and the Historical Archive of the National Police55 (infra paras. 59, 63 and 296). This lack of
access to information had an adverse impact on the work of the CEH. 56
B) The Diario Militar and the Historical Archive of the National Police
B.1) The Diario Militar
59.
In May 1999, the National Security Archive, a United States non-governmental
organization, released a confidential Guatemalan State intelligence document known as the
“Diario Militar” (hereinafter “the Diario Militar”) [Note: also called the Death Squad Dossier
in English]. This organization obtained access to this document unofficially through an
employee of the Guatemalan Army, who had removed it from the archives of this
institution.57 According to studies made by State agencies and non-government
organizations, and the expert evidence provided to the Court, the Diario Militar was
prepared by a military intelligence structure, which presumably was also involved in the
actions described in the document.58 The State has not contested this.
60.
The Diario Militar is composed of 73 letter-size pages and is divided into six sections.
The first five sections contain, inter alia, information on the structure of intelligence
archives, together with different lists of human rights organizations and media. The sixth
section contains a list of 183 people with their personal data, organization membership,
activities and, in most cases, a passport-size photograph of the person. Each entry also
indicates the acts perpetrated against the said person, including: clandestine detention,
kidnapping and murder. The acts recorded in the Diario Militar occurred between August
1983 and March 1985.59
55
Cf. Affidavit made by expert witness Alejandro Valencia Villa, supra, folios 13291 and 13292; extracts
from the correspondence between the CEH and institutions of the Republic of Guatemala, letter of April 29, 1998,
ABT/C/092-98/lg, addressed to the President’s Private Secretary, CEH, supra, volume VIII, annex III, p. 177.
56
The CEH indicated, with regard to the forced disappearances, that it “was unable to clarify […] whether
there was a single chain of command or a centralized system from which the instructions to carry out the forced
disappearance of persons originated.” Cf. CEH, supra, volume II, p. 459, para. 2180. See also, Affidavit made by
expert witness Alejandro Valencia Villa, supra, folio 13291.
57
Cf. Peace Secretariat, supra, p. 35 and 36; Katharine Doyle, The National Security Archive, Diario Militar:
La confirmación de la desaparición forzada como práctica sistemática de los órganos de inteligencia durante el
conflicto armado interno en Guatemala (1983-1985), 2005, p. 3 (file of annexes to the merits report, tome I,
annex 10, folio 208), and expert opinion provided by Katharine Doyle before the Inter-American Court at the public
hearing in this case.
58
Cf. Peace Secretariat, supra, p. 311; Katharine Doyle, The National Security Archive, Diario Militar: La
confirmación de la desaparición forzada como práctica sistemática de los órganos de inteligencia durante el
conflicto armado interno en Guatemala (1983-1985) [The Death Squad Dossier: The confirmation of forced
disappearance as a systematic practice of the intelligence agencies during the internal armed conflict in Guatemala
(1983-1985], 2005, pp. 3 and 7 (file of annexes to the merits report, tome I, annex 10, folios 208 and 212);
Affidavit made by expert witness Alejandro Valencia Villa, supra, folio 13298; Francisco Roberto Rímola Molina and
Rubén López Herrar, National Compensation Program, No más secretos: La verdad detrás del Diario Militar:
desapariciones forzadas en Guatemala 1982-1985 [No more secrets: The truth behind the Death Squad Dossier:
Forced disappearances in Guatemala 1982-1985], 2009, p. 104 (file of annexes to the pleadings and motions brief,
tome IV, annex A58, folio 10502), and Testimony given by witness Marco Tulio Álvarez Bobadilla, supra, folios
13622, 13650 and 13651. However, the latter also stressed that the Army has not acknowledged its authorship of
the Diario Militar.
59
Cf. Diario Militar (file of annexes to the merits report, tome I, annex 11, folios 333 to 409); Peace
Secretariat, supra, pp. 37-41, 42 and 43, and Katharine Doyle, The National Security Archive, Diario Militar: La
confirmación de la desaparición forzada como práctica sistemática de los órganos de inteligencia durante el
conflicto armado interno en Guatemala (1983-1985), 2005, pp. 4 and 5 (file of annexes to the merits report, tome
I, annex 10, folios 209 and 210).
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