Jan. 1, 2002

Agency Silence

Forum Column - Pursuing Justice - By Peter A. Schey - In 1992, the Guatemalan military announced that Efrain Bamaca Velsquez, a Mayan resistance leader, had died in an armed confrontation with government security forces. The Guatemalan army reported that Bamaca committed suicide. However, in early 1993, Jennifer Harbury, Bamaca's wife and a U.S. citizen, obtained information that Bamaca was captured alive, transported to a Guatemalan army base and then executed.