Cirilo Machic Raguay “disappeared” on 26 July 1993 while travelling on the road to Escuintla, Palin municipality. A member of the Executive Committee of the Road Workers Union (STRAC) and a member of the Union of Workers of Escuintla (UTE), he had reportedly been working on the setting up of neighbourhood associations in Palin, which had been critical of the local mayor. According to his wife, before his “disappearance”, Cirilo Machic Raguay had been followed and intimidated by heavily armed men in a car with foreign number plates. It is reported that members of other non- governmental organizations in Escuintla have also been subjected to acts of intimidation.
