March 1, 2022
In El Salvador, prosecutors have charged former president Alfredo Cristiani and several ex-military officers for the massacre of six Jesuit priests carried out in 1989 by a US-trained death squad. The priests’ housekeeper and her daughter were also killed. In 2016, an amnesty law protecting those involved in the massacre was lifted, but so far only one man, former Salvadoran colonel Inocente Orlando Montano, has been held accountable for the killings. In 2020, Montano was sentenced by a Spanish court to 133 years in prison for the murder of five of the priests, all of whom were Spanish.
El Salvador’s Attorney General’s Office (FGR) announced on Friday that it filed an indictment against 13 people, including former President Alfredo Cristiani, linked to the 1989 murders.
Salvadoran prosecutor Rodolfo Delgado confirmed that a formal accusation has been filed in the courts of this Central American country against Cristiani, who was president from 1989 to 1994, as the alleged mastermind of the massacre of the Jesuits, five of them Spanish.
The assassination of the priests by an Army battalion took place on November 16, 1989 inside the facilities of the Central American University (UCA), in San Salvador, within the framework of the guerrilla offensive called “Hasta el tope”.
“This document is part of the efforts being made by the Attorney General’s Office to bring to the court all those responsible for various crimes committed during the period of the armed conflict,” said Delgado.
He pointed out that on this occasion “the victims, six Jesuit priests and two Salvadoran women who worked with them, were murdered by members of the army”.
The FGR “is determined to bring to the dock those responsible for ordering this regrettable and tragic event that occurred during the armed conflict (1980-1992),” he said.
The prosecutor affirmed that within the FGR they are promoting “the search for truth, justice, reparation for the victims so that this type of regrettable events should not be repeated”.
In addition to former President Cristiani, 12 other people were accused, including high-ranking military chiefs at the time, such as Generals Juan Rafael Bustillo, Juan Orlando Zepeda, Carlos Camilo Hernández, Nelson Iván López and Joaquin Cerna Flores, among others.
Local media have reported that former president Cristiani has left the country in recent weeks and is reportedly living in Italy. However, this version has not been confirmed by official sources.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano