One particular turning point in the government's use of terror against cooperatives was the assassination of prominent landowner José Luis Arenas on the premises of his farm "La Perla" on Saturday, 7 June 1975.
In July 1975, the same month the 30 cooperative members were "disappeared" en masse in Ixcán, a disturbing mimeographed letter sent to Guatemala City cooperatives in the name of the MANO "death squad" was reported in the press: .