Why Are Human Rights Defenders Still Under Attack in El Salvador?
Why Are Human Rights Defenders Still Under Attack in El Salvador?
By Larry Ladutke
November 20, 2013 at 8:00 AM
The recent attack on the human rights defenders (HRDs) of Pro-Búsqueda brings back painful memories of wartime abuses in El Salvador.
November 16 marked the 24th anniversary of the murder of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her teenage daughter at the Central American University (UCA) in 1989. This brutal attack shocked the world, creating pressure for the Salvadoran government to finally negotiate an end to the war.
Just two days before this anniversary, however, Salvadorans were given a horrible reminder of the type of wartime atrocities that they had hoped were behind them.
At 4:30 a.m. on November 14, armed gunmen forced their way into the offices of Pro-Búsqueda, an organization that seeks to reunite Salvadorans who were abducted by the military when they were children with their biological families. Pro-Búsqueda also seeks justice for those who were disappeared by legally challenging the 1992 and 1993 amnesty laws that protect wartime human rights violators. After threatening and physically abusing the staff members in the office, the assailants proceeded to steal valuable evidence contained on hard drives and laptops. They then set fire to physical files in the archives.
More:
http://blog.amnestyusa.org/americas/why-are-human-rights-defenders-still-under-attack-in-el-salvador/
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