Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 17. Mars 2009 / Time Line March 17, 2009
Version 3.503/17/2009
Kvinder 'får' stemmeret og valgbarhedsret ved valget til
Københavns Borrgerrepræsentation, 1909.
03/17/2009
Historical Archives Lead to Arrest of Police Officers in
Guatemalan Disappearance
Declassified documents show U.S. Embassy knew that Guatemalan
security forces were behind wave of abductions of students and
labor leaders
National Security Archive calls for release of military files and
investigation into intellectual authors of the 1984 abduction of
Fernando García and other disappearances
Washington, DC, March 17, 2009 - Following a stunning breakthrough
in a 25-year-old case of political terror in Guatemala, the
National Security Archive today is posting declassified U.S.
documents about the disappearance of Edgar Fernando García,
a student leader and trade union activist captured by Guatemalan
security forces in 1984. The documents show that García's
capture was an organized political abduction orchestrated at the
highest levels of the Guatemalan government.
The dormant case was brought back to life earlier this month when
Guatemalan authorities used evidence found in the massive archives
of the former National Police to arrest a two police officers (one
active duty, one retired), charging them with kidnapping, illegal
detention and abuse of duty. Arrest warrants have also been issued
for two more suspects, ex-officers with the infamous Special
Operations Brigade (BROE), a police unit linked to death squad
activities during the 1980s by human rights groups.
The arrests are a testament to the important work being done by
investigators in the police archive. Since the discovery of the
vast, deteriorating archive in 2005, the files have proven to
contain a treasure trove of evidence in some of Guatemala's most
notorious cases of human rights atrocities stemming from the
country's 36-year brutal civil conflict. According to the
Historical Clarification Commission, 200,000 unarmed civilians died
in the war, and 40,000 were estimated to have "disappeared."
The U.S. records published today provide illuminating details on
the government campaign of terror designed to destroy Guatemala's
urban and rural social movements during the 1980s that led to
abduction of hundreds of labor leaders, including Fernando
García. The posting also includes information on one of
Guatemala's first human rights organizations, the Mutual Support
Group (GAM), which itself became a target of government violence
after its creation in 1984.
The posting also bring attention to the lingering question over
Guatemala's missing military archives, which the President ordered
released over a year ago. It also provides links to the National
Security Archive's Guatemala Project homepage, with information on
the death squad dossier, the police archives, and the investigative
efforts to provide evidence in international and domestic human
rights legal prosecution.
http://hermes.circ.gwu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=nsarchive&A=1
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