Vinicio Pacheco, a Radio Sonora reporter, was kidnapped in Guatemala City February 28. His captors took him to an isolated beach, and for three hours, tortured him. Then they let him go, saying he was to carry a warning to the media to avoid writing about kidnappings, car thefts and other thorny issues. According to Grafico columnist Carlos Rafael Soto, the kidnappers were probably military men. This incident, and other attacks against the media, like the March 3 destruction of radio station Palpitar Peten, are widely viewed as a threat against press freedom in Guatemala.
Union activists are also under siege.
Gonzalez's captors told her that she and her brother should leave the country, and since her release she has continued to receive threats and is considering going into exile. Two other labor leaders, Victor Hugo Duran of the Telecommunication Workers Union and his son Rolando Yoc of the National Health Care Assembly, have also recently received threats. Between February 26 and March 1 the press has reported eight people kidnapped. Instead of protecting the victims, many state security agents are involved in the crime wave. In two of the kidnapping cases the perpetrators were said to be dressed in Treasury Police uniforms.