24 de April de 2012 Press Release

Survivors of the El Mozote Massacre demand justice from El Salvador in a hearing before the Inter-American Court

Guayaquil, Ecuador and Washington D.C- April 24, 2012. “Let there be justice”: the primary demand made of the Salvadoran State by Dorina Márquez, one of the three surviving victims of the massacre in El Mozote and surrounding areas. Márquez and the other two survivors gave testimony today in a public hearing before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The victims were represented by the Archdiocese’s Human Rights office in El Salvador (Tutela Legal) and the Centre for Justice and International Law (CEJIL).

 

At present, the events and all those responsible remain unpunished. The incidents date back to the 10^th, 11^th, 12^th and 13^th of December 1981, when close to 1000 inhabitants of El Mozote, La Joya, Ranchería, Toriles, Cerro Pando, Jocote Amarillo and other towns in the municipality of Meanguera (Department of Morazán) were murdered by Battalion Atlacatl and other units of the Salvadoran military. The incidents occurred within the context of El Salvador´s internal armed conflict (1980-1992). Entire communities were destroyed and whole populations, including children, were murdered. Hundreds of the victims who survived were forced to flee the area.

 

For several decades, the State has denied the occurrence of the massacre. Furthermore, as María del Rosario López Sánchez recounted before the Court, many of the victims were too afraid to report the crimes. López Sánchez, former resident of La Joya, lost 22 relatives in the massacre and was forced to flee to the nearby hills, where she lived in hiding for six years out of fear.

 

Sol Yáñez, expert social psychologist from the Universidad del País Vasco, Spain, asserted that 30 years on from the atrocity, the trauma suffered by the survivors is deeply rooted. She attributes this not only to the crimes themselves, but to the atrocious way in which they were committed, as well as the blame ascribed to the victims and the continuing lack of justice. Yáñez urged for a programme attending the psychological needs of the victims to be implemented as part of a comprehensive policy of reparations, which should include specific measures to promote the reconstruction of El Salvador´s social fabric. Yáñez insisted that “Much of the [current] violence in El Salvador can be related to unresolved issues [of the past].”

 

Salvador Méndez Leal, Deputy Attorney to the General Attorney for the Defence of Human Rights in El Salvador, gave evidence as an expert witness. His focus fell on the General Amnesty Law which came into force in 1993, which he maintains is the principle legal instrument responsible for the perpetuation of impunity.

 

Despite President Funes´s public acceptance of the responsibility of El Salvador for the crimes in January 2012, Tutela Legal and CEJIL emphasised the importance of adapting internal legislation to fit the parameters of international law, and specifically to meet the principles of the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights. It was further stressed that this legislation must then be used to investigate, process and punish those responsible for the massacre and for the multiple human rights violations suffered throughout the armed conflict.

 

 

Contact in Washington D.C

Milli Legrain

+1-202 319 3000 ext 15

[email protected]