House on Ninth Street

Since 1966, 40,000 people had vanished into the bowels of the state security apparatus in Guatemala. Forty-six percent of all “disappearances” in Latin America occurred here, where the method of eliminating persons, leaving no trace behind, was invented and refined. 

This collection was based on the words of the relatives of the “disappeared” who, in spite of harassment and death threats, continued to demand justice. Towell gives their voices a chance to be heard through interviews with GAM (Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo, or Mutual Support Group), an organization of family members of the “disappeared”.

Published by Cormorant Books. 1994