Derechos: Human Rights Listings

"The massive intrusion of the United States in the government of Guatemala begun
in 1954 is the basis for this fascinating story about a woman, Maritza. She was
eventually able to emerge from captivity after torture and many humiliations.
The author, intimately acquainted with life in Guatemala, tells the story of
this woman and her family with humor, excitement and captivating details about
the history of Guatemala. For anyone involved in the tragic history of Central
America and the evolution of liberation theology, this readable book will be
helpful and even indispensable."
-Robert F. Drinan, S.J.,
Professor, Georgetown University Law Center

Part human rights drama, part political thriller, part love story, this
riveting narrative chronicles the disappearance of one woman as it tells
the larger story of the past fifty years of violence and struggle for social
justice and democracy, and U.S. intervention in Guatemala. Maritza Urrutia
was abducted from a middle-class neighborhood while taking her son to school
in 1992. _To Save Her Life _tells the story of her ordeal which included
being interrogated in secret by army intelligence officers about her activities
as part of a political opposition group. Chained to a bed, blindfolded, and
deprived of sleep, Maritza was ultimately spared because her family was able
to contact influential intermediaries, including author Dan Saxon, who was
in Guatemala working for the Catholic Church's Human Rights Office. Here
Saxon brings to life the web of players who achieved her release: the Church,
the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Congress, numerous NGOs, guerrilla groups,
politicians, students, and the media. Reaching back to 1954, when Maritza's
grandparents were activists, the book is a study of the complex and often
cruel politics of human rights, and its themes reverberate from Guatemala
to Guantánamo to Iraq.

Full information about the book is available online:
http://go.ucpress.edu/Saxon