©Luis Corzo, Pasaco, Jutiapa; Pasaco is a municipality in the Jutiapa department in southeastern Guatemala (on the border with El Salvador). The current population of Pasaco is approximately 1,800 people. The primary economic sources in Pasaco are agriculture, livestock, and small industries, such as the fabrication of brick. This town is also the namesake of the group “Los Pasaco”, a notorious organized crime group mostly known for kidnappings for ransom in the 1990s.

©Luis Corzo, Maria Spillari; The abductees’ wife/mother.

Portrait of Luis Corzo

©Luis Corzo, First location of captivity; It is located in the neighborhood of “La Esmeralda” in Guatemala City’s Zone 21. For about a week and a half, the abductees were held here, in the room next to the garage at street level. Months after the abduction concluded, authorities were able to locate this residence with the information provided by Juan Corzo, Jr. regarding the house’s whereabouts. During this discovery in 1996, these archival images were taken.

©Luis Corzo, Advisor for negotiations with the abductors appointed by the government; Asked to remain anonymous.

©Luis Corzo, Second location of captivity; After about a week and a half, the abductors decided to move the operation into a mountain range in southern Guatemala. In the wee hours of daybreak, the abductees were put into the back of separate vans and driven about an hour and a half south. At the end of the journey, they were forced to hike up a mountain and sleep buried in the soil up to their heads. The next day, they were transferred to a small hut made of aluminum and wood.

©Luis Corzo, Juan Corzo, Jr.’s left hand; After about three weeks into the kidnapping, Juan Corzo, Jr.’s left ring finger was amputated. Juan’s finger was put in a small plastic container and left inside a toilet in the men’s bathroom of Pollo Campero (fast food restaurant).

©Luis Corzo, Carlos Corzo; The abductees’ brother/uncle.

©Luis Corzo, Proof of life 05, Pollo Campero (fast food restaurant), Av. Petapa; Two proof-of-life polaroid pictures were left behind a toilet in a bathroom of Pollo Campero. The images show both abductees blindfolded. Juan appears holding the day’s newspaper with his left hand missing his ring finger.

©Luis Corzo, Audio cassettes; Audio cassettes that contain all of the calls between the Corzo family and the abductors.

©Luis Corzo, Abelisario Santos; Longtime family friend and employee of the family business. Abelisario volunteered to make the first and third deliveries of the ransom money. The first ransom delivery was about two weeks into the abduction. Abelisario was instructed by the abductors to bring a large backpack full of cash and drive a small motorcycle down to Lago Amatitlán (about 40 minutes south of Guatemala City), at around 2:00 am. At the midpoint of the trajectory, he was intercepted by the abductors. He was forcefully stopped in the middle of the CA-9 highway, brought down and brutally beaten. The abductors took the backpack and fled. This portrait was taken at the precise location where he was stopped on that rainy morning. Not yet satisfied with the payments received, the abductors released Juan Corzo, Jr. and forced him to gather the last ransom payment to grant Luis’ freedom.

©Luis Corzo, Estación de bomberos voluntarios de Chiquimulilla, Santa Rosa; On May 21st, 1996, Luis Corzo was released in the small town of Chiquimulilla, Santa Rosa. At around 6:00 pm he was driven down from the mountains on a gray pick up truck, blindfolded. Once they arrived in the town, Luis was instructed to look out the window and not at them; otherwise, he would be killed. He was given a small piece of paper with his name and his grandfather’s (Juan Corzo, Sr.) home phone number. Before getting off, the blindfold was removed, and they indicated he walk away from the car and not to look back. He followed their instructions and eventually reached the volunteer firefighter’s station of Chiquimulilla. After explaining that he was just released from an abduction, the firefighters hurried to call his family. Astoundingly, there was no telephone at the station so they walked over to a neighbor’s house and were able to place the call. Shortly after, one of the firefighters volunteered to drive Luis back to the volunteer firefighter’s central station in Guatemala City, which was about two hours away. He was picked up by some family members, including his mother, Maria Spillari.

©Luis Corzo, Corzo family picture; A photograph of Luis and Juan Corzo, Jr. (both abductees) with some family members the day after Luis’ release.

©Luis Corzo, Q.1,000; A few months later, the Guatemalan police unit captured some members of “Los Pasaco”. Juan Corzo, Sr. was contacted by a group of police officers who offered to assassinate the kidnappers on the spot for 1,000 Guatemalan Quetzales each (equivalent to approximately 130 USD) and evade trial. Juan Corzo, Sr. strongly declined the offer and he and the family decided to proceed with the criminal trial.

©Luis Corzo,José Luis Barahona Castillo; José Luis was the leader of the group responsible for the abduction of Juan Corzo, Jr. and Luis Corzo. Image 40 is a newspaper cutout showing a portrait of José Luis during the 1998 trial. Years later, in March 2019, Luis Corzo received a tip (from a source that wishes to remain anonymous) that José Luis Barahona Castillo’s brother, Walter, was incarcerated in the prison known as “the Little Hell”. On March 10, 2019, Luis visited Granja de Alta Seguridad Canadá, “the Little Hell”. He was forced to bribe two officers for a total of 55 Quetzales (which is equivalent to 7 USD) in order to enter the jail. As he entered, Luis was stunned to find out that Walter was no longer housed in the prison; instead, the leader himself, Jose Luis Barahona Castillo was there in the prison. With the help of another inmate, Luis was able to locate him.

©Luis Corzo, José Luis owned a small shop where he sold soda and snacks in the back part of the prison. José Luis offered Luis Corzo a Coca-Cola (image 41). Next to his small shop, he had set up a small table with two chairs where they sat and spoke for nearly an hour. Two years later, in August 2021, José Luis Barahona Castillo passed away in “the Little Hell” from an unknown cause.