The Ordeal of Mario Quinonez

In the Guatemala of President Jacobo Arbenz, no Communist himself but a grateful friend of Red and pro-Red supporters, it has become a dangerous thing to be an open antiCommunist. Last week Guatemala City newspapers told of the unforgettable lesson that anti-Red Law Student Mario Quinonez received at the hands of the police.

A fortnight ago, unidentified saboteurs bunglingly attempted to dynamite Guatemalan power plants. A few days later, three plainclothesmen from the civil guard knocked on the door of the Quinonez house in Guatemala City. After searching the place from attic to cellar, they asked Mario, 24, and his brother Edgar, 20, to go with them. Mario asked to see the warrants for their arrest. Instead of warrants, the policemen showed their guns. The brothers went along.

Slaps & Shocks. Worried relatives obtained a court order to "produce and exhibit" the prisoners. Last week, after holding them incommunicado for four days, the police gave in. In a room in the supreme court building, Mario and Edgar were permitted to tell a group of relatives, court officials and newsmen what had happened. Both brothers said they had been tortured. Reported Mario:

"My brother and I were left alone in our cell until evening. Then cops came, doused us with buckets of ice-cold water, and went away again, leaving us soaked and shivering. A few hours later, they came back . . . They made us undress, and blindfolded us. I was taken to a basement room and interrogated about the dynamitings. When I denied that I was involved in any way, the interrogator slapped my face. Others beat me across the legs and back with what felt like stockings filled with sand ... I was bent over a small table and tied down. I heard what sounded like a hand generator humming. Suddenly I felt horrible electric shocks in various parts of my body. I squirmed and jerked at each contact. The shocks continued. Finally my writhing broke the table, and I collapsed to the floor. They hauled me to a cell . . ."

Blows & Ice Water. "At daybreak, the cops returned and gave me back my clothes. I was blindfolded again, led into another room, and placed in a spinning chair. They spun it until I vomited with nausea. Then I was knocked to the floor, beaten with a rubber hose and doused with ice water. After that they took me to a cell and left me alone."

The torturing of Mario Quinonez could not be explained away as an isolated case, the work of a few sadistic cops. Other Guatemalans have been hauled off and tortured in recent months, often for no apparent reason except that they, like the brothers Quinonez, were members of anti-Communist organizations.

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