From: Anthony Murawski <anthony@Essential.ORG>
Date: Tue, 2 Apr 1996 09:59:54 +0000
From: Alice Zachmann <ghrc@igc.apc.org>
To: ghrc@igc.apc.org
Subject: STATEMENT OF SISTER DIANNA ORTIZ
MARCH 31 1996
Statement by Sister Dianna Ortiz
March 31, 1996
Today, on Palm Sunday, I begin my silent vigil for
TRUTH in front of the White House--the truth about my own
case, and the truth about all those Guatemalans who have
suffered and died at the hands of the officially sponsored
death squads. For those of us who know and love Guatemala,
it is painfully clear that our own United States government
has been closely linked to these death squads, and has a
great amount of detailed information about those of us who
have survived as well as those of us who have perished. We
need and demand this information so that we can heal our
wounds, bury our dead, and carry on with our lives. We need
and demand this information so that we can insist on change,
insist that these terrible realities never be repeated.
People ask how long I will be in front of the White
House. I can only respond with a question: How long will the
U.S. government keep the TRUTH from me? Who is Alejandro,
the U.S. citizen present at my torture? He is a pivotal
piece of my past and a symbol of the very real and daily fact
of my continuing torture--the torture of silence and secrecy.
On behalf of all of us I demand that President Clinton
declassify all U.S. government information related to human
rights abuses in Guatemala, from 1954 to the present, and
that the IOB release the full text of its report, not just a
summary. I want the full truth about Guatemala.
I will now maintain my silence, not a silence of
complicity or coverup, but a silence of commemoration for the
thousands of known and unknown victims and survivors who have
been abducted, tortured, assassinated and disappeared in
Guatemala in the past three decades. I will not be alone on
this vigil, for I know that those who have lost their lives
or their beloved family members and the thousands who have
been tortured will be with me in spirit. A candle will burn
day and night as a reminder to President Clinton and his
administration that there is a presence in the park--a
presence that represents those victims and survivors whose
flame will never die. As President Clinton and his
administration sleep peacefully, many of us fight to stay
awake--to protect ourselves from the recurring visits from
our torturers.
Many of you know my story. What is often overlooked
is that my experience is a daily occurrence in Guatemala.
More than six people a week, on average, are killed for
political reasons. More than two a week are tortured. The
total death toll may never be known. The army's counter-
insurgency campaign has left an estimated 150,000 dead and
another 45,000 disappeared, victims of the dreaded official
death squads. This staggering death toll is far higher than
that of the dirty wars in Argentina, Chile, and El Salvador.
Most of these violations were visited upon the Mayan
population. Some 440 Mayan villages were wiped off the map.
Hundreds of people vanished. Their mutilated, charred
remains are only now beginning to emerge from secret mass
graves. The truth, in Guatemala, is beginning to be
unearthed. What about in the United States? When will the
truth be exhumed?
My own experience is just a reflection of the suffering
of so many others. I was teaching young children in
Guatemala to read and write and to understand the Bible in
respect to their culture. For a long time I received death
threats, then was abducted from the back yard of a church
retreat by members of the Guatemala security forces. They
took me to a clandestine prison where other Guatemalans were
being horribly tortured. I was tortured and raped repeatedly.
They burned my back and my chest more than 111 times with
cigarettes. I was lowered into an open pit packed with human
bodies--bodies of children, women and men, some decapitated,
some lying face up and caked with blood, some dead, some
alive--and all swarming with rats.
After hours of torture, I was returned to the room where
the interrogation initially occurred. It was in this room
that I met Alejandro, a tall man with a light complexion. As
my torturers began to rape me again, my torturers said to him
in Spanish, "Hey Alejandro, come and have some fun." The man
they referred to as "Alejandro" cursed in unmistakable
American English and ordered them to stop the torture, since
I was a North American nun and my disappearance had become
public. In an earlier torture session, the men had said that
if I didn't cooperate, they would have to turn over a
videotape and photographs they had made of me to Alejandro,
their boss.
Like a knight in shining armor, Alejandro seemingly came
to my rescue. He helped me on with my clothes. As he did,
I asked him if he were a North American. He refused to
answer, but asked why I wanted to know. He then escorted me
into a gray Suzuki jeep, and in poor, heavily accented
Spanish, he told me that he was going to take me to a safe
haven, the US Embassy, to talk to a friend who would help
me leave the country. For the duration of the trip, I spoke
to him in English, which he understood perfectly. Alejandro
professed that he was concerned about the people of Guatemala
and consequently was working to liberate them from Communism.
He kept telling me in his broken Spanish that he was sorry
about what had happened to me. He claimed it was an honest
mistake.
Alejandro told me to forgive my torturers because they
had confused me with Veronica Ortiz Hernandez, the woman in
the photos I was shown during my interrogation. He claimed
it was a case of mistaken identity. I asked him how they
could have mistaken me for a woman who did not resemble me in
any way. Why were the threatening letters I had received
addressed to Madre Diana and not to Veronica Ortiz Hernandez?
He avoided my questions. He kept telling me to forgive my
torturers, insinuating that I was to blame for my torture
because I had not paid heed to the threats that were sent to me.
After Alejandro spoke to me of forgiving my torturers,
I asked him what would happen to the other people I heard
screaming and saw tortured before my eyes. At this point, he
switched to English, which he spoke with a distinct,
completely American accent. He told me not to concern myself
with them and to forget what had happened. He made it very
clear that he had been given a videotape and photographs that
would incriminate me of crimes that I was forced to
participate in. He also made it a point to tell me that he
could release the footage to the public and to the press. I
believe this was an obvious threat.
I cannot forget those who suffered with me and died in
that clandestine prison. The memories of what I witnessed
and experienced that November day haunt me day and night.
Even to this day, I can smell the decomposing of bodies,
disposed of in an open pit. I can hear the piercing screams
of other people being tortured. I can see the blood gushing
out of the woman's body as I thrust a small machete into her
body. For you see, I was handed a machete. Thinking it
would be used against me, and at that point in my torture,
wanting to die, I did not resist. But my torturers put their
hands onto the handle, on top of mine. And I had no choice.
I was forced to use it against another human being. What I
remember is blood gushing--spurting like a water fountain--
droplets of blood splattering everywhere--and my screams lost
in the cries of the woman.
Like the people of Guatemala, I want to be free of these
memories. I want out of this nightmare, out of this past,
out of this room with Alejandro and my torturers. The key is
the truth. I want to know who Alejandro was. Was he a CIA
agent? Why is the U.S. government protecting him? How many
other Alejandros are there out there, supervising the torture
of innocent people?
I have struggled with so many others, for so very long,
to bring the truth to light, but this blanket of lies
remains, thick and heavy, nailed down by the U.S. government,
stamped "classified."
Like so many Guatemalan victims I have lived through the
agony of not being believed, of being branded a crazy person
or even a liar. Guatemalan army officials accused me of I
staging my own abduction, said that my torture was a hoax and
that I burned my own back during a lesbian love affair.
Former Defense Minister General Hector Gramajo said that
these remarks originated in the U.S. Embassy. Gramajo told
La Republica on April 17 that Ambassador Stroock himself had
"assured" him that Ortiz was "well" and that she had not been
abducted and tortured but simply "had problems with her
nerves." Likewise, Lew Anselem, the human rights officer at
the Embassy, told a congressional aide at a cocktail party at
the American Embassy in December 1990 that my abduction and
torture were the result of a lesbian love affair gone bad. I
have been asked to tell my story again and again by those who
fail to understand that for a torture survivor, to speak of
the past is to relive it in all of its horror.
Some steps have been taken. A judgment for damages was
entered against General Gramajo, a former Minister of
Defense, in the U.S. courts. The Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights of the OAS has my case and many others under
their consideration. A year ago, President Clinton issued a
government-wide investigation of cases of U.S. citizens
abused, killed, or disappeared in Guatemala since 1984. The
scope of this investigation included my case and that of
other Coalition "Missing" members. A short time later I
learned the U.S. District Attorney's Office (Department of
Justice) had also launched an investigation, six years too
late. I appreciate the efforts of some government officials
who are spending long hours making sure this investigation is
thorough. I understand that these types of investigations
cannot be concluded overnight, but what I do not understand
is this attitude of secrecy. A year has gone by and I am not
any closer to learning the truth behind the nightmare of
November 2, 1989. How much more must I wait?
Last April, I filed a Freedom of Information Act
request, and as of today, I have not received one shred of
paper pertaining to my case, nor have I been given anything
that I consider of any value. On February 7, I wrote to
President Clinton, outlining how the experience of torture
continues to affect me, even now. I pleaded with him for
declassification. I received an answer almost two months
later, and it was the same as all the other "answers" have
been in the past six years: We sympathize with your
suffering. We're investigating. And so the torture of
silence continues.
The torture continues on a more active level, as well.
Two days ago, a white envelope was left at my home. The
contents of the envelope--which had no return address, an old
address for me glued to the front, and a green stamp that
said "CAREMAIL"--were something unexpected: excrement.
In spite of the memories of humiliation, of the pit,
that this form of psychological torture recalled, I stand
with the Guatemalan people. I demand the right to heal. I
demand the right to know. I demand that the atrocities be
brought to an end forever.
Please continue to watch with us on our arduous vigil for
justice. You can support us in the following ways:
1) Call or fax President Clinton at the White House:
tel. 202-456-1111;
fax. 202-456-2461.
Urge President Clinton to declassify all U.S. government
information related to human rights abuses in Guatemala
from 1954 to the present.
Urge President Clinton to declassify all U.S. government
information on my case.
Urge President Clinton to release the full text of the
IOB's investigation, not just a summary of the
report.
NOTE: Calls or faxes can be directed to: National Security
Advisor Anthony Lake:
tel. 202-456-9491
fax. 202-456-2883.
2) After April 1, please continue to call and fax President
Clinton and Anthony Lake, as well as your
congressional representatives, who will be in their home
districts until April 14. Meeting with them is even
better. Urge them to sign the Dear Colleague letter
sponsored by the Congressional Human Rights Caucus if they
have not signed already. If they have, thank them and ask
them to continue supporting the rights of survivors to know
the truth.
3) Come to Washington to participate in the vigil, meet
with State Department officials, members of the
Intelligence Oversight Board, congressional aides, etc.
Suggestions and a complete packet on lobbying are available
from the Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA.
4) Organize a sister vigil in your area one or more days
during our vigil in D.C. Try to interest your local
media.
5) Send postcards to the White House, reiterating the
requests outlined above. Postcards are available at
GHRC/USA.
More suggestions will follow as the vigil develops. Thank
you for your support.
One with the tortured of our world...
Dianna Ortiz, OSU
P.S.
Please let us know if you are Organizing a sister vigil in
your area one or more days during our vigil in D.C.
IF YOU TAKE ANY ACTIONS PLEASE LET THE GUATEMALA HUMAN RIGHTS
COMMISSION KNOW OF YOUR EFFORT! SEND EMAIL TO: ghrc@igc.apc.org