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Harbury's publicity campaign swung into high gear last October. She staged a 32-day hunger strike outside the Guatemalan presidential palace, which she ended when National Security Adviser Anthony Lake agreed to look into the matter. On January 25, the CIA provided the State Department with what White House spokesman Mike McCurry now calls "new information"--information about Alpirez that was at the very least potent enough to prompt the CIA to begin an internal investigation. (The CIA station chief in Guatemala was recalled to Washington around the time the inquiry began.) Concurrently, Harbury was told that the U.S. was "doing everything we could to encourage the Guatemalan military authorities to investigate," according to McCurry. According to the Washington Post, Secretary of State Warren Christopher sent a cable to the U.S. ambassador to Guatemala Marilyn McAffee saying he had "credible" reports of Bamaca being sighted on several occasions inside a military camp, including stories from another guerrilla who reportedly witnessed Bamaca being tortured. On March 7, McAfee informed Harbury that Bamaca was dead but that there was no information regarding how or when. Three days later, Washington said it would stop funding training of the Guatemalan army, citing human-rights violations.
On March 21, Torricelli learned of the Alpirez connection. CIA files reveal that Alpirez became a CIA informer in the 1980s and spent a year at the School of the Americas, an elite U.S. program for foreign soldiers. He remained on the CIA payroll until sometime in 1992, around the same time Bamaca was captured and then killed.
In Guatemala last week, President Ramiro de Leon Carpio said the military will investigate the allegations against Alpirez. The colonel, now second in command at an army base in Guatemala City, has not made a statement of any kind. For her part, Harbury is planning to file a lawsuit once the threads of responsibility are sorted out. She may have learned the truth. That, however, is not the same as having all the answers.
--Reported by Nina Burleigh and Elaine Shannon/Washington and Trish O'Kane/Guatemala City