{"id":"8vzbt89","internal_id":"9f5cf148-3e56-41f4-ab47-a249b94da827","links":{"img_thumbnail":"https://digital.sciencehistory.org/downloads/deriv/uou9g51/thumb_large_2X?disposition=inline","html_self":"https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/8vzbt89"},"title":"Beckman Instruments press release on El Salvador kidnapping","additional_title":[],"format":["text"],"genre":["Press releases"],"medium":[],"extent":[],"language":["English"],"provenance":"","subject":["Beckman Instruments, Inc.","El Salvador--History--1979-1992","El Salvador--History--Coup d'état, 1979","El Salvador--Politics and government--1944-1979","Hostage negotiations","Political kidnapping","Ransom"],"department":"Archives","series_arrangement":["Series VII. Salvadoran Kidnappings and Negotiations"],"rights":"http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/","rights_holder":"Danaher Corporation","digitization_funder":"","file_creator":"Auerbach, Jahna","description":"Beckman Instruments had a subsidiary company and manufacturing plant called Aplar in El Salvador. In 1979 the country was on the brink of a civil war that would ultimately span three decades. On September 21, 1979, the manager of the Aplar plant, Dennis McDonald, and a Beckman Instruments engineer, Fausto Bucheli, were kidnapped by members of the guerrilla movement and held for ransom. The terms of their release were the payment of a ransom as well as publication of a manifesto in various newspapers worldwide. Beckman Instruments paid the ransom and published the manifesto, leading to the release of the hostages after forty-seven days of captivity. \n","description_html":"<p>Beckman Instruments had a subsidiary company and manufacturing plant called Aplar in El Salvador. In 1979 the country was on the brink of a civil war that would ultimately span three decades. On September 21, 1979, the manager of the Aplar plant, Dennis McDonald, and a Beckman Instruments engineer, Fausto Bucheli, were kidnapped by members of the guerrilla movement and held for ransom. The terms of their release were the payment of a ransom as well as publication of a manifesto in various newspapers worldwide. Beckman Instruments paid the ransom and published the manifesto, leading to the release of the hostages after forty-seven days of captivity. \n</p>","published_at":"2026-11-13T18:25:13Z","updated_at":"2026-11-13T18:25:13Z","creator":[{"category":"creator_of_work","value":"Gregory, William (Bill)"},{"category":"creator_of_work","value":"Steinmeyer, Robert J."}],"date_of_work":[{"start":"1979","start_qualifier":"","finish":"","finish_qualifier":"","note":"","formatted":"1979"}],"place":[{"category":"place_of_creation","value":"California--Fullerton"}],"inscription":[],"related_link":[],"additional_credit":[],"physical_container":{"box":"48","folder":"28","volume":"","part":"","page":"","shelfmark":"","reel":"","formatted":"Box 48, Folder 28"}}