PRESS RELEASE | MARCH 31th, 2022

MILITARY DIARY CASE

On the fourth day of the Intermediary Phase of the trial, the Human Rights Prosecutor’s Office presented a series of testimonies, documents, and expert reports. This evidence was used to demonstrate the possible participation of four of the nine former police officers and military personnel accused in the Military Diary case. These 4 men are accused of committing torture and participating in the detention, illegal raids, and surveillance of civilians.

PROSECUTOR PRESENTS EVIDENCE AGAINST EACH ACCUSED

On the fourth day of the Intermediary Phase of the trial, the Human Rights Prosecutor’s Office presented a series of testimonies, documents, and expert reports. This evidence was used to demonstrate the possible participation of four of the nine former police officers and military personnel accused in the Military Diary case. These 4 men are accused of committing torture and participating in the detention, illegal raids, and surveillance of civilians.

The Prosecutor’s Office (MP) began by presenting evidence against José Daniel Monterroso Villagrán, prosecuted for the crimes against humanity and forced disappearance against Rubén Amilcar Farfán, university student, unionist, and employee of the University of San Carlos of Guatemala, registered as No.134 in the Military Diary.

Monterroso Villagrán served as Technical Sergeant Clerk V. of the National Defense General Staff (EMDN) between 1981 and March 13, 1990. Along with Virginio de León Sigüenza, he was an operational intelligence chief at the former Polytechnic School. The report of the Commission for Historical Clarification (CEH) provides evidence that two cars were involved in Ruben Amilcar’s kidnaping, one red and the other white. According to the CEH, he was taken to the Department of Technical Investigations (DIT) and then taken to the old Polytechnic School.

As recounted by a protected witness, in the Polytechnic School there was a changing room referred to as “The Bunker”. Here, tactical interrogations were carried out by means of torture. Documents show that after being detained, Rubén Amilcar Farfán was taken to the Bunker. Testimonies detail the moans that could be heard coming from this room. Furthermore, the intelligence team was assigned special operations to forcibly disappear or eliminate all traces of people here, giving the sense that the accused may know where they were buried.

The MP then presented proof in the case against Jacobo Esdras Salán Sánchez, accused of murder and attempted murder, crimes against humanity, and forced disappearance. When the crimes were committed. Salán Sánchez was deputy chief of the Kaibil Training and Operations Course, attached to the D3.

Salán Sánchez is accused of committing crimes registered in the Military Diary against Gustavo Adolfo Meza Soberanis, No. 3 in the Military Diary; Mayra Jannette Meza Soberanis (father and aunt of the plaintiff Eliza Meza), Alma Lucrecia Osorio Bobadilla, No. 34, and her sisters; the minor Juan Pablo Armira Lopez, No. 86; Amancio Samuel Villatoro, No. 55; Alvaro Rene Sosa Ramos, No. 87; Mario Enrique Chavez, No. 91; and Silvio Matricardi Salan, No. 92.

According to a protected witness, Salán Sánchez captured and had control of Mayra Jannette from the day of her capture until the moment of her murder.

In testimonies, Salán Sánchez is fully identified, in addition to the use of “the white van” (La Panel Blanca). Documentation found in the home of Gustavo Adolfo Oliva Blanco relates to the illegal detention of Alma Lucrecia Osorio Bobadilla. Sosa Ramos, a survivor of the same structures of torture and abduction, identifies Salán Sánchez as one of the perpetrators inside the clandestine detention centre.

Salán Sánchez was identified in the arrests and is accused of introducing the victims into the clandestine circuit of disappearance and of holding them in clandestine and illegal prisons (located in private homes and in police and military facilities).

The third presentation was the proof against Rone René Lara, who was Sargent Major Specialist, Vehicle Driver II, assigned to the General Archive and Support Service of the Presidential Guard (EMP) from 1982 to 1985, under the command of Marco Antonio Gonzalez Taracena.

Lara is accused of participating in the operation that took place from March 11 to 13, 1984 against Alvaro Rene Sosa Ramos, registered as No. 87 in the Military Diary. A protected witness testimony identifies René Lara as part of the elite group that gathered with salary and support from the EMP in a clandestine structure. The survivor, Sosa Ramos was able to identify Lara as one of the men who illegally captured him in addition to identifying other victims detained in the clandestine centres.

Lara is accused of crimes against humanity, subjecting individuals to torture, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, and for contributing to the necessary conditions to detain people in clandestine detention centers. He is also accused of the attempted murder of Sosa Ramos, who was wounded and managed to take refuge at the Belgian Embassy.

The MP then began presenting evidence against Enrique Cifuentes de la Cruz, who was 22 years old when he was part of clandestine and illegal structures. He was fully identified as a captor and torturer in statements given by protected witnesses. Cifuentes de la Cruz worked as a Cartographer and Computer Technician in the General Archive and Support Services of the EMP. Among the acts for which he is accused those operations committed from November 2 to 7, 1983 and. November 28, 1983. January 2, 1984, February 22 to 26, 1984 and March 11 to 13, 1984.

In his testimony, Sosa Ramos recognizes Cifuentes de la Cruz in a newspaper clipping as a member of the illegal structure that subjected him to serious human rights violations. Another survivor recognized Santiago Rodriguez Melgar, Oscar Leonel Velásquez Bautista, and Rosa Maria Castillo Samayoa, also registered in the Military Diary with numbers 22, 18 and 4, respectively.

The statement made by Sosa Ramos establishes a pattern in the use of van-type vehicles in white, burgundy, blue, or brown colour. The statement also establishes the cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of illegally detained persons.

The MP’s explanation of events was extensive, referring to the proof and expert evidence, among which include military, historical, anthropological, forensic, and archival reports; as well as documents seized during the arrests. Additionally, the MP has cited testimonial means of proof where members of the criminal structure are identified, and information pulled from newspapers that reported on the events that are registered in the Military Diary.

These and other patterns presented by the MP represent actions that correspond to a common plan whose goal was to eradicate persons considered internal enemies. In the Military Diary, 195 victims are registered, 28 of them are women.

Judge Miguel Angel Galvez adjourned the hearing until Tuesday, April 5th at 8:30am, so the MP could continue their presentation of proof against Enrique Cifuentes de la Cruz.