REPORTER: Giovana Vitola
Guatemala City by night is no place for the faint hearted.
POLICE (Translation): Estrada, I will join your team shortly, I'll be heading to Zone 4.
And Zone four is no exception.
COMMISSIONER CAETANO ICHU (Translation): Normally in Guatemala most deaths are from gunfire or knives and other situations. But it's mostly firearms. There are many gangs. Lots of them. That is how many of the deaths happen.
But in one of the most violent cities in the world, it seems the police are starting to make a difference. Commissioner Caetano Ichu says the raids are more frequent and more targeted.
COMMISSIONER CAETANO ICHU (Translation): Drugs, weapons, firearms, knives or any other weapons they can use to commit crime. Now it has been about a year we have been able to lower the crime statistics.
It wasn't so long ago that crime here didn't lead to punishment. But catching thieves, rapists and killers is now a priority, thanks to this woman. Guatemala's first ever female Attorney General, Claudia Paz Y Paz. This meeting has been called to combat brutal violence against women. Hundreds are murdered each year.
WOMAN (Translation): Domestic violence, femicide, human trafficking, sexual violence and armed robbery.
CLAUDIA PAZ Y PAZ, ATTORNEY GENERAL (Translation): If you tackle a problem of violence against women at the right moment, then you can prevent a violent death.
And the quietly spoken Attorney General became internationally known, when in May, former dictator Rios Montt was convicted of genocide. The first time a national court has convicted a former head of state with this charge.
CLAUDIA PAZ Y PAZ (Translation): It is very important for the rule of law because we are sending a message that no one is above the law.
However the decision was later put on hold by the constitutional court due to a technicality. The case is now in limbo. Paz Y Paz remains undeterred, but even as this meeting continues news comes through of another violent death. Fernando Guzman is a forensic expert.
FERNANDO GUZMAN, FORENSIC EXPERT (Translation): We were just informed of a situation in Zone 18. Apparently there is a deceased female. Zone 18 is one of the red zones of our capital city. Red zone means that it's one of the most dangerous areas.
Fernando says that despite the high murder rate, extra resources from the Attorney General are helping in the battle against the criminals.
FERNANDO GUZMAN (Translation): In this case, our department which is Collection of Evidence, we have been granted more personnel and more equipment.
The murder has drawn a large crowd.
ELIAS SALAZAR, REPORTER (Translation): Apparently, the young lady, called Dulce America, has been involved with a gang.
Elias Salazar has spent years as a crime reporter for a local newspaper. He says the girl was murdered in this internet café after threatening to leave the gang, another victim in a crime ridden country.
ELIAS SALAZAR (Translation): The statistics of the National Civil Police indicate that in Guatemala nationwide, there are 14 to 15 murders daily as a consequence of violence. This makes our country one of the most violent in Latin America, unfortunately.
Elias has been to many crime scenes, but murder came calling in his neighbourhood in March. Gloria Esperanza De Rodriguez works in this home factory making tortillas. Her daughter and daughter's boyfriend were gunned down when criminals tried to extort the family.
GLORIA ESPERANZA DE RODRIGUEZ (Translation): It is because of all the violence out there, I lost her. They didn't give them any money - so they paid with their lives. I want justice for my daughter because she wasn't all bad - we are working people - I have always worked and struggled to raise my kids. All my kids are good and they all went to school and have jobs.
Extortion is big business here for the gangs. So what does Elias make of Paz Y Paz's impact on the situation?
ELIAS SALAZAR, REPORTER (Translation): as a journalist I can say that the Attorney-General's performance has been acceptable, but there is still far to go. We need to improve the performance of our officials.
Some scenes in Guatemala never change. But crime affects every part of the society. There are some big trials under way. This is the basement of the city's main court.
ANA HELENA GUZMAN (Translation): They have already gone up?
Ana Helena Guzman is prosecuting a notorious gang of 20 criminals who have allegedly been robbing and raping women.
REPORTER: How many victims in total?
ANA HELENA GUZMAN (Translation): 14 victims.
REPORTER: What are the worst cases?
ANA HELENA GUZMAN (Translation): All the charges against them are difficult because they are kidnapping criminal association, aggravated rape.
The Gang of 20 is already inside the court, under tight security. They duck as they see the camera. I'm told the one in orange is the ringleader. The prosecution reflects a new commitment from the authorities. The Attorney General is ending the impunity of the past.
CLAUDIA PAZ Y PAZ (Translation): We have strengthened the prosecution offices for women in the whole country. Our duty is to do our jobs. And do them well.
REPORTER: I notice on your wall you have a picture of Robert Kennedy, who are your heroes?
CLAUDIA PAZ Y PAZ (Translation): He is one of them. He was attorney General of the USA.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General has more on her mind than just fighting crime, she is featured in a national magazine and it is not really her look.
CLAUDIA PAZ Y PAZ (Translation): The content is better than the visuals, I had to sit for two hours while people did stuff to my face.
REPORTER: How was the experience?
CLAUDIA PAZ Y PAZ (Translation): I don't look that made up considering all the stuff they did - I swear.
It's the end of a long day. Paz Y Paz takes her private lift, escorted by bodyguards, even indoors.
REPORTER (Translation): Exhausting day?
CLAUDIA PAZ Y PAZ (Translation): Yeah. Meeting, after meeting after meeting. Take us home please.
Her bullet proof car is tailed by another vehicle with armed guards.
REPORTER (Translation): Are you afraid?
CLAUDIA PAZ Y PAZ (Translation): No.
REPORTER (Translation): Why not?
CLAUDIA PAZ Y PAZ (Translation): Because I have security. I am just doing my job.
REPORTER (Translation): Have you got used to it?
CLAUDIA PAZ Y PAZ (Translation): It's always difficult but you get used to it.
REPORTER (Translation): Is your family afraid something might happen to you? You might die? Because you make many enemies?
CLAUDIA PAZ Y PAZ (Translation): No, I don't think so.
REPORTER (Translation): What does your husband think about your job?
CLAUDIA PAZ Y PAZ (Translation): he supports me a lot, thank goodness.
Today it's a different journey. A trip back in time to Guatemala's dark past. In the early 1980s, dictator Rios Montt's forces attacked here.
NEWS: For years there have been reports of massacres and atrocities committed by the Guatemalan security forces.
The unfinished prosecution of the former dictator may be Paz Y Paz's biggest challenge. The trial has created intense interest here in Latin America and around the world.
JUDGE (Translation): This court unanimously declares first, that the accused Jose Efrain Rioss Montt is responsible as the author of the crimes of genocide.
This historic verdict has now been announced, and there is confusion over how to proceed with the case. Countries who harbour dictators and Human Rights abusers are watching closely.
CLAUDIA PAZ Y PAZ (Translation): I think it is very important for the citizens and especially for the victims that we arrive at a sentence - that we go through with the trial. Of course guaranteeing that due process is observed. But it is really important that we conclude this case.
Tiburcio Utui was the first to testify in the Montt trial. He witnessed soldiers brutally murdering two women, one of them pregnant.
TIBURCIO UTUI (Translation): That is the place where the house was. It was there that they cut open her belly, they got the other woman on that slope and they fractured her head with a machete.
He was tortured mercilessly.
TIBURCIO UTUI (Translation): This is where they burned me, this is where my intestine came out. Look at all this, here and here. They also burned my testicles.
The locals want to show me the scale of the killing. Pedro Ribeira lost his father.
REPORTER (Translation): So they are all the disappeared?
PEDRO RIBEIRA (Translation): Yes, all of them.
1700 of the indigenous population were killed in this area, men, women and children.
WOMAN (Translation): Should we use water?
WOMAN 2 (Translation): I don't think so, I will brush it out when it dries a little more.
As well as survivor testimony, there is this evidence, it's collected from hundreds of excavation sites all over the country.
WOMAN (Translation): From this mass grave we exhumed many of the remains that are now being analysed. Many of the bodies from here, all the way to the bottom.
CLAUDIA PAZ Y PAZ (Translation): It is very important scientific evidence. It is evidence to determine the cause of death.
Paz Y Paz has boosted the forensic teams. She knows her reputation depends on putting the dictator behind bars. Even though the trial is now on hold, she believes she will prevail.
REPORTER: You hope for a conviction?
CLAUDIA PAZ Y PAZ (Translation): The case is extremely strong, the case is very solid. I think that the victims have certain rights, such as the right to the truth, to justice, to reparation and these do not expire with the passing of time.
There are millions of Guatemalans who hope she's correct.
Reporter/Camera
GIOVANA VITOLA
Producer
GEOFF PARISH
Translations
CLAUDIANNA BLANCO
Editor
MICAH MCGOWN
Original Music Composed by
VICKI HANSEN