後,該國的安全機構——行刑隊、情報機關、警官、軍方戡亂部隊——並未消亡,而是突變為犯罪組織。這些非法網路好比是另一個并行的國度,武器走私、洗錢、敲詐勒索、偷渡、黑市販賣人口和綁架索贖,簡直無惡不作。這些網路所控制的毒品交易迅速擴大。拉美犯罪集團在哥倫比亞和墨西哥遭到嚴厲打擊,卻在瓜地馬拉找到了理想的避難所,絕大多數進入美國的可卡因現在都經由該國周轉。犯罪網路幾乎滲透到每一政府及司法機構,該國半數以上的人完全不認為政府在管事。那些享受不到司法公正的平民常常淪為私刑暴民,或者他們靠雇傭殺手來解決爭端,哪怕是瑣碎小事也不例外。

Some authorities have revived the darkest counter-insurgency tactics, rounding up undesirables and executing them. Incredibly, the death rate in Guatemala is now higher than it was for much of the civil war. And there is almost absolute impunity: ninety-seven per cent of homicides remain unsolved, the killers free to kill again. In 2007, a U.N. official declared, 「Guatemala is a good place to commit a murder, because you will almost certainly get away with it.」

  有的當局重新恢復了最黑暗的戡亂手段,把那些不受歡迎者聚攏起來,然後統一處決。不可思議的是,如今瓜地馬拉的死亡率甚至比內戰大部分時間都高。而且殺人到了肆無忌憚的地步:97%的兇殺至今是懸案,殺手隨意便可再開殺戒。2007年,一位聯合國官員稱,「瓜地馬拉就是謀殺的天堂,因為你幾乎篤定可以逍遙法外。」

After Rosenberg heard that the Musas had been shot, he rushed to the scene. Luis Mendizábal, a longtime friend and client of Rosenberg』s, told me, 「I asked him to come and pick me up, so we could go to the place together. He said, 『No, no, no. I』m not going to lose any time. I』m going directly.』 So he went. He couldn』t believe it. Then he came back over here, and cried, easily, for two hours.」 His oldest son, Eduardo, who was twenty-four, told me that it was only the second time he had seen his father break down, the first being when Rosenberg revealed that he was separating from Eduardo』s mother. He seemed 「completely destroyed」 by the Musas』 deaths, Eduardo recalled.

  得知穆薩父女被槍殺,羅森博格匆匆趕往現場。路易斯·蒙迪扎巴爾(Luis Mendizábal)是羅森博格的老友和客戶,他對我說,「我要他過來捎我一起去,這樣我們就能一塊趕到那兒。但他說,『不,不,不。我不能浪費一點時間,我要直接趕過去。』這樣他就去了。他不敢相信眼前所見。後來他又返回那兒,放聲大哭,足足哭了兩個小時。」他的長子愛德華多(Eduardo)現年24歲,他告訴我,除了與愛德華多母親分手時之外,這還是第二次他看到父親如此形神俱毀。愛德華多回憶道,穆薩父女之死似乎「徹底摧垮」了他。

Though the crime was horrific, Rosenberg』s deeply emotional reaction was surprising. Musa was not a big client or someone he knew that well. Then Rosenberg told his son a secret: for more than a year, he and Marjorie had been having an affair.

  儘管罪行可怖,但羅森博格極度的情感反應還是令人意外。穆薩不是個大客戶,與他交往也不甚深。後來羅森博格告訴了兒子一個秘密:一年多來,他一直與馬約莉有染。

They had planned to marry, but had not wanted to disclose their relationship until Marjorie got a divorce. Almost every day, they had exchanged text messages. On March 3, 2009, five weeks before the shooting, Marjorie wrote to Rosenberg, 「I love you like I』ve never loved before. And, yes, I will marry you.」 A few days later, she said, 「Good night my love, my prince, my whole life. You don』t know how much I love you, how much I adore you, and how much I need you. You are so tender with me. And you』re the sweetest man I know.」 She added, 「I』m dying to live the rest of my life at your side.」 He called her 「my Marjorie de Rosenberg」 and told her that she gave him 「the strength to be a better man」 and that they were 「living an incredible love story.」 Hours before she was killed, he ended a message with the words 「Your prince forever.」

  他們計劃結婚,不過打算等馬約莉離婚之後再公布他們的關係。幾乎每天他們都在互發簡訊。2009年3月3日,槍擊發生5周之前,馬約莉寫給羅森博格,「我愛你,我從未愛過這麼深。是的,我要嫁給你。」幾天之後,她又說,「晚安,我的愛人,我的王子,我的全部生命。你不知道我有多麼愛你,多麼戀你,多麼需要你。你對我溫柔備至,你是我所知道的最甜蜜的男人。」末了還添一句,「我渴望餘生與你作伴。」他喚她「我羅森博格家的馬約莉」,並告訴她,是她給了他「不斷進步的力量」,而且他們「活在一個妙不可言的愛情故事裡。」就在被害前的幾個小時,他還在一條消息的末尾署下「你永遠的王子」。

In tears, Rosenberg told his son, 「They killed her! They killed her!」 He told Mendizábal the same thing, repeating the words over and over.

  眼含熱淚,羅森博格對他兒子說,「他們殺了她!他們殺了她!」他向蒙迪扎巴爾講述了同樣的事情,一遍又一遍地念叨著這句話。

The shootings unnerved the most powerful members of Guatemalan society. Khalil Musa knew Guatemala』s President, Álvaro Colom, who had also worked in the textile industry; Marjorie was a good friend of Gustavo Alejos, who was Colom』s private secretary, and whose brother was the head of Congress. An adviser to President Colom told me, 「If the Musas could be killed, there was a sense that anyone could be.」

  槍殺讓瓜地馬拉社會最有權勢的人物都感到緊張不安。穆薩認識瓜地馬拉總統阿爾瓦羅·科羅姆(Álvaro Colom),且總統也在紡織行業干過;馬約莉是科羅姆私人秘書古斯塔沃·阿萊霍斯(Gustavo Alejos)的好友,而古斯塔沃的哥哥是國會領導人。科羅姆總統的一名顧問告訴我,「如果穆薩父女都能被害,那給人的感覺就是誰都無法倖免了。」

Thousands of people showed up for the Musas』 funeral, Alejos among them. Rosenberg, concerned that his affair with Marjorie might cause a scandal, stood outside the chapel, watching from a distance. A few days later, Rosenberg received a call from a jeweller, who informed him that Marjorie had ordered a gift for him before her death—a wedding ring. 「This is the message she sent me,」 he told Mendizábal.

  數千人出席了穆薩的葬禮,阿萊霍斯也在其中。羅森博格擔心他與馬約莉的韻事會引發醜聞,只好站在教堂外,遠遠地觀望。幾天之後,羅森博格接到珠寶商的電話,說馬約莉生前訂了一份禮物送給他——一枚結婚戒指。「這是她發給我的信號,」他對蒙迪扎巴爾說。


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