Part Four, Chapter Two (B): From Madness to Hope: El Salvador: Truth Commissions: Library and Links: U.S. Institute of Peace

Francisco Arnulfo Ventura and José Humberto Mejía, law students at the University of El Salvador, were arrested by members of the National Guard in the parking lot of the United States Embassy on 22 January 1980 after a student demonstration. According to witnesses, members of the National Guard handed the students over to some men in civilian clothing who drove off with them in a private car. Despite the judicial investigations and remedies carried out since that date, the students' whereabouts are still unknown.

1. Members of the National Guard arrested Francisco Arnulfo Ventura and José Humberto Mejía, detained them in the parking lot of the United States Embassy and then handed them over to some men in civilian clothing who drove off with them in a private vehicle.

2. While in the custody of those men, the students disappeared and there is no evidence that they are still alive.

3. By denying that the students had been arrested and failing to act quickly to investigate the incident and identify precisely who was responsible, then Colonel Eugenio Vides Casanova, Commander of the National Guard, was guilty, at the least of complicity through negligence and of obstructing the resulting judicial investigation.

4. The State failed in its duty to investigate, bring to trial and punish the guilty parties, compensate the victims' relatives and inform them of the whereabouts of the disappeared persons. The State must comply fully and promptly with these obligations.

On the morning of 22 January 1980, a student demonstration which had marched from the University of El Salvador to the centre of San Salvador was violently dispersed by security forces in front of the cathedral; a number of people were killed or injured.³²²

Two of the demonstrators, Francisco Arnulfo Ventura Reyes (age 24) and José Humberto Mejía (age 25), both law students, went through the main entrance of the United States Embassy after the demonstration, at about 2.30 in the afternoon.

According to a number of witnesses, members of the National Guard arrested them at the Embassy gate and took them into the parking lot, where they stayed for a few minutes in the custody of the National Guard. Shortly afterwards, a private car³²³ entered the Embassy parking lot and the National Guard handed the students over to some men in civilian clothing who put them in the car boot and drove off. That was the last that was seen of the students.

The same afternoon, a relative of Francisco Ventura went looking for him. Near the cathedral, a number of people told him that they had heard that Francisco Ventura and José Humberto Mejía had been arrested in front of the United States Embassy by guards. The next day, he received confirmation of this information when he went to the Asociación General de Estudiantes Universitarios Salvadoreños (AGEUS).

At the request of AGEUS, Mr. Santiago Orellana Amador and Mr. Florentín Menéndez were appointed to file writs of habeas corpus for the two students. According to their judicial statements, they spoke to Mr. Vytantos A. Dambrava, Director of the International Communications Agency of the United States Embassy, and to the Embassy's chief of security. Both Embassy officials said that they had known about the students' arrest and that the United States Marines had not been involved. They also said that the members of the National Guard who had been guarding the Embassy had brought the students into the courtyard to search them, and had kept them there. They added that, shortly afterwards, the two young men had been taken out of the Embassy. Mr. Dambrava said that they had been taken away by members of the National Guard,³²⁴ while the chief of security said that men in olive drab trousers and ordinary shirts had driven off with them in a private vehicle.

Mr. Orellana and Mr. Meléndez later interviewed Colonel Eugenio Vides Casanova, then Commander of the National Guard, who denied the statements by the Embassy officials. The lawyers then requested the Supreme Court to rule on the conflicting information given by the Embassy and the National Guard Command.³²⁵

At the same time, the Chief State Counsel, Mario Zamora, filed a complaint with the Second Criminal Court. Testimony was heard from relatives of the disappeared students. The judge also requested information from the United States Embassy and the National Guard, but did not receive a reply.

On 22 February 1980, the Supreme Court authorized the judge of the Second Criminal Court to initiate an investigation into the whereabouts of the disappeared students. That same night, Mario Zamora was murdered.³²⁶ After that, no further investigations were carried out.

However, the lawyers pursued their investigation, visiting National Guard barracks,³²⁷ while the students' relatives searched everywhere, even among the bodies that were turning up on the outskirts of San Salvador. Neither the young men nor their bodies were found.

Three months later, the death squad known as the "Ejército Secreto Anti-Comunista" published a list of names which included people who had already been murdered or disappeared, such as Monsignor Romero, Father Rutilio Grande and Chief State Counsel Mario Zamora. The names of Francisco Arnulfo Ventura and José Humberto Mejía were on the list. At the end of the list was an exhortation which read, "... help us get rid of all these traitors and criminal communists. The country will thank you for it."³²⁸

1. There is full evidence that members of the National Guard arrested Francisco Arnulfo Ventura and José Humberto Mejía, detained them in the parking lot of the United States Embassy and handed them over to men in civilian clothing who drove off with them in a private car.

2. While in the custody of these men who drove into the Embassy parking lot and to whom they were handed over by the guards who arrested them, Ventura and Mejía disappeared. There is no evidence that they are still alive.

3. There is substantial evidence that by failing to act quickly to investigate the incident and identify precisely who was responsible, then Colonel Eugenio Vides Casanova was guilty, at least of complicity through negligence and of obstructing the resulting judicial investigation.

The State failed in its duty to investigate, bring to trial and punish the guilty parties, compensate victims' relatives and inform them of the whereabouts of the disappeared persons. The State must comply with its obligations.

Miguel Angel Rivas Hernández, aged 17, disappeared on Saturday, 29 November 1986, near the Ilopango air force base in San Salvador. Witnesses attributed his arrest to members of the air force, to whom his family went to demand his return; at the base however, they were told that he was not being detained. Despite this official denial, the family received confirmation that the young man was at the base. Accordingly, they reported his disappearance to human rights organizations.

In January 1987 the young man was allegedly transferred to the National Guard central barracks in San Salvador. In March 1988, the victim's father maintains that he saw him from a distance at the National Guard barracks.

1. Miguel Angel Rivas Hernández was arrested on 29 November 1986 by members of the Salvadorian air force.

2. He was transferred from the air force base to the National Guard central barracks, where he disappeared, there being no evidence that he is still alive.

3. The Salvadorian air force and the National Guard covered up his arrest and detention.

4. The Commission for the Investigation of Criminal Acts (CIHD) did not cooperate properly with the Commission. It transmitted incomplete information concerning its investigation of the case.

Miguel Angel Rivas Hernández was arrested by members of the air force and subsequently transferred to the National Guard central barracks; not only did he disappear while in the custody of the National Guard, but there is no evidence that he is still alive. Air force and National Guard personnel covered up his detention. The State cannot evade its duty to investigate the case thoroughly.

Miguel Angel Rivas Hernández, son of Guillermo Rivas Compas, a bus driver, and Rosa Elba Rivas, a housewife, lived in the Ilopango district adjacent to the Salvadorian air force base in San Salvador. He was not known in the community to be involved in political activities.

When he was 17, Miguel Angel got a job as attendant at the Texaco service station located on the Pan American Highway, just beyond the limits of air force base property. He walked to and from work every day.

It was common to see motorized patrols circulating at various times, as well as members of the Salvadorian air force on foot. Residents of the area usually knew airmen who worked at the base.

On Saturday, 29 November 1986, Miguel Angel's boss at the Texaco service station gave him permission to leave at approximately 7.30 p.m. As usual, he headed straight for home.

Miguel Angel's parents were expecting him at around 8 p.m. The young man did not arrive home. Worried, they inquired at the filling station, where they were assured that he had left shortly before 7.30 p.m.

His mother managed to find out that individuals in civilian clothing, driving a red pick-up truck with no doors on the cab, had detained a boy wearing white trousers and a black shirt. The description fitted Miguel Angel. His captors, from the description given, appeared to be members of the "7.30 p.m. air force patrol".

Very early the next day, Miguel Angel's parents went to the air force base to inquire about him, but were told that he was not being detained. They then went to various police and military departments, but these also denied that they were holding him.

A neighbour told Miguel Angel's mother that a young man had witnessed the arrest and had recognized an airman from the base as one of the captors. The airman was nicknamed "El Mango".

An air force member, nicknamed "El Chino", also confirmed to a friend of Miguel Angel that he was being held at the Ilopango air force base. This friend told Miguel Angel's mother. At the base, however, they still officially denied his detention.

In view of these continuing denials, the family decided, in December 1986, to report Miguel Angel's disappearance to several human rights bodies: the Human Rights Commission of El Salvador (governmental), the Archdiocesan Legal Protection Office, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Amnesty International and Americas Watch. Americas Watch brought the case to the attention of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).³²⁹

In January 1987, the family was informed of Miguel Angel's transfer to the National Guard barracks in San Salvador.³³⁰ However, when they went there, his detention was again denied.

The transfer of Miguel Angel Rivas Hernández from the air force to the National Guard was apparently recorded in the Guard's books in January 1987. ³³¹

In February 1987, the case was presented to the United States Embassy in El Salvador. Some members of the United States Congress wrote letters to their own Embassy in El Salvador³³² and to the then President of El Salvador, José Napoleón Duarte,³³³ expressing concern at Miguel Angel's disappearance. In March, an Amnesty International mission visited the National Guard barracks, but did not find the young man there.

CIHD took charge of the investigation of the case in April 1987.³³⁴ Detective Sergeant Roberto Palacios Iraheta was assigned to the investigation.³³⁵

Sergeant Palacios found out from an informant that a National Guard lieutenant had called a meeting of five Guard members and had ordered them to hide the books containing the records of the interrogations to which Rivas Hernández³³⁶ had been subjected and the place where he was being held: National Guard cell (bartolina) No. 4, S-II.

On receiving this information, Lieutenant Colonel Nelson Iván López y López, Chief of the CIHD Executive Unit, decided to intervene directly in the case and went to the National Guard barracks, but did not find the young man.³³⁷

In a report dated 26 May, Lieutenant Colonel López noted that "... the investigations concerning Mr. Rivas Hernández are running into complications which require decisions at another level and which will shortly be reported ... (to the Head of CIHD)".³³⁸

On 2 June 1987, in another report, Lieutenant Colonel López "... described, in general terms, the difficulties encountered in the case of the disappearance of Mr. Rivas Hernández".³³⁹

Meanwhile, the family received regular information from its own source concerning Miguel Angel's state of health and place of detention. (The family's source was the same as that of CIHD.)

The family also transmitted regularly to this source various sums of money, which were carefully recorded by the victim's mother, during the period from June 1987 to February 1989. The informant reported seeing the detained youth in person and also gave an account of various transfers, both to official National Guard locations and to private houses; on several occasions, ICRC visited the official locations, without finding the young man.

On 23 March 1988, IACHR adopted resolution No. 21/88 in which it assumed that the facts of the complaint on the disappearance were true, advised the Government of El Salvador that the case involved extremely grave violations of human rights and recommended that it investigate and punish those responsible.

A few days later, nearly 16 months after the disappearance, the young man's father, Guillermo Rivas Campos, claims he caught sight of Miguel Angel for a few moments at the National Guard Command in San Pablo Tacachico.

The United States Embassy, through one of its officials, constantly supported the family in the search for the young man. Colonel Rivas Rivas of CIHD interviewed a colonel and a lieutenant of the National Guard, without success.

Following the FMLN offensive in 1989, the father of Miguel Angel Rivas Hernández was detained on charges of being linked to the guerrilla movement. His release was obtained with the help of the United States Embassy.

1. There is substantial evidence that Miguel Angel Rivas Hernández was arrested by members of the Salvadorian air force.

2. There is substantial evidence that he was transferred to the National Guard.

3. There is substantial evidence that, while in the custody of the National Guard, the young man disappeared; there is no evidence that he is still alive.

4. There is substantial evidence that the air force subsequently covered up his arrest and detention and that the National Guard covered up his detention.

5. The State failed in its responsibility under international human rights law to investigate the case and to bring to trial and punish those responsible.

Posted by USIP Library on: January 26, 2001
Source: UN Security Council, Annex, From Madness to Hope: the 12-year war in El Salvador: Report of the Commission on the Truth for El Salvador, S/25500, 1993, 101-107.