Facundo Cabral murderers convicted and sentenced

AP / Alan Diaz

A Guatemalan court convicted and sentenced five men for the July 2011 killing of Facundo Cabral, an Argentina folk singer. Cabral was killed in Guatemala City when assailants attempted to murder Henry Farinas, a businessman and concert promoter. The assailants believed that Farinas had "betrayed" them.

The one Costa Rican and four Guatemalan men received 30 years for Cabral's death and another 20 years for the attempted murder of Farinas.

It's terrible to see such high profile killings in Guatemala continue (even though this one was 2011) in spite of several years of improving homicide rates. However, one can take some comfort in the fact that homicides continue to go down and that prosecutions continue in spite of all the other craziness in Guatemalan politics. Imagine what would be possible with a half functioning political system.