PRESS RELEASE | MARCH 30th, 2022

MILITARY DIARY CASE

One of the patterns of these clandestine and illegal structures was the creation of personal files such as the Military Diary, in which people considered to be ‘internal enemies’ were profiled.

PROSECUTION PRESENTS DOCUMENTS SEIZED AT THE HOME OF RETIRED MILITARY OFFICER

The Human Rights Prosecutor’s Office of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) presented the evidence gathered since 2006 in an extensive investigation and emphasized the functioning of Military Intelligence as key in the operations recorded in the Diario Militar as structures accused of committing crimes against humanity, forced disappearance, murder and attempted murder.

The Prosecutor’s Office stated that the conceptual framework of the investigation comprises of military plans and the historical context, this is how the category “internal enemy” appears in the Counter-Subversive Warfare Manual. Among the military plans presented are the Combat Intelligence Manual, Plan Victoria 82, Plan Firmeza 83, and the National Security and Development Plan.

According to the National Security Doctrine, in the framework of the Cold War, people identified as communists were considered ‘internal enemies’ and also those who were not communists but “tried to break the established order”, in addition to trade unionists, family members of militants, their partners and children, or organizations such as the Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo (GAM) and Amnesty International.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office mentioned that its investigation includes elements that establish the responsibilities of each one of the accused and an expert report on the police structures. Also provided is the expert report by historian Marc Drouin, which demonstrates the pattern of disappearances since 1966.

The historical context of the case is within the framework of the de facto government of General Oscar Humberto Mejía Víctores. During which disappearances and severe violations of human rights were committed, such as those described in the “Dossier of Death.” The Geneva Conventions contain a series of provisions in which authorities must respect the rights of those who had laid down their arms and not commit the grave breaches recorded in the Military Diary.

In addition, the Prosecutor’s Office presented as evidence documentation seized during the raids on Gustavo Adolfo Oliva Blanco, former head of the DIT. These original documents contain information that substantiates the surveillance and monitoring of the Guatemalan Labor Party (PGT) as an internal enemy from 1969 to 1984. One of the extermination techniques used was the forced disappearance of people. The first mass forced disappearance of members of the PGT took place in 1966.

In the MP’s presentation, the 1984 Intelligence Annex was shown, which describes the inner workings of the PGT, in which they boast of infiltrations and fragmentation of the PGT in 1983.

The expert report presented by Kate Doyle mentions two predominant military intelligence institutions: the “G2” and the unit known as “El Archivo,” both of which played a central role in surveillance, detention, torture, extrajudicial executions, disappearances, and bombings.

The MP also presented proof of the Modus Operandi and the Common Plan under which the accused’s clandestine and illegal structures belonged. The MP pointed out patterns such as the use of the “White Vans,” tactical interrogation using torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, including sexual violence against women, as well as the preparation of surveillance records such as the Military Diary, in which people were profiled as internal enemies.

Other patterns included the control of communications and monitoring prior to capture, detention in clandestine jails, and raids on residences of persons profiled as internal enemies. This was performed by a group of four to twelve armed individuals, generally dressed in civilian clothes, who identified themselves as members of the Department of Technical Investigations (DIT), BROE, or Guatemalan army, travelling in cars with tinted windows.

In the raids, family members were tortured to obtain information, as in the case of the Muralles Paz family, where cruel, humiliating, and degrading treatment was inflicted on two children, who were slammed against the wall.

The Prosecutor’s Office mentioned clandestine intelligence circuits, to which people classified as internal enemies were incorporated. These individuals were subjected to torture under interrogation and held in clandestine prisons in order to be exploited for information. In addition, they were transported in cars in order to identify other members classified as internal enemies. Surviving victims and members of the structures confirm the transfer of captured persons to clandestine detention centers such as the DIT and the former Polytechnic School.

These clandestine structures extrajudicially deprived people of their lives during interrogations as a result of extreme torture methods, in detention operations, or as a result of trying to escape from them.

According to the MP, the Military Diary Case exemplifies how forced disappearance operated in Guatemala during the Internal Armed Conflict. Intelligence operations similar to this operated throughout Guatemala, replicating cruel and inhumane treatment, illegal detentions, and forced disappearance, which resulted in more than 45 thousand missing detainees.

Judge Miguel Angel Galvez adjourned the hearing and summoned the parties to the trial for Thursday, March 31 at 8:30 AM.