Dianna Ortiz
Dianna Ortiz | |
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sister |
Dianna Mae Ortiz (September 2, 1958 – February 19, 2021) was an American
, she was abducted on November 2, 1989 by members of the Guatemalan military, detained, raped, and tortured for 24 hours before being released. After her release, Ortiz reported that an American was among her captors. This part of her account could not be confirmed.Ortiz pursued her case in a Guatemalan court and in a United States
In 1996, as a result of protests by Ortiz and others, as well as revelations of unauthorized
The Center for Constitutional Rights represented Ortiz in her civil case and before the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, which found in 1997 that the State of Guatemala had violated numerous articles of the American Convention on Human Rights in regard to Ortiz. It recommended that the government complete its long-delayed investigation and that it provide compensation to Ortiz.
Early life and education
Ortiz was born on September 2, 1958, in
Dianna attended San Jose Elementary School and Sierra Vista Elementary School.[6] For high school, she spent her freshman, sophomore, and junior years at Grants High School in New Mexico, while ending her senior year at Mount Saint Joseph Academy.[6] In Ursuline, she taught children while being very young herself. Sister Dianna worked at the Ursuline Order for 43 years. Her parents were immigrants from Mexico and they spoke Spanish eventually through them she learned to speak Spanish.[6] Her father worked as a miner, while her mother worked around the house.[6]
Career
As a Catholic sister, Ortiz went to Guatemala in the 1987 for a two-year assignment to work with the poor and teach children to read.
Abduction and torture
Ortiz was abducted on November 2, 1989, from the garden of Posada de Belen. She said her captors were police officers who took her to a secret prison at a police academy (later identified as the Antigua Escuela Politécnica) in Guatemala City.[7] There she was tortured and raped repeatedly under questioning.[4][8]
Before being abducted and following her transfer from the Ursuline convent to Guatemala, Ortiz started getting death threats. In addition to being raped, and tortured repeatedly, Ortiz was forced to torture and stab another victim to death with a machete.[9]
She said a man named Alejandro was among her torturers, and that she heard him speak English with a North American accent. She wrote in her memoir that her torture stopped
when a man with an American accent entered the room and said in English, "Shit." Then he said, in Spanish, to the torturers, "You idiots! Leave her alone. She's a North American, and it's all over the news." To Ortiz he said, "You have to forgive those guys, ... they made a mistake.[5]
He was taking her to a friend (to be taken to the American embassy) when she escaped. She said he told her she had been mistaken for a
After being released, Ortiz later said:
The nightmare I lived was nothing out of the ordinary. In 1989, under Guatemala's first civilian president in years, nearly two hundred people were abducted. Unlike me, they were "disappeared, gone forever". The only uncommon element of my ordeal was that I survived, probably because I was a U.S. citizen, and phone calls poured into Congress when I was reported missing. As a U.S. citizen, I had another advantage: I could, in relative safety, reveal afterwards the details of what happened to me in those twenty-four hours. One of those details: an American was in charge of my torturers.[8]
She saw a doctor in Guatemala and another after she returned to the United States; both later submitted testimony that she showed evidence of torture, including extensive
Guatemala's Civil War
When Ortiz's abduction took place, Guatemala was experiencing a civil war that lasted 36 years since the early 1960s and mostly targeted Mayan people. The war was a conflict between right-wing politicians and communist movements. At the time the civil war began, Guatemala was under General Miguel Ydigoras Fuentes' rule. Roughly 200,000 people were killed during these events, and 83 percent of them were Mayans - these civilians had been violated by the government and armed forces.[12] Individuals and villages from socioeconomic backgrounds were also wiped out due to large massacres that were a result of government repression.[13]
The United States intervened on behalf of Guatemala when the military forces there were abusing a number of human rights at the time of Ortiz's kidnapping. The United States trained "officers in counterinsurgency techniques and assisted the national intelligence apparatus".[12] The methods employed by the military and administration of Guatemala made it possible for Ortiz to be kidnapped. Guatemala committed crimes, kidnappings, and brutal techniques without claiming accountability.[12]
In 1977 the U.S. stopped providing military funding due to the human rights issues. Congress also imposed "imposing restrictions on military aid, citing human rights violations".[14]
U.S. and Guatemala official denials of involvement
According to a
Former U.S. ambassador to Guatemala Thomas F. Stroock (1989–1992) said in 1995 that Ortiz's claims amounted to an allegation of U.S. involvement in her torture, which he denied. He said it was done by right-wing paramilitary forces in the country.[15]
The U.S government claimed that the allegations were false, stating that "items which were later found were intentionally placed in the garden to provide greater realism to the story of the kidnapping".[16] Ortiz also explicitly mentions that General Héctor Gramajo, and General Carlos Morales told press that her abduction was a hoax.[17] General Héctor Gramajo, the Chief of Staff of the Army, oversaw the troops who tortured and kidnapped Ortiz. In order to obscure their actions, they reported that Ortiz's injuries were caused by a "lesbian love tryst".[6] President George W. Bush of the United States, took part in the denial that the Guatemalan military was involved in the crime in order to preserve their relationships with the military there. Guatemalan military was protected under US law and worked for the US government.[16]
Despite the denials, the Commission, also known as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, ruled that Ortiz was telling the truth and that all of the accusations made against the Guatemalan military were legitimate. The administration was held accountable for the atrocities perpetrated against Ortiz since they linked more violent activities on behalf of Guatemalan citizens to officials in the government.[16]
Ortiz eventually won her case against General Héctor Gramajo and it was ruled that he would never be allowed to enter the U.S.[18]
Guatemalan media lobby
In a 1996 widely recounted interview with Ortiz on the TV news program
According to an article on Pamela Brogan's report The Torturers' Lobby (1993), published by the
In June 1990, Michael DeVine, an American innkeeper who had been living and working in Guatemala for 20 years, was found killed. The U.S. pressed the Guatemalan government to solve his murder; when that did not happen by the end of the year, Congress prohibited more military funding, then worth about $2.8 million.[24]
Ortiz hunger strike
In April 1996, Ortiz was fasting outside the White House and joined by other protesters; she was seeking a release of CIA papers related to her abduction and the U.S. government's investigation. Her protests had been preceded by those of Jennifer Harbury and members of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission, seeking U.S. action on learning the fates of many "disappeared" in the country. Harbury's husband Efraín Bámaca Velásquez , a Mayan guerrilla leader, had "disappeared" in 1992 and was presumed dead.
She went on a five-week hunger strike in protest. In order to prevent her torturers from harming another person in Guatemala, Ortiz intended to gather as much information as possible about her situation and them. Ortiz anticipated being the voice for others who could not openly comment on human rights abuses because they sought political refuge, despite dropping 10 pounds over the first three weeks of the hunger strike.[9]
Numerous CIA papers were released in May 1996. While there was no confirmation of Ortiz's claim that an American national had been directly involved in her case, the papers revealed that a Guatemalan colonel on the CIA payroll ordered the 1990 killing of DeVine [24] and the 1993 murder of Bámaca Velásquez by a death squad.[25]
As a result of revelations, Clinton ordered the United States
[T]he IOB believes that Sister Dianna was subjected to horrific abuse on November 2, 1989, but U.S. intelligence reports provide little insight into the details of her plight. Because the Department of Justice is still conducting an extensive reinvestigation of the incident, we do not draw any conclusions on the case at this time.[26]
Despite the lack of compliance from government officials, the First Lady Hillary Clinton, had sympathy for Ortiz and greatly assisted in providing official documents and identification related to her case.
Prosecution of her case
Sister Dianna filed a case with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 1990 based on her abduction and torture by agents of the Guatemalan government in 1989. The commission ruled in 1997 that the state of Guatemala had violated Articles 1, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, 16 and 25 of the American Convention on Human Rights. It found that Ortiz had been placed under surveillance, was threatened, then kidnapped and tortured. It made a judgment against the state of Guatemala, with remedies suggested.[7] It noted that a domestic case had quickly been filed with the National Police in the department where the sisters were working, and that Ortiz had cooperated with the investigation, but in six years the government had made no progress on it. The commission noted that high-ranking officials of the National Police, Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defense had immediately denied Ortiz's statement and tried to denigrate her account before any investigation was done.[7]
Given the difficulty of victims prosecuting torture and human rights cases, including murders, under military dictatorships, plaintiffs have begun to pursue civil suits. The first were filed under the
Trying to enable victims' seeking justice after not being able to gain it in countries that used torture, Congress passed the
The civil case of Ortiz was combined by her legal representative, the
The Center for Constitutional Rights filed against Gramajo when he was in Massachusetts doing graduate work at the
"The Xuncax court also added
In its ruling, the judiciary said that "[Gramajo-Morales] ... was aware of and supported widespread acts of brutality committed under his command resulting in thousands of civilian deaths."[32]
Ortiz recounted her experience in formal testimony several times.[33]
Raul Molina Mejía in his article, "The Struggle against Impunity in Guatemala", Journal of Social Justice, vol. 26 (1999), describes Ortiz's abduction and treatment as an example of state-sponsored terrorism based on impunity. He writes: "impunity as concrete legal or 'de facto' actions taken by powerful sectors to prevent investigation or prosecution, such as amnesty laws, pardons, thwarting investigations, the hiding of documents, and tampering with legal samples were abundant in Guatemala."[34] He also notes the unsolved killing of Michael DeVine,[24] the El Aguacate massacre, and the 1990 surge of killings at the National University of San Carlos. Molina Mejía writes that the "political/psychological" aspect of this impunity, is "a dimension resulting from state terrorism, by which political options in a polity are restricted and controlled through the state's manipulation of fear".[34]
Human rights work
In 1994, Dianna Ortiz began working at the Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA (GHRC). GHRC's director, Sister Alice Zachmann, had advocated for her release from clandestine detention in 1989 and had invited Dianna to give the keynote address at GHRC's 1992 International Conference on Torture in Guatemala. Dianna's work at GHRC involved advocacy work, public speaking, and help with all aspects of the small organization. While at GHRC, Dianna conducted her hunger strike and vigil in front of the White House.
In 1998, while working at the Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA, Ortiz founded the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC) as a project of GHRC/USA. TASSC received its 501(c)3 status in 2002, becoming the only organization in the U.S. founded by and for survivors of torture.[35] It provides support particularly to survivors living in the U.S., as many refugees had come from nations in Central and South America where states had sponsored terrorism against citizens.[36]
TASSC was founded as a pledge from Ortiz to the public that she would work to stop others from going through similar challenging circumstances.[37] Her experiences prompted her to seek justice for herself and others in the midst of the political violence.[37]
During the 2000s, TASSC became involved in issues related to treatment of detainees at the U.S. base of
"TASSC is unique in the United States as the only organization led by torture survivors themselves, operating from the core belief that survivors understand their needs best and must be at the core of decisions about the healing process".[39] After speaking with and interviewing torture victims all across the world, Ortiz was inspired and felt driven to start an advocacy organization. TASSC increased the access of resources for survivors despite the increasing number of torture survivors across Latin America and the United States.[39]
Death
Dianna Ortiz died of cancer on February 19, 2021, while under hospice care in Washington, D.C.[3]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Ratner, Michael. "Civil Remedies for Gross Human Rights Violations". Justice and the Generals: US Law. PBS. Retrieved July 9, 2007.
- ^ a b [1], The New York Times
- ^ a b Di Corpo, Ryan. "Dianna Ortiz, nun who told of brutal abduction by Guatemalan military, dies at 62". The Washington Post.
- ^ a b c d Julia Lieblich, "Pieces of Bone", Agni, July 1998
- ^ a b c d Donna Minkowitz, "Review: Dianna Ortiz, The Blindfold's Eye" Archived October 10, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, Salon.com, November 19, 2002
- ^ a b c d e Bernstein, Dennis J. (March 4, 2021). "How Dianna Ortiz Exposed U.S. Complicity in Guatemalan War Crimes". Progressive.org. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f Dianna Ortiz v. Guatemala, (1997), Case 10.526, Report No. 31/96, Inter-Am.C.H.R., OEA/Ser.L/V/II.95 Doc. 7 rev. at 332 (1997), Human Rights Cases, University of Minnesota
- ^ a b "School of the Assassins". International Socialist Review. September 1997. Archived from the original on May 4, 2009. Retrieved July 9, 2007.
- ^ a b Editor, RNS Blog (April 25, 1996). "NEWS FEATURE: Tortured nun begins hunger strike". Religion News Service. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
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has generic name (help) - ^ Speak Truth To Power Defender Archived October 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ ISSN 1535-3117.
- ^ a b c "Timeline: Guatemala's Brutal Civil War". PBS NewsHour. March 7, 2011. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
- ^ "Guatemalan Civil War", Wikipedia, November 30, 2023, retrieved December 1, 2023
- ^ "U.S. EXPECTED TO END LONG FREEZE ON MILITARY AID FOR GUATEMALANS". The New York Times. January 3, 1983. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
- ^ Allan Nairn, "Murder as Policy", The Nation, vol. 260, April 24, 1995, as cited in Encyclopedia
- ^ a b c "Dianna Ortiz v. Guatemala, Case 10.526, Report No. 31/96, Inter-Am.C.H.R.,OEA/Ser.L/V/II.95 Doc. 7 rev. at 332 (1997)". hrlibrary.umn.edu. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
- ISBN 978-1-57075-563-7.
- ^ "Dianna Ortiz, Survivor and Witness of the Guatemalan Genocide (1958-2021)". NACLA. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
- ^ "U.S. Judge Orders Guatemalan to Pay for Atrocities". Los Angeles Times (pre-1997 Fulltext): 16. April 13, 1995. ProQuest. Web. June 9, 2014.
- ^ "The Torturers' Lobby". Multinational Monitor. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
- ^ Stein, Jeff (May 22, 1996). "The Self-Inflicted Wounds Of Colby's CIA". The Seattle Times. Retrieved December 9, 2013.
- ISBN 0-8133-3540X.
- ^ a b c Julie Gozan, "The Torturers' Lobby", Multinational Monitor, April 1993, accessed June 14, 2013
- ^ a b c "Slaying Prompts U.S. to Halt Guatemala Aid", Associated Press, The New York Times, December 22, 1990, accessed June 14, 2013
- ^ Max Obuszewski, "Some CIA Mistakes...", Baltimore Chronicle and Sentinel, June 7, 1996, accessed June 14, 2013
- ^ "Report on the Guatemala Review", Intelligence Oversight Board, CIP Online. June 28, 1996.
- ^ "Dianna Ortiz, American Nun Tortured in Guatemala, Dies at 62". The New York Times. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
- ^ Wilkinson, Daniel (October 16, 2003). "Guatemala: A Human Rights Update". Human Rights Testimony Given Before the United States Congressional Human Rights Caucus. Human Rights Watch.
- ^ "The Bámaca Case - an 18-year Struggle for Justice". Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA. June 8, 2010.
- ^ Xuncax v. Gramajo and Ortiz v. Gramajo, 886 F. Supp. 162 (D. Ct. Mass. 1995)
- ^ a b "US Judge Orders Ex-Guatemala General to Pay 47.5 Million", The New York Times, April 13, 1995, accessed June 14, 2013
- ^ International Law Reports, Cambridge University Press
- ^ A Global Agenda, Issues before the 47th General Assembly of the United Nations, University Press of America. New York. 1992. p. 68
- ^ a b Raul Molina Mejía, "The Struggle against Impunity in Guatemala", Journal of Social Justice, vol. 26 (1999)
- ^ "Founder". Torture Abolition And Survivors Support Coalition International. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
- ^ Wiltz, Teresa (May 26, 2003). "The Survivor". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
- ^ S2CID 159702815. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
- ISBN 978-3-319-74964-8. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
- ^ a b "History of TASSC". Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
Further reading
- Pamela Brogan, The Torturers' Lobby: How Human Rights Abusing Nations Are Represented in Washington, Washington, D.C.: Center for Public Integrity (CPI), 1992, 79 pages
- 'The Blindfold's Eyes: My Journey from Torture to Truth (Dianna Ortiz, with Patricia Davis, Orbis, 2002), 484 pages
External links
- Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International
- Campaign to Repeal the Military Commissions Act of 2006
- Roger S. Gottlieb, Review: The Blindfold's Eyes, Tikkun, March 1, 2003
- Interview with Dianna Ortiz, Democracy Now, May 10, 2012 (Available in transcript, audio, and video)