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In 1999 Harvard graduate attorney and human rights activist Jennifer Harbury is still searching for the remains of her assassinated Mayan Guatemalan husband Efraín Bámaca Velázquez. Also known as "Everardo" in the indigenous resistance movement in his country, he disappeared in the hands of the Army in 1992.  Bamaca´s widow is seeking for the truth about the crime, and for an end to impunity about human rights violations in that  Central American country.

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Throughout 1998, the Inter American Court of the Organization of American States (OAS) has held three public hearing about the "Bámaca Velásquez" case presented by Harbury.

Claims include the possible responsibility of the Guatemalan State in the disappearance, torture, and extrajudicial execution of Bámaca. The Inter American Commission  has requested the OAS Court to declare that Guatemala has violated human rights, and that it should investigate the facts and punish those responsible for the case. The OAS Commission has also stated that Guatemala should inform the family about the whereabouts of Bamaca´s body and give them his remains.  The proposed resolution also calls for reforms in the methods of training of the Army, and suggests that the State should compensate the relatives of the victim.

Last June 18, 1998, as she came out from the second Court  hearing, Jennifer talked to FIRE about the case.  That particular day was an important one for her for more than one reason.

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 Guns in the heads and stomachs of the peoples of Guatemala has formed part of the last 4 decades in that country. But Jennifer also knows that the political history of her husband’s country is intrinsically linked to that of the Administration and intelligence units of her country of origin, the United States.
 

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The Harvard graduate attorney believes that the present situation of violations of human rights that persists today has its origins in that history of USA involvement in Guatemala. Furthermore, she claims that the USA and CIA buys, and covers up the violations of human rights.
 

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That is why, along side with the case against the government of Guatemala in the OAS, Jennifer is also presenting two cases within the United States itself: one against  the U.S. government, and another case against the Central Intelligence Agency, or better know as the CIA.

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Harbury is not only struggling legally to take those responsible of the crimes to court, but she is organizing a comprehensive campaign addressed to the USA Administration, which contains  a series of demands that are relevant to all the citizens, because it concerns democracy in the world today.

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Asked by FIRE about what she expected the outcome of these trials to be, Jennifer talked about what she is demanding.
 

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