El Salvador’s prosecutor’s office on Monday confirmed that the former president Alfredo Cristiani (1989–1994) authorized the murder of six Jesuit priests. and two women committed by the military in 1989.
According to the public ministry, which charged seven more people, the former president participated in the meeting at which the military operation was agreed and given, according to several witnesses.
The crimes they are accused of murder, acts of terrorism, conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism, procedural fraud and personal cover-up, as former MP Rodolfo Parker tried to cover up those responsible when he acted as a lawyer.
Other defendants soldiers in high command at the time of the massacreidentified as Juan Rafael Bustillo, Juan Orlando Cepeda, Rafael Humerto Larios, Inocente Orlando Montano, Carlos Camilo Hernandez and Nelson Ivan Lopez, reports La Prensa Gráfica.
The massacre took place on the UCA campus in San Salvador, the country’s capital. Among the victims are liberation theology ideologist Ignacio Ellacuria, Spaniard, the then rector of UCA, with whom Cristiani spoke on the phone several times prior to the massacre, according to the investigation.
The image shows the Jesuit Ignacio Ellacuria. Photo: Reuters file
The Spaniards Ignacio Martín Baro (Provost), Segundo Montes, Amando López and Juan Ramón Moreno also died, in addition to the Salvadorans.s Joaquin Lopez, Elba Ramos and their daughter Selina. All of them were killed in the midst of a guerrilla attack on San Salvador by soldiers of the Atlacatl Battalion of the Salvadoran army.
In September 1991 the court nine soldiers who were listed as the authors of the materials without taking into account the masterminds, according to humanitarian organizations.
Colonel William Alfredo Benavidez he was found guilty of all the murders, and Lieutenant Jussi René Mendoza was convicted of the death of the underage Selina.
The case was reopened in January 2022 for a trial of the alleged masterminds. The civil war ended on January 16, 1992 with the signing of peace agreements between the government and the guerrillas of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front. More than 75,000 people died, 7,000 went missing, and the economy suffered millions of losses as a result of the conflict.
The case also went through trial in Spain, and in September 2020, the National Court sentenced the colonel to 133 years in prison. Innocent Orlando Montano Morales.
(Europe Press)
Source: Aristegui Noticias
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