One Woman Against State-Sponsored Terror On November 11, 1994, U.S. citizen Jennifer Harbury called off her 32-day hunger strike. In the end, Harbury failed to get the military to turn her husband, disappeared guerrilla leader Efrafn Bimaca Velisquez, over to the courts [see Newsbrief, p. 2]. But from a wider optic, her hunger strike was a quiet success. In a well-organized, focused campaign, Harbury, an attorney and author, was able to direct U.S. media and government attention to Guate- mala's dismal human rights record-something that U.S. activists have been hard-pressed to achieve. Harbury's action followed in the footsteps of TransAfrica executive director Randall Robinson's equal- ly successful hunger strike in the spring. Robinson stopped eating for 27 days, in an attempt to pressure the Clinton Administration to stop the summary repatriation of Haitian boat people. Randall's media-inten- sive hunger strike was a key factor in the Administration's decision in May to redouble its efforts to dump the military dictatorship. Both Harbury and Robinson were able to impact U.S. foreign policy by taking advantage of the U.S. media's overvaluation of U.S.- preferably prominent, middle-class and professional-lives. As Nation columnist Alexander Cockburn once mordantly put it, in the calcu- lus of the U.S. media, one dead, raped U.S. nun equals 1,000 Sal- vadoran peasants, and one U.S. net- work TV reporter killed on camera equals 30,000 Nicaraguan peasants. Harbury and Robinson showed that two hunger-striking U.S. profes- sionals could garner more media sympathy than the thousands of ordinary Guatemalans and Haitians slaughtered by their respective gov- ernments. By putting their bodies and lives on the line for their beliefs, the two activists were able to use this double standard to pres- sure their government to take steps that might benefit people without a voice in U.S. policymaking circles. Harbury camped out day and night for over a month in the plaza in front of the National Palace in Guatemala City. She insisted she would not eat until the government handed her hus- band over to the Guatemalan justice system, as required by both interna- tional law and the global human rights accord signed in March by the government and the Guatemalan National Revolution- ary Unity (URNG). She accuses the army of holding B.maca in a clan- destine detention center as part of an indoctrination program to torture captured rebels into becoming long-term informants. Astutely, Harbury demanded only that Bdmaca be given a fair trial and not that he be released. Guatemalan activists rallied behind Harbury. The Guatemalan Mutual Support Group for Families of the Disappeared (GAM) kept a constant vigil with her in front of the Palace. Hundreds of ordinary Guatemalans, without the interna- tional attention that protects Har- bury, privately voiced their admira- tion and gratitude for her actions. They came by the palace with bot- tles of water, flowers, and hand- written notes of encouragement. While Harbury's campaign was ostensibly directed toward the Guatemalan State, her actions in the final analysis were squarely aimed at the United States. U.S. Ambassador Marilyn McAfee, notably cozy with Guatemalan offi- cialdom, was pressured into asking the Guatemalan government for information about Bdmaca's whereabouts. National Security Advisor Anthony Lake and Richard Nuccio, the State Department's senior advisor on inter-American affairs, made pilgrimages down to Guatemala. U.S. solidarity activists-coordi- nated by the Washington-based Guatemalan Human Rights Com- mission-launched a sweeping telephone and postcard campaign directed at key officials in the U.S. State Department, White House, and U.S. Embassy in Guatemala. Activists were encouraged to demand that Guatemala's trade privileges be suspended until human rights were respected. Edmond Mulet, Guatemala's ambassador in Washington, was besieged with telephone calls to his office from U.S. solidarity activists, prompting him to warn his govern- ment that the negative publicity might jeopardize Guatemala's trade benefits under the Generalized Sys- tem of Preferences (GSP). People Magazine, National Pub- lic Radio and "60 Minutes" all reported on the hunger strike. Even the New York Times-as usual a follower, not a leader on stories of this type-ran two articles about Harbury's campaign. Harbury ended her fast even though the Guatemalan government had not released Bdmaca, nor pro- vided her with his body (they claim that he died in battle). The U.S. government did not impose trade sanctions. Making the argument that it routinely makes when it serves its interests, the United States says it believes in "evolu- tion" where human rights are con- cerned. Nonetheless, Harbury should consider herself victorious. Working closely with Guatemalan human rights groups, she cast intense scrutiny on continuing repression in Guatemala, and gave Central American solidarity activists a reawakened sense of mission and purpose.
