Louisa Reynolds /

Pz

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Detained and Disappeared in Guatemala (FAMDEGUA), 
located in Guatemala City’s zone 2.

According to Those who survived the Dos Erres massacre, 
without the help they received from Aura Elena Farfán, 
director of FAMDEGUA, they never would have achieved 
justice. While I wait in a small lounge for her to arrive, I 
glance at the black and white portraits hanging on the wall. 
Under each photograph one can read the person’s name 
and the date on which he or she disappeared. Most cases are 
dated between 1981 and 1984. 

There’s only one date that doesn’t fit in with the rest: the 
disappearance of 25-year-old Tzulma Vásquez, on May 16, 
2006. On that day, her boyfriend, José David Mejía, a used 
car salesman, picked her up from her home in Mixco, an 
urban municipality located about ten kilometers away from 
Guatemala City. When their car was stopped by the police, 
Tzulma called her father, Carlos Vásquez. He didn’t answer 
the telephone but the moment in which the police demanded 
to see the car’s title deed and José, who was being investigated 
by the Police for his alleged involvement in a car theft gang, 
pleaded with them not to beat his girlfriend, was recorded 
on his voicemail. Seven months later, their bodies appeared 
in a sugar plantation in the eastern department of Escuintla. 

The UN-funded International Commission Against Impunity 
in Guatemala (CICIG), set up in 2006 to root out corruption 
and eradicate clandestine groups operating within the state, 
is currently investigating the case as there is strong evidence 
to suggest that they were murdered by police agents.

This occurred only six years ago, under the Óscar Berger 
administration, during which the Guatemalan media 
uncovered the existence of clandestine organizations within