GUATEMALA - UNITED STATES WOMEN ENTERS 19TH DAY OF HUNGER STRIKE CLAIMING HER GUERRILLA HUSBAND IS BEING HELD BY THE GUATEMALAN ARMY.

Record ID: 337807

  • Title: GUATEMALA - UNITED STATES WOMEN ENTERS 19TH DAY OF HUNGER STRIKE CLAIMING HER GUERRILLA HUSBAND IS BEING HELD BY THE GUATEMALAN ARMY.
  • Date: 27th October 1994
  • Summary: GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA (OCTOBER 27, 1994) (REUTERS TELEVISION-ACCESS ALL) 1. SV UNITED STATES (U.S.) DELEGATION ARRIVING AT CENTRAL PLAZA 0.03 2. SV RICHARD NUCCIO LEAVES CAR AND WALKS WITH U.S AMBASSADOR TO GUATEMALA MARILYN MCAFEE TOWARDS JENNIFER HARBURY/GREETS HER (2 SHOTS) 0.18 3. HAS SV NUCCIO AND MCAFEE SIT WITH JENNIFER HARBUR
  • Embargoed: 11th November 1994 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA
  • City:
  • Country: Guatemala
  • Reuters ID: LVAAM1AI5DYK7MJQDRMK32V8Q4Z1
  • Story Text: A United States (U.S.) woman in Guatemala who alleges her guerrilla husband is being held by the Guatemalan army entered the 19th day of a hunger strike demanding his freedom on Saturday (October 29).

    But the army maintains the man died in 1992 during a clash between government and rebel forces. The government has ordered a special inquiry.

    Jennifer Harbury was visited by senior U.S. State Department official Richard Nuccio on Thursday (October 27). Nuccio, who is an adviser to the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American affairs, made a special one day visit to Guatemala to speak to Harbury and U.S. Ambassador Marilyn Mcafee.

    Harbury believes the army captured her husband, top guerrilla commander Efrain Bamaca Velasquez, after a battle between government troops and a rebel column in March 1992. The army has insisted that Bamaca killed himself to avoid capture.

    Nuccio said the issue was raised every time U.S. and Guatemalan officials met.

    Harbury, a Harvard-educated lawyer who celebrated her 43rd birthday on Thursday, has vowed to fast until her husband was released.

    In the face of continued pressure, President Ramiro de Leon announced an inquiry into Bamaca's fate. He called for anyone with evidence of what happened to the guerrilla commander to bring it forward.

    The case has become an embarrassment to the Guatemalan government, anxious to improve its poor human rights image abroad.


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