{"id":"z3oh5he","internal_id":"41df0b68-4f52-4092-a9a3-e3e6e074470a","links":{"img_thumbnail":"https://digital.sciencehistory.org/downloads/deriv/1rsk36h/thumb_large_2X?disposition=inline","html_self":"https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/z3oh5he"},"title":"El Salvador kidnapping task force photograph and letter, January 4, 1981","additional_title":[],"format":["image","text"],"genre":["Business correspondence","Photographs"],"medium":[],"extent":["25.4 cm W x 20.3 cm H"],"language":["English"],"provenance":"","subject":["Ransom","Political kidnapping","Hostage negotiations","El Salvador--Politics and government--1944-1979","El Salvador--History--Coup d'état, 1979","El Salvador--History--1979-1992","Beckman Instruments, Inc."],"department":"Archives","series_arrangement":["Series VII. Salvadoran Kidnappings and Negotiations"],"rights":"http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-RUU/1.0/","rights_holder":"","digitization_funder":"","file_creator":"Auerbach, Jahna","description":"Beckman Instruments inter-office memo written by Bill Gregory. Included with the memo is a black-and-white photograph of the El Salvador kidnapping task force with ransom suitcase.  Attached to the photograph is a detailed description of the photograph and each person's role in the task force.\n\nBeckman 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. Robert J. Steinmeyer, the leader of the hostage negotiation team, is in the center.\n\n","description_html":"<p>Beckman Instruments inter-office memo written by Bill Gregory. Included with the memo is a black-and-white photograph of the El Salvador kidnapping task force with ransom suitcase.  Attached to the photograph is a detailed description of the photograph and each person's role in the task force.</p>\n\n<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. Robert J. Steinmeyer, the leader of the hostage negotiation team, is in the center.</p>","published_at":"2026-11-13T18:21:11Z","updated_at":"2026-11-13T18:21:11Z","creator":[{"category":"creator_of_work","value":"Gregory, Willard B."}],"date_of_work":[{"start":"1981-01-04","start_qualifier":"","finish":"","finish_qualifier":"","note":"","formatted":"1981-Jan-04"}],"place":[{"category":"place_of_creation","value":"California--Fullerton"}],"inscription":[],"related_link":[],"additional_credit":[],"physical_container":{"box":"48","folder":"36","volume":"","part":"","page":"","shelfmark":"","reel":"","formatted":"Box 48, Folder 36"}}