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Notes (con't)
321 The Commission on the Truth interviewed eyewitnesses and a number of officials who had been working at the United States Embassy at the time. It also reviewed the dossier of the criminal proceedings and inspected the scene of the arrest and disappearance of the students. In order to protect confidential sources, such sources are not quoted in this report.
322
323 All the testimony indicates that at least one car entered the Embassy courtyard. There are indications that more than one car entered.
324 Judicial statements by Mr. Florentín Meléndez, dossier, f. 39, and Mr. Santiago Orellana Amador, ff. 41-42.
325 Dossier, ff. 50, 52.
326 See the report on the case in this chapter.
327 On 31 January, the National Guard central barracks was searched, but the disappeared students were not found. F. 43. Cells at the central barracks of the Treasury Police, the Municipal Police and the National Police were searched without success. Ff. 39-40. Both the Chief of the National Police and the Director-General of the Treasury Police denied having detained the students. Ff. 52, 55.
328 Declaration by the "Ejército Secreto Anti-Communista", 11 May 1980.
329 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Case No. 9844, El Salvador.
330 Ibid., Letter from Jemera Rone (Americas Watch) to the Commission on the Truth, dated 26 August 1992.
331 Statement made by Cruz Antonio López Hernández to the Human Rights Commission of El Salvador (governmental) on 1 April 1987.
332 Letter dated 23 February 1987 to Edwin Corr, United States Ambassador to El Salvador, from Congressman James L. Obestar et al.
333 Letter dated 26 February 1987 to José Napoleon Duarte, President of El Salvador, from Congressman James L. Obestar et al.
334 Regular meeting of CIHD, 1987, record No. 12, p. 22. According to the summary, the investigation was made "at the request of the Human Rights Commission (governmental)"; however, the Head of CIHD at the time, Mr. Julio Alfredo Samayoa, says that it was made at the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
335 CIHD has informed us that he submitted his resignation approximately six months ago and has probably left the country.
336 "Summary of the investigations conducted during the period from 15 May 1987 to 30 May 1987". CIHD, 30 May 1987, pp. 2-3.
337 Ibid., p. 3.
338 Regular meeting of CIHD, 1987, record No. 16, p. 26. That same day, CIHD administered a lie detector test to its source. The result was favourable. "Summary of the investigations conducted during the period from 15 May 1987 to 30 May 1987", CIHD, 30 May 1987, pp. 3-4. CIHD then planned to summons and take statements from the members of the air force and the National Guard implicated in the arrest and transfer and referred to in the reports identifying Rivas Hernández. "Work plan", CIHD, 30 May 1987, pp. 1-2.
339 Regular meeting of CIHD, 1987, record No. 17, p. 27. There is no new report on the case until 11 August 1987. Ibid., 1987, record No. 27, p. 40. Thereafter, there are no further reports in 1987. The records of CIHD meetings for 1988 were not transmitted to the Commission on the Truth.
340 The Commission interviewed many witnesses, civilian and military, and vetted public documents on the case.
341 Copy of the Paratroop Battalion log of incoming and outgoing vehicles, provided to the Commission on the Truth on 5 December 1992.
342 The Commission on the Truth had access to official documents confirming that Colonel Rodríguez was on duty on 18 and 19 August 1989.
343 Copy of the Paratroop Battalion log of incoming and outgoing vehicles. Information available to the Commission on the Truth shows that it was common practice, in cases of disappearance, not to keep official records of arrests.
344 El Mundo, 21 August 1989, 4 September 1989 and 6 September 1989.
345 On 5 September 1989, through the Archdiocesan Legal Protection Office, a sister of Juan Francisco filed a writ of habeas corpus with the Supreme Court of Justice. Sara Cristina's mother also requested a remedy of habeas corpus for her daughter, but the Court never dealt with the case.
346 Letter dated 23 August 1989 from the Director-General of the Treasury Police to the Archdiocesan Legal Protection Office, contained in the Massi Chávez case file, Archdiocesan Legal Protection Office.
347 Case No. 1906, Human Rights Commission of El Salvador.
348 To date, the armed forces have not transmitted the information requested from the Treasury Police.
349 National Police report transmitted to the Commission on the Truth, 23 December 1992.
350 Report of the former National Guard transmitted to the Commission on the Truth on 20 January 1993.
351 The convent was - in the words of the experts - a "primary synchronous common grave". Patricia Bernardi, Mercedes Doretti and Luis Fondebrider, Archaeological Report, p. 15.
352 Archaeological Report, p. 18.
353 When the exhumed bone remains were analysed, the expert anthropologists were able to identify 117 anatomically articulated skeletons, as indicated in their report. After the laboratory analysis was done, it was possible to identify at least 143 skeletons. See Clyde Snow, John Fitzpatrick, Robert H. Kirschner and Douglas Scott, Report of Forensic Investigation.
354 Report of Forensic Investigation, p. 1.
355 The basis for this assertion is "the simultaneous presence of both deciduous and permanent teeth" and "the fact that their primary and/or secondary centres of ossification had not fused" (Archaeological Report, pp. 17-18; cf. ibid., p. 8).
356 Ibid., p. 18.
357 Report of Forensic Investigation, p. 1.
358 "... The remains of a foetus were wedged in the pelvic region, with the head between the two coxal bones and on the sacrum" (Archaeological Report, p. 8). As indicated in the laboratory report, it was determined that the mother "was in the third trimester of pregnancy" (Report of Forensic Investigation, p. 1).
359 Archaeological Report, p. 16.
360 Ibid., p. 16.
361 Ibid., p. 11.
362 Ibid., p. 11. The report went on to say: "We are referring to grid squares B2, B3, C3 and the south-west corner of C2, where 82 bodies - almost 70 per cent of the skeletons - and 18 of the 24 concentrations of bone remains - almost 80 per cent - were found. In these grid squares, 159 bullet fragments were found: 102 fragments in B3; 13 fragments in B2; 30 fragments in C3; and 14 fragments in C2. In these grid squares, all these bullet fragments were in direct contact with bone remains. In other words, 159 bullet fragments had struck a large proportion of the 82 skeletons and 18 concentrations discovered in this zone."
363 Ibid., p. 17.
364 Ibid., p. 16. The report supported this assertion as follows:
"(1) Observation of peri-mortem lesions, together with bullet fragments and holes in the floor underneath such fragments. This observation applies to skeletons 2, 5, 9, 10, 26, 57, 92, 110 and 113, located in grid squares C1, C2, C1, D2, B4, C3, B2, B3-C3 and B3 respectively ...;
"(2) The only way such shots could have produced holes in the floor is by shooting downwards, either straight down or diagonally;
"(3) In the case of skeletons 2, 10, 92, 110 and 57, the bullets which made the holes in the floor were found in the area of the skull; in the case of skeleton 26, in the cervical vertebrae (very close to the skull)".
365 Report of Forensic Investigation, p. 2.
366 Report of Forensic Investigation, p. 3.
367 "24 separate weapons were identified, consistent with at least 24 individual shooters" (Report of Forensic Investigation, p. 3).
368 Ibid., p. 3. The experts who exhumed the bone remains reached the same conclusion. Cf. Archaeological Report, p. 17.
369 Archaeological Report, p. 17.
370 Archaeological Report, p. 18.
371 Report of Forensic Investigation, p. 1.
372 They also stated that all their conclusions "are stated with a reasonable degree of medical and scientific certainty" and that they were willing to testify in a court of law regarding these conclusions. See Report of Forensic Investigation, p. 3.
373 The Washington Post, 29 April 1981.
374 United Church Observer, October 1980, p. 40. Report on Human Rights in El Salvador, compiled by Americas Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union, 26 January 1982.
375 Statement by the Government and armed forces of Honduras, 24 June 1980.
376 Judicial Case No. 218-92, folio 4. Chalatenango Court of First Instance, 26 October 1992.
377 To investigate the case, the Commission on the Truth reviewed the previous investigations and the court dossier, as well as documents from various other sources, and interviewed many confidential witnesses. For their protection, these sources are not quoted in this report.
378 The mass, at 6 p.m., was in memory of the mother of a friend of his, Jorge Pinto, Jr., owner of the opposition newspaper El Independiente. Announcements of the mass had been published in two newspapers, La Prensa Gráfica and El Diario de Hoy, on Monday, 24 March 1980. Court dossier, ff. 42-43.
379 Monsignor Romero lived in a small house on the grounds of the Hospital de la Divina Providencia.
380 El Diario de Hoy, San Salvador, 11 February 1980, p. 53. Signed article.
381 El Diario de Hoy, San Salvador, 23 February 1980, p. 34. Signed article.
382 Sermon delivered on 17 February 1980.
383 He and several colleagues met in late February 1980 with Héctor Dada, one of the new members of the second Junta. Dada mentioned the death on 23 February of one of the leaders of the Christian Democratic party, Mario Zamora (see report in this chapter on the assassination of Zamora). He also mentioned that he was aware of death threats against himself and the Archbishop, among others. Interview with priest Rafael Urrutia.
Monsignor Romero said that he took the threat seriously, and even said privately that "... I have never been so afraid, not even in the time of General Romero ...". Interview with Roberto Cuéllar.
Interview with Héctor Dada.
Monsignor Romero received warning of equally serious death threats from the Papal Nuncio in Costa Rica, Monsignor Lajos Kada. Diary of Monsignor Romero.
Subsequently, on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 March, the nuns working in the Hospital de la Divina Providencia, where the Archbishop lived, received anonymous telephone calls threatening his life.
384 Interview with Roberto Cuéllar.
Interview with priest Rafael Urrutia.
In the first week of March, Monsignor Romero met with the United States Ambassador to El Salvador, Robert White, whom he told of the threats on his life. Although the Archbishop did not give any specifics, he was keenly aware of the imminent danger and even confided to Ambassador White that: "My only hope is that when they kill me they don't kill many of us". Interview with Robert White.
385 See report in this chapter.
386 Statement made to the Commission for the Investigation of Criminal Acts by priest Fabián Conrado Amaya Torres. Court dossier on the investigation of the death of Monsignor Oscar Arnulfo Romero, case No. 134/80, Fourth Criminal Court, ff. 592 et seq.
387 Police investigation conducted on 10 March 1980, transmitted to the courts on 14 March 1986. The bomb was made of 72 sticks of commercial dynamite which could be activated either by a timing device or by radio and were sufficient to kill several of those officiating at the altar and those sitting in the front pews. "(...) Moreover, it is a device which has never been planted by subversives who have always been active in our country, unless it is true that they have new experts, for two Japanese are known to have arrived (...). There is no supply in the country of electric detonators of the type used". Court dossier, ff. 494 et seq.
Neither the authorities of the Catholic Church nor the Archdiocesan Legal Aid Office received any official communication on the results of police action and all indications are that there were no further investigations. Interview with Roberto Cuéllar. Interview with Monsignor Ricardo Urioste.
388 Sermon of 23 March 1980.
389 Court dossier, f. 4.
390 Interview with Judge Atilio Ramírez Amaya.
391 The dossier does not contain the record of this inquiry, or the X-rays. Ibid.
392 Ibid.
393 Majors Roberto D'Aubuisson, Jorge Adalberto Cruz Reyes, Roberto Mauricio Staben; Captains Alvaro Rafael Saravia, José Alfredo Jiménez, Víctor Hugo Vega Valencia, Eduardo Ernesto Alfonso Avila; Lieutenants Federico Chacón, Miguel Francisco Bennet Escobar, Rodolfo Isidro López Sibrián, Carlos Hernán Morales Estupinián, Jaime René Alvarado y Alvarado; Antonio Cornejo Jr., Ricardo Valdivieso, Roberto Muyshondt, Fernando Sagrera, Amado Antonio Garay, Nelson Enrique Morales, Andrés Antonio Córdova López, Herbert Romeo Escobar, Fredy Salomón Chávez Guevara, Marco Antonio Quintanilla, José Joaquín Larios and Julián García Jiménez. Order of 12 May 1980 issued by Major José Francisco Samayoa, Acting Commander of CITFA, placing the detainees at the disposal of the Military Examining Judge.
394 cf. Chronology.
395 Order of 12 May 1980 issued by Major José Francisco Samayoa, Acting Commander of CITFA, placing the detainees at the disposal of the Military Examining Judge. Exhibit No. 10 (contents not recorded).
396 Ibid. Exhibit No. 7.
397 The diary contains notes on "223 ammunition", a type of .22 calibre bullet and "2 Bushmasters" and "5 AR-15s", both of these being types of rifles that fire .22 and .223 calibre bullets.
398 For example, "Amado" refers to Amado Garay; "Avila", "el pelón Avila", "Eduardo Av." and "Eduardo A." refer to Captain Eduardo Avila; "Negro", "Nando Sagrera" and "Nando S." refer to Fernando Sagrera; and "Saravia" refers to Captain Alvaro Rafael Saravia himself. For the involvement of all of these persons, see below.
399 "General Framework for the Organization of the Anti-Marxist Struggle in El Salvador", document seized at the San Luis estate on 7 May 1980. Arrest warrant of 12 May 1980 placing the detainees at the disposal of the Military Examining Judge, exhibit No. 4.
400 Mr. Rey Prendes, a leader of the Christian Democratic party, made a statement to the press a few days after the video was shown; he denounced the simulation of "Commander Pedro Lobo" and revealed the criminal's true identity and background. Court dossier, ff. 152 et seq.
401 In August 1985, the Office of the Attorney General presented the statement of Roberto Adalberto Salazar Collier, "Pedro Lobo", to the Fourth Criminal Court. On that occasion, he made the same allegations but did not mention D'Aubuisson's name. One of the alleged conspirators presented a written statement in February 1986 denying the allegations against him. Court dossier ff. 152 et seq. and f. 241. Judge Zamora's official requests to television stations to supply him with a copy of the video with Salazar Collier's statements were denied. The Attorney General's Office insisted that the stations reveal who had delivered and picked up the video, but the judge declared that there were no grounds for such a request. Court dossier, ff. 189, 200, 210, 212.
402 Major D'Aubuisson cited a book entitled La conspiración del silencio by Manuel de Armas, which claimed that Cuban agents carried out the murder. La Prensa Gráfica, "Hace revelaciones mayor D'Aubuisson" (The revelations of Major D'Aubuisson), Friday, 6 September 1985, p. 2. El Diario de Hoy, Friday, 6 September 1985, p. 3.
403 The armed forces appeared officially before the Commission on the Truth in October 1992 and alleged that FMLN had been responsible for the Archbishop's assassination without offering any evidence to back that assertion.
404 Court dossier, f. 389.
405 Statement by Amado Antonio Garay to CIHD on 19 November 1987. Court dossier, f. 274.
406 Ibid.
407 Ibid., f. 270.
408 Ibid.
409 Ibid., ff. 269 and 285.
410 Court dossier, f. 289.
411 Court dossier, f. 299.
412 Public letter of Mr. Héctor Antonio Regalado dated 13 March 1989.
413 He later became Chief of Security of the Legislative Assembly when D'Aubuisson was President of the Assembly.
414 When he appeared before the Commission, Mr. Sagrera denied all involvement.
415 Of these 817 cases, 644 (79 per cent) were extrajudicial executions.
416 Left-wing actions that fell into the same category as violence perpetrated by the death squads are dealt with in the section of this report on abuses committed by the guerrillas.
417 For details of how the death squads operated, see the account in this report of the assassinations of Monsignor Oscar Arnulfo Romero and Mario Zamora and the Sheraton case.
418 The Organización Democrática Nacionalista, founded in 1963 by General José Alberto Medrano. Its network was national in scope, with representatives in each municipality, canton and community, and it had from 50,000 to 100,000 members. Members of ORDEN cooperated closely with security forces. One of their main tasks was to "detect" and report to the authorities the presence and activities of "subversives". They also took part in direct operations designed to intimidate those perceived to be enemies.
419 See Chronology.
420 After the 1979 coup, about 80 armed forces and security forces officers were retired. Interview with Héctor Dada.
421 "General framework for the Organization of the Anti-Marxist Struggle in El Salvador", document confiscated at the San Luis estate on 7 May 1980, order of 12 May 1980 placing the detainees at the disposal of the Military Examining Judge, exhibit No. 4.
D'Aubuisson received military training in Taiwan.
422 Ibid.
423 Ibid.
424 For those involved in the D'Aubuisson group, see the Archbishop Romero assassination case.
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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, 232-239.
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