1998 Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa attack

Last updated
1998 Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa attack
Location Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa, Guatemala
DateJanuary 16, 1998
3:30–5:00 pm (UTC-6)
Attack type
 Assault, rape, robbery [1] [2]
Victims13 students, 5 of whom were raped; 2 professors, 1 administrator, 1 bus driver

On January 16, 1998, thirteen American students were attacked and robbed at gunpoint while on a school-sponsored trip to Guatemala; five of the participants were raped. [1] The case led to attention from the highest levels of the American and Guatemalan governments, including then-US president Bill Clinton, and added to growing concerns about whether the safety of students was adequately protected while studying abroad. [2] The students were studying at St. Mary's College of Maryland. [1] [2]

Contents

Background

This was the third year in which the college had been offering annual tours for students to Guatemala. The 17-day tours were conducted during the winter recess and were offered for college credit. There had been no significant problems on either of the previous tours. However, violence against women had been rising in the area. In December 1997, a public bus was hijacked with everyone being robbed. [3] Four other American women were raped in Guatemala in other incidents in July and August 1997. [4]

Details

The group consisted of 13 students—12 women and 1 man—along with two faculty members and an administrator from St. Mary's College. According to the Boston Globe, they arrived in Guatemala without a clear itinerary and without knowing the location of their hotel. Near the end of their trip, they took a tour bus from Guatemala City to the rural community of Xojola, and had passed by Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa on their way to Xojola when they were attacked. [5] At about 3:30 pm on January 16, 1998, their bus was forced off the road by at least four gunmen (seven according to a later report by CBC News [6] ). Gunshots were fired to force the driver to pull into a ditch alongside the road. The bus was forced into a nearby sugar cane field where it was not visible from the road. All of the people in the group were robbed, and the gunmen were disappointed that they weren't carrying more cash. This might have led the gunmen to escalate the attack from robbery to rape. [7] The students were frisked and groped, and five women were then methodically selected to be raped. [1] [2] One was raped on the bus and the other four were raped in the field. [8] [9] The passengers exiting the bus were required to lie face down as each of the five women, one at a time, were raped multiple times. The women who were raped were aged 19 and 20. [9] The rape victims returned to the United States on January 17, 1998, with the rest of the group following the next day. [9]

Criminal trial

Two of the rape victims returned to Guatemala in January 1999 to testify against their attackers. The accused men were Cosby Urias, a 37-year-old laborer; Rony Polanco, a 25-year-old driver; and Reyes Guch Ventura, a 25-year-old peddler. [6] All three men were convicted and sentenced to 28 years in prison: 18 years for rape and 10 years for robbery. [10]

Aftermath and civil lawsuit

Following the attack, the college stopped offering trips to Guatemala for student groups, but continued to organize trips to other destinations including Belize, Hungary and Italy. [11]

Three of the students sued the college and the professors who planned and led the trip, alleging that they were negligent and failed to take reasonable steps to inform them and protect them despite published warnings from the U.S. State Department about other recent, similar attacks. [12] [13] The named defendants included the two professors who planned and led the trip: William Roberts, professor of anthropology, and Jorge Rogachevsky, professor of Latin American studies; additional defendants were the board of trustees, the college president, and an administrator who accompanied the trip. [11] One victim sued for $5 million; another for $500,000; and third for $250,000. [11] One of the plaintiffs said she filed the lawsuit to raise awareness of the need for colleges to understand risks and make better decisions. [5] The lawsuit was eventually settled, with one plaintiff receiving $100,000 (the maximum amount allowed by law due to the college being a state-operated institution); another $65,000; and the third $30,000. The college president Jane Margaret O'Brien said the college was not responsible but was willing to settle the lawsuit to avoid the pain to all of going to trial. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scientology and law</span> Church of Scientology legal cases

The Church of Scientology has been involved in numerous court disputes across the world. In some cases, when the Church has initiated the dispute, questions have been raised as to its motives. The Church of Scientology says that its use of the legal system is necessary to protect its intellectual property and its right to freedom of religion. Critics say that most of the organization's legal claims are designed to harass those who criticize it and its manipulative business practices.

Strategic lawsuits against public participation, or strategic litigation against public participation, are lawsuits intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gloria Allred</span> American attorney

Gloria Rachel Allred is an American attorney known for taking high-profile and often controversial cases, particularly those involving feminist causes. She has been inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danny Masterson</span> American actor (born 1976)

Daniel Peter Masterson is an American actor and convicted rapist. He portrayed Steven Hyde in That '70s Show (1998–2006), Milo Foster in Men at Work (2012–2014), and Jameson "Rooster" Bennett in The Ranch (2016–2018). In May 2023, Masterson was convicted of raping two women in 2003. A third count of rape resulted in a hung jury. In September 2023, he was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison. Masterson is a Scientologist, as were his victims at the time of the assaults. The Church of Scientology's attempts to silence the victims, and its subsequent interference, resulted in a 20-year delay in bringing the crimes to justice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Nygård</span> Canadian-Finnish fashion executive

Peter J. Nygård is a Finnish-Canadian businessman, former fashion executive and convicted sex offender. In 1967 he founded Nygård International, a Winnipeg-based company that initially was a sportswear manufacturer before producing women's apparel. He was rated the 70th richest Canadian by Canadian Business magazine in 2009, with a net worth of CA$817 million, while in 2017 his net worth was estimated to be CA$900 million.

Rape in the United States is defined by the United States Department of Justice as "Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim." While definitions and terminology of rape vary by jurisdiction in the United States, the FBI revised its definition to eliminate a requirement that the crime involve an element of force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ann Olivarius</span> British lawyer (born 1955)

Ann Olivarius is an American-British lawyer who specializes in cases of civil litigation, sexual discrimination, and sexual harassment, assault, and abuse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991</span> United States law

The Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 is a US statute that allows for the filing of civil suits in the United States against individuals who, acting in an official capacity for any foreign nation, committed torture and/or extrajudicial killing. The statute requires a plaintiff to show exhaustion of local remedies in the location of the crime, to the extent that such remedies are "adequate and available." Plaintiffs may be U.S. citizens or non-U.S. citizens.

Campus sexual assault is the sexual assault, including rape, of a student while attending an institution of higher learning, such as a college or university. The victims of such assaults are more likely to be female, but any gender can be victimized. Estimates of sexual assault, which vary based on definitions and methodology, generally find that somewhere between 19 and 27% of college women and 6–8% of college men are sexually assaulted during their time in college.

Jeffrey Marc "Jeff" Herman is an American trial lawyer who specializes in representing victims of sexual abuse, and has been described as a "[t]op church sex abuse attorney". He is the founding and managing partner of the South Florida-based firm Herman Law, and has been described in the media as "the nation's leading attorney when it comes to handling high-profile sexual abuse lawsuits".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2012 Delhi gang rape and murder</span> Gang rape, torture, murder and assault incident in India

The 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, commonly known as the Nirbhaya case, involved a rape and fatal assault that occurred on 16 December 2012 in Munirka, a neighbourhood in South Delhi. The incident took place when Jyoti Singh, a 22-year-old physiotherapy intern, was beaten, gang-raped, and tortured in a private bus in which she was travelling with her male friend, Avnindra Pratap Pandey. There were six others in the bus, including the driver, all of whom raped the woman and beat her friend. She was rushed to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi for treatment and, as the public outrage mounted, the government had her transferred to Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Singapore eleven days after the assault, where she succumbed to her injuries two days later. The incident generated widespread national and international coverage and was widely condemned, both in India and abroad. Subsequently, public protests against the state and central governments for failing to provide adequate security for women took place in New Delhi, where thousands of protesters clashed with security forces. Similar protests took place in major cities throughout the country. Since Indian law does not allow the press to publish a rape victim's name, the victim was widely known as Nirbhaya, meaning "fearless", and her struggle and death became a symbol of women's resistance to rape around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Cosby sexual assault cases</span> Cases surrounding sexual assault allegations against American comedian

In 2014, multiple allegations emerged that Bill Cosby, an American media personality, had sexually assaulted dozens of women throughout his career. Cosby was well known in the United States for his eccentric image, and gained a reputation as "America's Dad" for his portrayal of Cliff Huxtable on The Cosby Show (1984–1992). He received numerous awards and honorary degrees throughout his career, many of which have since been revoked. There had been previous allegations against Cosby, but they were dismissed and accusers were ignored or disbelieved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sabrina Erdely</span> American journalist

Sabrina Rubin Erdely is an American former journalist and magazine reporter, who in 2014 authored a defamatory article in Rolling Stone describing the alleged rape of a University of Virginia student by several fraternity members. The story, titled "A Rape on Campus", was later discredited. The magazine retracted the article following a Columbia University School of Journalism review which concluded that Erdely and Rolling Stone failed to engage in "basic, even routine journalistic practice". As a result, Erdely was named in three lawsuits with demands of more than $32 million combined for damages resulting from the publication of the story.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A Rape on Campus</span> Retracted 2014 Rolling Stone article

"A Rape on Campus" is a retracted, defamatory Rolling Stone magazine article written by Sabrina Erdely and originally published on November 19, 2014, that describes a purported group sexual assault at the University of Virginia (UVA) in Charlottesville, Virginia. Rolling Stone retracted the story in its entirety on April 5, 2015. The article claimed that UVA student Jackie Coakley had been taken to a party hosted by UVA's Phi Kappa Psi fraternity by a fellow student and led to a bedroom to be gang raped by several fraternity members as part of a fraternity initiation ritual.

<i>The Hunting Ground</i> 2015 American film

The Hunting Ground is a 2015 American documentary film about the incidence of sexual assault on college campuses in the United States and the reported failure of college administrations to deal with it adequately. Written and directed by Kirby Dick and produced by Amy Ziering, it premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. The film was released on February 27, 2015, an edited version aired on CNN on November 22, 2015, and was released on DVD the week of December 1, 2015. It was released on Netflix in March 2016. Lady Gaga recorded an original song, "Til It Happens to You," for the film, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

In April 2013, Emma Sulkowicz, an American fourth-year visual arts major at Columbia University in New York City, filed a complaint with Columbia University requesting expulsion of fellow fourth-year student and German national, Paul Nungesser, alleging he had raped Sulkowicz in her dorm room on August 27, 2012. Nungesser was found not responsible by a university inquiry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baylor University sexual assault scandal</span> Allegations and convictions of Baylor University students of sexual assault between 2012 and 2016

The Baylor University sexual assault scandal concerned numerous sexual and non-sexual assaults by Baylor University students, mostly players on the school's football team, and efforts by school officials to conceal them, from about 2012 to 2016.

After a sexual assault or rape, victims are often subjected to scrutiny and mistreatment. Victims who decide to report their assaults to law enforcement undergo medical examinations and are interviewed by police. If there is a criminal trial, victims suffer a loss of privacy, and their credibility may be challenged. Victims may also become the target of slut-shaming, abuse, social stigmatization, sexual slurs and cyberbullying. These factors, contributing to a rape culture, are among some of the reasons that may contribute up to 80% of all rapes going unreported in the U.S, according to a 2016 study done by the U.S. Department of Justice.

GirlsDoPorn was an American pornographic website active from 2009 until 2020. In October and November 2019, six people involved with the website were charged on counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion. In December 2019, two more individuals were charged with obstruction of sex trafficking enforcement. The website was removed in January 2020 after 22 victims won the civil case against the company. According to the United States Department of Justice, the website and its sister website GirlsDoToys generated over $17 million in revenue. Videos were featured on GirlsDoPorn.com as well as pornography aggregate websites such as Pornhub, where the channel reached the top 20 most viewed, with approximately 680 million views.

McAllister Olivarius is an international law firm dual-headquartered in London and New York. It specializes in civil litigation and plaintiff work, particularly in education and employment law.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Wheeler, Timothy; Hedgpeth, Dana (January 19, 1998). "5 students raped in Guatemala – St. Mary's College tour group's bus overtaken by bandits" . The Baltimore Sun . Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Risen, James; Lacey, Marc (January 20, 1998). "Guatemala Rapes Raise Concerns Over Study Trips" . Los Angeles Times . Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  3. ↑ "Protecting Public Surface Transportation Against Terrorism and Serious Crime: Continuing Research on Best Security Practices, MTI Report 01-07" . Retrieved 2025-01-31.
  4. ↑ Chen, David (January 19, 1998). "5 From Md. College Sexually Assaulted On Guatemala Trip". The New York Times . Retrieved November 15, 2015.
  5. 1 2 Gowen, Annie (January 27, 2003). "Terrorism a new test for US students abroad" . The Boston Globe . Retrieved November 2, 2020.
  6. 1 2 "U.S. students testify in Guatemala rape trial". CBC News . January 21, 1999. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
  7. ↑ Lopez, Alfonso (January 19, 1998). "Five Maryland college students raped in Guatemala – Frustrated gunmen vent anger over lack of money carried by victims" . The Daily Republican . Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  8. ↑ "Are We All Dead? Professor Recalls Fear in Guatemala". The Deseret News . Associated Press. January 20, 1998. p. A2.
  9. 1 2 3 Anderson, John (January 22, 1998). "Traveling in a Troubled Land". The Washington Post . Retrieved November 15, 2015.
  10. ↑ "3 Guatemalans Get Jail in Tourist Rapes" . The New York Times . Reuters. February 9, 1999. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
  11. 1 2 3 Gowen, Annie (February 1, 2001). "College Sued Over Attack on Trip". The Washington Post . Retrieved November 15, 2015.
  12. ↑ McMurtrie, Beth (5 July 2002). "College Settles Suit by 3 Students Over '98 Attack in Guatemala". The Chronicle of Higher Education . Retrieved September 29, 2022.
  13. ↑ Rohter, Larry (22 March 1998). "Travel Advisory: Correspondent's Report: After Attack, Guatemala Steps Up Security Efforts". The New York Times . Retrieved September 29, 2022.
  14. ↑ Gowen, Annie (July 3, 2002). "Students Settle Suit Over Guatemala Attack". The Washington Post . Retrieved November 15, 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.