**Further details on IFEX CH alerts dated 20 March 1995** CPC, the Guatemala-based office which coordinates FIP’s activities in Central America, has produced the following full report on the case of “La Republica” journalist Gerson Lopez Orantes, who “disappeared” on 28 March 1995 and emerged 27 hours later, with signs of having been torture, including […]
**Further details on IFEX CH alerts dated 20 March 1995**
CPC, the Guatemala-based office which coordinates FIP’s
activities in Central America, has produced the following full
report on the case of “La Republica” journalist Gerson Lopez
Orantes, who “disappeared” on 28 March 1995 and emerged 27 hours
later, with signs of having been torture, including burns on
several areas of his body.
In an interview with CPC-FIP, Lopez reported that on 28 March at
approximately three o’clock in the afternoon as he was heading to
the bank, a man in sunglasses stopped Lopez to ask the time. As
soon as Lopez answered, a dark, late-model car pulled up next to
the journalist. The door opened and a few individuals violently
forced Lopez into the car and restrained him by sitting on him.
They put a hood over his head, and Lopez remained in the car for
several hours. Afterwards, Lopez was handcuffed and brought
before someone who commented to the effect that they had
apprehended the “right guy.” (“Con que este es el sujeto,” said
the person.) Lopez was then violently beaten in the face, before
an interrogation in which at least three cases were mentioned:
the case of Noel de Jesus Beteta, accused of the murder of
anthropologist Mirna Mack; that of Ricardo Ortega, charged with
the murder of a young girl; and the case of a military officer
who is allegedly linked to the drug trade and the sale of stolen
vehicles. Lopez was then transferred, made to lie on a cement
slab, and burned on several parts of his body with a lit
cigarette. His captors advised Lopez to cease some of his
journalistic activities, and also told him, “This time you were
saved because they started to stir up the world with your
disappearance.” The journalist lost consciousness and came to on
the night of 29 March, in an area of San Cristobal, a town to the
southeast of Guatemala City. Lopez affirms that his captors gave
him 72 hours to leave the country. Lopez says he wants to remain
in Guatemala with his family and continue his work as a
journalist.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to Guatemalan authorities:
life of journalist Gerson Lopez
Appeals To
Ramiro de Leon Carpio
President
Palacio Nacional
Guatemala, Guatemala
Fax: +502 2 537472/519702
Jorge Mario Garcia Laguardia
Human Rights Ombudsperson (Procurador de los Derechos Humanos)
12 Avenida 12-72
Guatemala, Guatemala
Fax: +502 2 81734
