Guatemala issues 10 warrants for 1984 killings, abductions
A judge in Guatemala has issued arrest warrants for ten people accused of abductions, torture, rape and killings in 1984
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Your support makes all the difference.A judge in Guatemala issued arrest warrants Thursday for 10 people accused of abductions, torture, rape and killings in 1984.
The crimes came to light because of a police document covering that year dubbed the “Military Diary.”
Judge Miguel Ángel Gálvez confirmed the warrants, but did not identify who the suspects were. Prosecutors confirmed that all 10 had been arrested.
A source close to case who could not speak on the record said that at least one army general and two civilians were among those arrested.
The document that surfaced in 1999 describes the disappearances, abuse and deaths of more than 190 people during Guatemala’s 1960-1996 civil war.
The typewritten, 74-page document includes annotations in codes like “300,” which experts later discovered meant “killed.” There are 99 names in the document with that code.
One victim was described as a suspected leftist guerrilla, Prudencio de Jesús Carrera Camey. He was held for two weeks and killed. He was 15 years old.
Another entry recorded the detention of university professor Rudy Gustavo Figueroa Muñoz. Abducted on Oct. 12, 1984, he was held for 52 days; his family didn't know where he was until his body turned up in December. The “300” annotation appeared next to his name.
His son Rudy Figueroa was 11 when his father disappeared: “My younger brother was born while he was detained. He never met him.”
Some detainees included in the report survived, but others were never heard from again.
More than 200,000 people died in the civil war, which ended with peace accords in 1996. But more than 45,000 people remain missing.