Death Squad Diary - Guatemala's Shame Exposed Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source - jclancy@peg.apc.org Thu, 27 May 1999 Sydney Morning Herald May 28, 1999 DEATH SQUAD DIARY: Guatemala's shame exposed By JEREMY LENNARD in London In February this year an unidentified individual in Guatemala City handed over $US2,000 ($3,077) in return for a tatty student binder held together at the spine by three threaded studs. Now, after three months of analysis, the 53-page document has been made public by United States human-rights groups. It provides a grisly record of the atrocities committed by a death squad operating from within the Guatemalan military in 1983-84. "This is a unique piece of evidence from inside the Guatemalan killing machine," said Ms Kate Doyle, director of the Guatemala project being carried out at a non-government agency based in Washington, the National Security Archive. "It represents only a tiny proportion of crimes committed." The list - which includes photographs chopped from passports and identity cards and pasted alongside each of the 183 names - affords a stark insight into urban Guatemala at the height of the country's 35-year civil war. At least 150,000 people died and 40,000 vanished as the ruling elite tried to wipe out the rural Maya Indian population, the guerilla groups spawned by the Mayas and urban leftists. The document details the victims' political allegiances, their colleagues, friends, lovers, family members, and their capture. A code or cryptic phrase describes their eventual end: the number 300 or the expression "taken by Pancho" signifies execution. At the height of its activity, the squad was "disappearing" five or six people a day. Across the 53 pages, patterns of operation emerge. Many people were abducted on the street, with the death squad returning later that day or the next to ransack the victim's home and terrorise the family. Sometimes victims seized at home were beaten in front of family members. Sometimes they were later brought back, handcuffed and badly beaten to search for items before being returned to the secret detention centre. In all, 100 out of the 183 victims were executed. Such was the brutality that many of the disappeared gave information about friends, associates and relatives. The document is littered with such betrayals, referred to as a new suspect being "brought to the bullet" by the torture victim. The country's Truth Commission acknowledged the State's "criminal counter-insurgency". But for the families and friends of the disappeared the commission failed - unlike the death squad diary - to reveal concrete evidence that the State was abducting civilians, torturing them and dumping them in unmarked graves. "The fact that this document has only emerged now indicates the extent to which the old guard is still in control," said Ms Doyle. Comment from JClancy: Once again I have to repeat that the Hague Court for "Human Rights Abuses" was set up by the US. Its long-range plans included a Court which would never disturb unending colonial history, especially US/UK history, thereby ignoring US/UK utter greed, but also their actual murders, disappearances and hiding of the evidence under land and sea. The obvious choice of imperialist judges -or judges from US/UK allies, bought and paid for -or not so corrupted- have spoken on cue! The US is currently collecting support, via Blair/Cook and others, for the freedom of one of its proteges -Pinochet. There are 36 other nations in Latin America, under US political, corporate and military control and 40 nations in Africa suffering the same gangster disease. There are millions of US-caused bones in Latin America that Jamie and the White House envoys can dig up to add tothose in Kosovo. When will the "Court" drag the last 20 living US presidents, senior administrations and Secretaries of State -including Grendil's mother- into the dock? The reward for all such nations and small European nations is to accept US armaments and imports of GM/GE doubtful foodstuffs/seeds. All their political leaders seem to have lost their balances, or have accepted the tempting free rides to Disneyland. The cost of the WTO rules, and armaments package will keep their economies 'in the red' for decades to come. They are already forming a US/UK group of 'experts' to raise EU taxes enabling the US reconstruction of the Balkans. For how long will the NATO'd-EU fawn and obey? There are decisions against US "enemies" they will be forced to make -namely on China, Cuba, North Korea, Libya, Iraq, Serbia,the remaining Kurds, Palestine and Vietnam-again! Dolly the sheep is aging fast -probably all who eat GE food will be affected. The US doesn't care. Their sick Corp'ns need the money.--JClancy ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytcamer-05.28.99-23:04:24-27343