20th century guatemalan history
20th century latin american history
A01=Dan Saxon
abduction
activism
american government
army intelligence
Author_Dan Saxon
captivity
Category=JPS
catholic church
dan saxon
democracy
disappearance
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
government and governing
guatemala
guerrilla groups
human rights
human rights activism
human rights office
humanity
interrogation
latin american history
love story
ngos
political
political opposition group
politics
social justice
struggle
torture
us congress
us intervention
us state department
violence
Product details
- ISBN 9780520252455
- Weight: 499g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 21 May 2007
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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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 Guantanamo to Iraq.
Dan Saxon is a prosecutor at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.
