Guatemalan Army Kept Records of Campaign Against Dissenters
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A coalition of U.S.-based human rights groups released a 54-page Guatemalan
military log book documenting the arrests of 183 people from August of 1983
to March of 1985, during the reign of Gen. Oscar Humberto Mejia Victores. The
detainees were allegedly linked to guerrilla groups -- including the
Revolutionary Organization of the People in Arms (ORPA), the Guatemalan
Workers Party (PGT) and the Guerrilla Army of the Poor (EGP). The group
together made up the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG).
According to the report. More than 100 of those detained were executed; the
deaths are noted in code with "300" or the words "Taken away by Pancho."
The document was made public by the National Security Archive (NSA), the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, Human Rights Watch and
the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA). NSA analyst Kate Doyle said
that she had verified dozens of cases in the document. "It is about the best
evidence we have ever gotten about the cold-blooded, deliberate, calculated
strategy that the military used to pick people up one by one," Doyle said.
"There .must be more documents like this. And now we can press harder for the
Guatemalan government to release them." For more information, visit the NSA
website at http://www.seas.gwu.edu/nsarchive.
Source: Politico
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Enrique Gili
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