Graduate's Search Is Ended

Harvard Law School graduate Jennifer K. Harbury's three-year struggle to locate her missing husband, Guatemalan guerrilla leader Enfrain "Everado" Velasquez, finally ended Monday after a U.S. representative revealed a Guatemalan colonel on the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) payroll ordered his murder.

In a letter to President Clinton obtained by The Crimson, Rep. Robert G. Torricelli (D-N.J.) blasted the CIA for not revealing its links to Colonel Julio Roberto Alpirez, the Guatemalan intelligence officer responsible for Everado's death.

"The direct involvement of the Central Intelligence Agency in the murder of [Everado] leads me to the extraordinary conclusion that the Agency is simply out of control and contains what can only be called a criminal element," he wrote. "Once again the U.S. is embarrassed by its Intelligence service, and once again the U.S. government is forced to apologize to the American public and to the world for its own actions."

Harbury, who graduated from the Law School in 1978, staged a 32-day hunger strike last year in Guatemala City to call attention to her husband's disappearance.

Everado was captured on March 12, 1992 after the group of rebels he was leading ran into a Guatemalan army patrol. The Guatemalan government has maintained that Everado committed suicide to avoid capture.

Harbury rejected that claim, charging that the Guatemalan government was holding her husband captive in a clandestine torture center.

The Guatemalan government exhumed two graves to prove Everado committed suicide, but Harbury's forensic experts determined the corpses were not the rebel leader's remains.

The State Department and National Security Council have repeatedly assured Harbury that every effort was being made to investigate Everado's case.

Last November, Harbury met with National Security Advisor Anthony Lake '61 to discuss Everado's disappearance.

Harbury said she was outraged that U.S. officials had known about her husband's murder.

"The U.S. Embassy allowed me to spend 32 days in literal starvation in Guatemala City last fall," she said in a statement obtained by The Crimson. "As I grew weaker and weaker, as I was placed number one on a published death list, they simply watched."

The U.S. Embassy in Guatemala declined to comment.

Torricelli accused the National Security Council and State Department of misleading Harbury, saying the agencies had "shown a consistent and deliberate pattern of misinformation."

"Almost nothing that the United States government has revealed about [the] case has been true," Torricelli stated. "At no time did the State Department attempt to relay [information regarding Everado's fate] to the public or Mrs. Harbury."

A spokesperson from the State Department and CIA director Admiral William O. Studeman both denied Torricelli's allegations, saying Harbury wasnot misled. Studeman said Torricelli's chargeswere "false and utterly irresponsible."

"[Torricelli's accusation are] a greatdisservice to the dedicated men and women who workfor the organization," Studeman stated. "CIAofficials briefed Torricelli, detailing ourknowledge of these events and the actions wetook."

Harbury said she will return to Guatemala tosearch for her husband's remains. "I must nowlearn where my husband is buried," she said. "Icannot leave him tossed like so much trash into anunmarked grave. His bones belong to me."

In a telephone interview yesterday, HenryHarbury, Jennifer Harbury's father, said hisdaughter was relieved that Everado was no longersuffering. "Now she knows, it shouldn't have beennecessary to go [through] the ordeals that shehas," he said.

While mourning her loss, Harbury said thatthousands of Guatemalans have died during the ruleof the U.S. backed government. "The StateDepartment has long sheltered, supported andtrained this army and helped to cover up for itsterrible criminal acts," she stated. "As a result150,000 civilians lie dead. We must now insistthat our tax dollars be better spent."

Members of Congress have urged the Justicedepartment to investigate the CIA's role inEverado's death, Henry Harbury said.

Torricelli asked Clinton to initiate a fullinvestigation into the CIA's complicity inHarbury's case and called for the firing ofgovernment employees who misled her

"[Torricelli's accusation are] a greatdisservice to the dedicated men and women who workfor the organization," Studeman stated. "CIAofficials briefed Torricelli, detailing ourknowledge of these events and the actions wetook."

Harbury said she will return to Guatemala tosearch for her husband's remains. "I must nowlearn where my husband is buried," she said. "Icannot leave him tossed like so much trash into anunmarked grave. His bones belong to me."

In a telephone interview yesterday, HenryHarbury, Jennifer Harbury's father, said hisdaughter was relieved that Everado was no longersuffering. "Now she knows, it shouldn't have beennecessary to go [through] the ordeals that shehas," he said.

While mourning her loss, Harbury said thatthousands of Guatemalans have died during the ruleof the U.S. backed government. "The StateDepartment has long sheltered, supported andtrained this army and helped to cover up for itsterrible criminal acts," she stated. "As a result150,000 civilians lie dead. We must now insistthat our tax dollars be better spent."

Members of Congress have urged the Justicedepartment to investigate the CIA's role inEverado's death, Henry Harbury said.

Torricelli asked Clinton to initiate a fullinvestigation into the CIA's complicity inHarbury's case and called for the firing ofgovernment employees who misled her