Dianna Mae Ortiz (September 2, 1958 – February 19, 2021) was an American Roman Catholic sister of the Ursuline order. While serving as a missionary in Guatemala, during its civil war, she was abducted on November 2, 1989 by members of the Guatemalan military, detained, raped, and tortured for 24 hours before being released. After her release, Ortiz reported that an American was among her captors. This part of her account could not be confirmed.
Ortiz pursued her case in a Guatemalan court and in a United States civil court. In the latter, she was the first to seek civil damages under the Torture Victim Protection Act passed in 1992.[1] She filed a case against the Guatemalan Minister of Defense, General Héctor Gramajo, who was in power at the time of her abduction, arguing that he had command authority. In 1995, she was awarded $5 million in damages.[2] She also filed a case with the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights.
In 1996, as a result of protests by Ortiz and others, as well as revelations of unauthorized CIA funding of the Guatemala military which had been prohibited by Congress in 1990, U.S. President Bill Clinton ordered the release of CIA papers associated with her case. Clinton also ordered the declassification of decades of documents related to U.S. relations with Guatemala. These showed that a Guatemalan colonel paid by the CIA was implicated in the deaths of the American Michael DeVine in 1990 and guerrilla leader Efraín Bámaca Velásquez [es] in 1993. Congress closed down the CIA program. It also showed decades of United States support of Guatemala during its genocide of its rural indigenous people. [citation needed]
The Center for Constitutional Rights represented Ortiz in her civil case and before the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, which found in 1997 that the State of Guatemala had violated numerous articles of the American Convention on Human Rights in regard to Ortiz. It recommended that the government complete its long-delayed investigation and that it provide compensation to Ortiz.
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Dianna Mae Ortiz (September 2, 1958 – February 19, 2021) was an American Roman Catholic sister of the Ursuline order. While serving as a missionary in...
listeners about subjects usually related to U.S. politics. In 1989, Sister DiannaOrtiz, a Catholic sister from New Mexico, was abducted, raped, and tortured...
Paralympic swimmer Dianna Melrose (born 1952), Zimbabwe-born British diplomat DiannaOrtiz (1958–2021), American Catholic nun Dianna Russini (born 1983)...
David Ortiz (born 1975), Dominican baseball player Deborah Ortiz (born 1957), American politician, state senator from California DiannaOrtiz (1958–2021)...
human rights campaigners including: José Ramos-Horta from East Timor, DiannaOrtiz of Guatemala, Baltasar Garzón of Spain and Desmond Tutu of South Africa...
awardees include Bishop Proaño, Cardinal Arns, the Oslobodjenje, Sr. DiannaOrtiz, Salima Ghezali, and Berta Cáceres. On May 18, 2018, museum staff discovered...
Expression Award 2020 Taras Shevchenko National Prize (Shevchenko Award) 2021 DiannaOrtiz Award for Courage 2023 NNW International Film Festival Award "The Door...
Archived 26 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine Sister DiannaOrtiz, 2 September 1998 Ortiz, Dianna (May–June 2007). "Spokes in the Wheel: An Account of...
War). Thousands of victims were tortured and murdered. For example, DiannaOrtiz, an American nun who was teaching poor Mayan children in the Guatemala...
the Intelligence Oversight Board. During April 1996, the American nun DiannaOrtiz was fasting across from the White House, seeking the release of CIA papers...
Victims and Survivors (June 26). TASSC was founded in 1998 by Sister DiannaOrtiz, an American survivor of torture while a missionary in Guatemala. The...
included Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Martín Almada, Theo van Boven, Sister DiannaOrtiz, and Veterans for Peace. Responding to the so-called "torture memoranda...
the mid-1990s for the Guatemalan dictatorship, insisting that Sister DiannaOrtiz, who was tortured and raped by members of a death squad, was actually...
Guatemalan Civil War (1960–1996). Responsible for rape and torture of Sister DiannaOrtiz. Guatemala Efraín Ríos Montt Former President of Guatemala who took...
Act is the "Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991." In 1992, Sister DiannaOrtiz was the first to file a case under the act, in a civil action against...
snd1.org. Retrieved 2017-02-20. Staff, I. S. N. (2021-02-23). "Sr. DiannaOrtiz: Remembering a Powerful Advocate for Peace and Justice". Ignatian Solidarity...
Roy Bourgeois, M.M. 1998 - Kathy Kelly 1999 - Martin Sheen 2000 - Sr. DiannaOrtiz, OSU 2001 - Fr. Louis Vitale, Elizabeth McAlister, and Philip Berrigan...
Burundian politician and lawyer, minister of justice (2005–2007), stroke. DiannaOrtiz, 62, American Roman Catholic nun and anti-torture advocate, cancer. Jerold...
Review: [28] The Blindfold’s Eyes: My Journey from Torture to Truth by DiannaOrtiz; 2003; Z-Magazine; Review: [29] State Terrorism and the United States...
Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 8, 2015. Pedersen, Erik (July 13, 2015). "Dianna Agron Lands Lead In Indie 'Hollow In The Land'; Adam Goldberg Joins Bruce...
Royal Pollokoff 1929-2016 American television personality Dian Parkinson Dianna Batts 1944- American former model and actress Allison Parks Gloria Waldron...