SILENT VIGIL FOR TRUTH ABOUT GUATEMALA
Sister Dianna Ortiz
March 31, 1996, White House
Sister Dianna Ortiz, a survivor of torture in Guatemala, is on a continuing silent vigil in front of the White House to demand declassification of all U.S government information on human rights abuses in Gualemala.
As a 28-year-old from New Mexico, Sister Ortiz was; teaching literacy to young children in Guatemala when she began to receive death threats. In 1989, she was abducted at gunpoint from a church retreat by two men and later, put in a police car. She was detained for 24 hours, burned more: than 111 times with cigarettes and repeatedly raped. while in detention, she heard and witnessed the torture of other Guatemalans.
Sister Ortiz's torturers responded to orders from a man who spoke English with a perfect American accent, spoke heavily accented, broken Spanish, and refused to answer when Sister Ortiz asked him directly il he was an American. The torturers referred to him as "Alejandro."
For more than six years, Sister Ortiz has sought to ]earn the truth about what happened to her and to learn the identity of Alejandro. Although Sister Ortiz travelled to Guatemala 4 times to press her case in the Guatemalan court system, sued former Guatemalan defense minister Hector Gramajo in a Massachusetts federal court with other Guatemalan survivors, winning a judgment of $5 million, and sued the Guatemalan government before the Organization of American States, the U.S. government showed little interest in her case until last year.
In 1995, President Clinton ordered a government-wide investigation of deaths, disappearances or assaults on U.S. citizens in Guatemala since 1984. The Intelligence Over-sight Board is in charge of the investigation.
The Intelligence Oversight Board's report may not name names, may not be complete and thorough, and may not be release d to the public. The release of the full report, not just a summary, is especially important given recent revelations of U.S. complicity in human rights violations in Guatemala, notably in the cases of Efrain Bamaca Velasquez. and Michael DeVine. Sister Ortiz's case is part of a pattern.
Declassification
Various U.S. agencies as well as the Intelligence Oversight Board have been investigating Sister Ortiz's and other cases for over a year. The U.S. District Attorney's Office admits to having over a thousand pages of documents on her case but although Sister Ortiz filed for her documents under the Freedom of Information Act last April, she has not received one shred of paper.
Sister Ortiz is demanding that President Clinton:
* Declassify all U.S. government information reIated to human rights violations in Guatemala since 1954, including information about her own abduction and torture.
* Release to the public the Intelligence Oversight Board's full report, not just a summary of its findings.
We as U.S. citizens have the right to know what is done in our names and with our tax dollars. Have we paid for torture and murder on a mass scale? If not, then the administration has nothing to lose by ordering the declassification of documents. If so, then we must confront this fact and ensure that it never happens again.
For Dianna and other survivors, silence is a form of psychological torture.
All Guatemalan and U.S. citizens who have suffered abuses or lost family members in Guatemala have the right to know the truth. Moving on into the future will be possible only when there has been an accounting of the past.
The U.S. should not obstruct justice in Guatemala by concealing evidence of massive and systematic criminal acts. Government agencies have information that could allow human rights violators to be successfully prosecuted in Guatemala. By refusirlg ro release it, The U.S. is unnecessarily hindering the reconstruction, reconciliation, and strengthening of Guatemalan civilian society.
Preliminary Statistics of Human Rights Violations
January 1, 1996 - March 20, 1996
Victims
Extrajudicial Executions - - - - - - 77
Forced Disappearances - - - - - - 13
Attempted Assassinations - - - - - 36
Death Threats - - - - - - - - - - - - 35
Cases of Torture- - - - - - - - - - - 25
What You Can Do
1) Call President CIinton at the White House Comment Line: tel. 202-456-1111; fax. 202-456-2461.
Urge President Clintorl to declassify all U.S. government information related to:
a) human rights abuses in Guatemala from 1954 to the present; and
b) the case of Sister Dianna Ortiz.
Also urge President Clinton to release the full text of the Intelligence Oversight Board's investigation, not just a summary of the findings.
2) Call or fax National Security Advisor Anthony Lake: tel. 202-456-9491, fax. 202-456-2883. Discuss the same points on declassification.
3) Call and fax your congressional representatives both in Washjngton, DC and at home. Meeting with them is even better (they will be in their home districts until April 14. Urge them to sign on to the declassification "Dear Colleague" letter sponsored by the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.
4) Send postcards to the White Housc reiteratirlg the requests outlined above. Postcards are available at GHRC/USA.
5) Organize a sister vigil in your area. Try to interest your local media.
Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA
3321 12th Street NE, Washington DC 20017
202-529-6599; fax 202-526-4611
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