Rogelia Cruz

Rogelia Cruz Martínez
Born	August 31st., 1940 Guatemala City, Guatemala
Died	(1968-01-11)January 11, 1968 Escuintla, Guatemala

Rogelia Cruz Martínez (1940 - January 11, 1968) was a Guatemalan left-wing activist, the 1958 Miss Guatemala Universe winner, and Guatemala's representative in the 1959 Miss Universe pageant. She was murdered by a paramilitary death squad at the age of 27, reportedly due to her political activities.

Her mother came from a middle class family in Chiquimula and his father belonged to a wealthy family in the capital and worked as a master builder. She studied at the Instituto Normal Central para Señoritas Belén and also trained as a ballerina.

Cruz was a student of Architecture at the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala when she won the Miss Guatemala pagent in 1959. She studied and worked at a bank to support her sisters. During the 1962 protests against General Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes. Cruz secretly joined the "Edgar Ibarra" Guerrilla Front and carried out administrative work in the capital. In 1965, the army searched the farm where she lived with her sisters and found weapons and other tools for armed struggle. She was imprisoned, and after leaving prison a few months later she had to find a new house and a new job.

She later became a member of the Juventud Patriotica del Trabajo (JPT) party and the girlfriend of Guatemalan Party of Labour (PGT) commander Leonardo Castillo Johnson. She was kidnapped in December 1967, and was found dead on January 11, 1968 by a bridge near Escuintla, Guatemala. Her association with Johnson was the most likely cause for her murder.

Cruz's murder was quite visible to the world and resulted in a series of retaliatory murders. She was originally arrested for a traffic violation, but was released due to threats made by the PGT and the Fuerzas Armadas Rebeldes (FAR) on the judge presiding over the case. She disappeared after being released, and was not seen again until her naked corpse was found. She had been brutally tortured and raped. The PGT retaliated by attacking a group of US military personnel, killing two and wounding a third. The Guatemalan military responded by assassinating Johnson.