Relevant Declassified U.S. Documents from the National Security Archive’s Guatemala Collection
October 29, 1983
GUATEMALA: Political Violence
CIA, top secret intelligence reportThe CIA notes a sudden increase in political killings and abductions following the August 1983 coup against Efraín Rios Montt by Gen. Oscar Mejía Víctores. Among the recent victims are Guatemalan contract workers employed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID), "disappeared" -- according to a CIA source -- by agents of the Guatemalan government.
November 15, 1983
Ambassador’s Comments on the Information Concerning the Deaths of Three AID Project Related Persons
Department of State, confidential memoU.S. Ambassador to Guatemala Frederic Chapin is convinced that three Guatemalan AID workers were killed by the presidential intelligence unit "Archivos" in reprisal for recent U.S. pressure over human rights in Guatemala.
November 21, 1983
Guatemala: Death Squads Resume Activity
Department of State, confidential intelligence analysisThe Bureau of Intelligence and Research blames Chief of State Mejía Victores for rising violence in Guatemala, and notes that his lack of interest in human rights sends military and paramilitary forces the message that they can take whatever measures they deem necessary to crush "perceived subversive threats."
February 2, 1984
Recent Kidnappings: Signs Point to Government Security Forces
U.S. Embassy in Guatemala, confidential cableAmbassador Chapin responds to two recent abductions in Guatemala City with a starkly worded cable about the responsibility of Guatemalan security forces in the disappearances and the implications for U.S. policy in the country. "I pointed out the other day in San Salvador the conflict between the desire to incorporate Guatemala into an overall U.S. strategic concept for Central America and the horrible human rights realities in Guatemala. We must come to some resolution in policy terms. Either we can overlook the record and emphasize the strategic concept or we can pursue a higher moral path. We simply cannot flip flop back and forth between the two possible positions."
One of the abductions that prompts Chapin to write this cable -- that of Sergio Samayoa Morales -- is a case detailed in the Guatemalan death squad document recently released by the National Security Archive and other groups.
February 3, 1984
Report on Human Rights in Guatemala
Department of State, secret reportOne day after Ambassador Chapin sends his cable to Washington alerting the State Department to Guatemalan government involvement in recent abductions, Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights Elliott Abrams and two other Department officials sign off on a secret report to Congress citing improved human rights in Guatemala and calling for a resumption in U.S. security assistance. "The Mejía Government has taken a number of positive steps to restore a constitutional, electoral process and to address the practice of extra-legal detention. . . Failure to provide some politically meaningful sign of support for the efforts being undertaken to return the country to democratic rule, and to reduce the human rights violations, will only increase the chance of further political instability. In addition, the U.S. has other strong interests in Guatemala and the region which necessitate a solid, bilateral relationship, including a positive relationship with the Guatemalan military."
February 23, 1984
Guatemala: Political Violence Up
Department of State, secret intelligence analysisWhile perpetuating the Reagan administration myth that the Guatemalan government is "not directly responsible for most political violence," this Bureau of Intelligence and Research analysis nevertheless blames the Mejía government for doing "virtually nothing to punish either the right-wing parties or its own personnel for engaging in such activities."
October 30, 1984
Weekend Violence Claims Peace Corps Volunteer, University Professors and Assembly Member
U.S. Embassy in Guatemala, secret cableAs violence in Guatemala continues, this cable reports on a number of recent incidents, including the murders of two prominent professors in the Economics Department of the National University of San Carlos (USAC). One of them -- Carlos de León Guidel -- is included in the Guatemalan army’s logbook. According to that document, de León was captured in 1983 while leaving his office, but "recovered his liberty" (which could mean either that he escaped or was released) six weeks later. A handwritten notation at the bottom of the entry says, simply, "26-10-84 = 300." In the embassy cable, de León is described as having been "killed the evening of October 26 by unknown assailants who intercepted and shot the professor as he was driving home from the university." The cable goes on to describe the recent assassinations as "professional in execution. Circumstantial evidence suggests that at least the de León murder may have been the work of government security forces."
March 28, 1986
Guatemala’s Disappeared: 1977-86
Department of State, secret reportIn this unusual document, a State Department official gives a comprehensive, thoughtful and blunt analysis of the phenomenon of forced disappearance in Guatemala. Echoing some of the findings that the Historical Clarification Commission would make more than a decade later, the document asserts that "while criminal activity accounts for a small percentage of the cases, and from time to time individuals ‘disappear’ to go elsewhere, the security forces and paramilitary groups are responsible for most kidnappings. Insurgent groups do not now normally use kidnapping as a political tactic. . ." The report describes the military’s systematic use of abduction and murder as a counterinsurgency tactic under Mejía Víctores, and details the modus operandi behind the kidnappings. Finally, the document argues that the U.S. embassy and the State Department "have failed in the past to adequately grasp the magnitude of the problem" of forced disappearance.