39
fearful. On different occasions, Jennifer Harbury was pushed towards the grave and
had to struggle to return to the place where she had been. There was constant
pressure during the procedure.
It was not possible to identify the body of Bámaca Velásquez, and this did not
surprise Jennifer Harbury, owing to the information that she had seen in the autopsy
report.
Harbury began a hunger strike in the Central Park of Guatemala City, in order to
save the life of Bámaca Velásquez; she was ready to die during the hunger strike.
This lasted for approximately 33 days, after which Jennifer Harbury suffered various
physical problems, which almost caused her to fall into a coma.
This whole process caused pain and anxiety to Harbury and knowing what had
happened to Bámaca Velásquez would have helped alleviate her suffering.
h.
Testimony of Otoniel de la Roca Mendoza, former FAR guerrilla.
At the beginning of 1980, he joined the Rebel Armed Forces (FAR) of the Santos
Salazar Front, a group that was part of the URNG, owing to the repression that the
Government had unleashed against the people of Guatemala.
He was a member of that organization until September 10, 1988, the date of which
he was captured by four members of the Army, who tied him up and beat him. Then
they took him in a pick-up truck to Military Zone No. 1316 in Retalhuleu, where he
was kept naked in a one meter-square room until he was interrogated one hour
later.
The interrogation was carried out by members of the Army's “intelligence” service,
among them, Nery Ángel Urízar García and Captain Guzmán, who asked him about
the structure of the URNG and the location of the Santos Salazar Front; he answered
that he knew nothing. Consequently, they hung him from the roof with his hands
tied and began to beat him with a baseball bat. Then, they placed him face
downwards and put a hood with herbicide on him. Subsequently, they submerged
him in a tank of water, and then laid him out on the floor and stood on him. Captain
Guzmán ordered him to answer the questions, threatening him with death. They
also used wires, which they connected to an electric socket and began to place the
uncovered ends on different part of his wet, naked body, which made him faint,
because he was so weak.
The following day, he woke up very ill and in the afternoon they sat him in a chair
and told him “today, you are going to talk, because today you are going to die” and,
faced with his refusal to give them any answers, they again hit him with a baseball
bat.
The following day more people came to the room where he was and one of them said
“yes, this is Bayardo”. Later, the same man came up to him, identified him by his
name and by his guerrilla alias and asked him to identify members of the Front in
some photographs. Subsequently, he discovered that this person was known by the
alias Jorge and that he was a member of the Army who had infiltrated a rebel
organization.
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents