Constitutional Law

• Author: International Law Group

In 1991, Jennifer K. Harbury, a U.S. national, entered into a Texas marriage with Efrain Bamaca-Velasquez, a citizen of Guatemala and a leader in the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union, a rebel organization. A few months later Bamaca went back to Guatemala where, in March 1992, he dropped out of sight. According to the Guatemalan army, Bamaca had committed suicide during a skirmish with its troops. The alleged truth was that the Guatemalan military had captured and secretly detained Bamaca to torture information out of him about the local resistance forces. According to Harbury, CIA "assets" such as security or intelligence personnel took part in this operation with financial support from the CIA.

An escapee from a military interrogation camp told Harbury in early 1993 that Bamaca was still alive but under physical and psychological pressures. State Department officials whom Harbury contacted promised to inquire into the matter but never gave her any information.

When Harbury eventually got to open Bamaca's alleged grave, she found that the body therein was someone else. Harbury immediately reported this to Marilyn McAfee, the U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala. McAfee allegedly assured Harbury that she would look into the situation and report back but never did convey any information to Harbury.

Harbury had many meetings with State Department officials over the next year or so only to hear that the Guatemalan Military claimed that it never had detained Bamaca. An October 1994 broadcast of the CBS news program "60 Minutes" announced that the American Embassy in Guatemala had an intelligence report that the local military had captured Bamaca alive. At this point, State admitted to knowing about Bamaca's capture and detention but denied it knew whether Bamaca was dead or alive.

These disclosures led Harbury to meet with National Security Advisor Anthony Lake. He claimed that the U.S. government had "scraped the bottom of the barrel" for data on Bamaca but had nothing more to report. He, too, assured Harbury that the government would go on looking for information and would keep her informed. Other State Department and NSC officials told Harbury that they lacked specific information about Bamaca's fate but that they assumed he was still alive.

Finally, Harbury announced that she would start a hunger strike in front of the White House on March 12, 1995. Twelve days into the strike, Congressman Robert Torricelli publicly reported that a paid "CIA...