Víctor Manuel Gutiérrez Garbín (10 January 1922 – 6 March 1966) was a

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by Hon ...

n labour leader. Gutiérrez, a school teacher by profession, was head of the Confederación General de Trabajadores de Guatemala (CGTG). Born in Santa Rosa, Guatemala, Gutiérrez was a devout Catholic in his youth, and he was known as a quiet, self-spoken man. He has been referred to as the most important labour leader in Guatemala from 1944 to 1954. Gutiérrez was a member of the Communist Party of Guatemala (PCG). In 1950 he split from PCG on issues relating to the social composition of the Central Committee of the party, and he founded the

Guatemalan Revolutionary Workers Party Guatemalan Revolutionary Workers Party (in Spanish: ''Partido Revolucionario Obrero Guatemalteco'') was a communist party in Guatemala. PROG was founded in 1950, following a split from the Communist Party of Guatemala (PCG). PROG made its first pu ...

(PROG). In the fall of 1951 he travelled to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

for the

World Federation of Trade Unions The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) is an international federation of trade unions established in 1945. Founded in the immediate aftermath of World War Two, the organization built on the pre-war legacy of the International Federation o ...

General Council Meeting and later to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. On returning to Guatemala, Gutiérrez dissolved PROG on February 2, 1952, and rejoined PCG. The 2nd congress of PCG (which then changed name to Guatemalan Party of Labour, PGT), held the same year, elected Gutiérrez to the party Central Committee. Gutiérrez remained a CC member of PGT until his death. On 3 March 1966, he was, along with other PGT leaders, arrested in a joint military and police operation designed with the aid of U.S. intelligence agents. He was tortured to death on March 6 and his corpse interred secretly in the countryside.THE ATROCITY FILES
Kate Doyle

References

External links

CIA document on Gutiérrez' personality
1922 births 1966 deaths Guatemalan trade union leaders Guatemalan Party of Labour politicians Guatemalan Revolutionary Workers Party politicians Guatemalan people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in Guatemalan detention {{Guatemala-politician-stub