Authors of the Jesuit Massacre Not To Be Tried in El Salvador

El Salvador’s Supreme Court of Justice ordered the closure of the criminal proceedings for the massacre of six Jesuit fathers and two women during the civil war (1980-1992).

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At dawn on November 16, 1989, elite soldiers entered the Central American University (UCA) and assassinated Spanish priests Ignacio Ellacuria, Segundo Montes, Ignacio Martin-Baro, Amando Lopez, and Juan Ramon Moreno.

Along with them, the Salvadoran priest Joaquin Lopez, the domestic worker Julia Elba and her daughter Celina Ramos also died.

After the annulment of the Amnesty law in 2017, a peace court ordered the reopening of the judicial process against the authors of the UCA massacre.

Among the accused are ex-President Alfredo Cristiani, Colonel Inocente Montano, and Generals Humberto Larios, Juan Bustillo, Francisco Fuentes, and Rafael Zepeda.

"The Criminal Chamber reversed the decision of the Justice of the Peace," said Spanish Arnau Baulenas, who is the lawyer for the Institute of Human Rights (IDHUCA).

He also explained that the Supreme Court also ordered that the massacre's masterminds not be investigated," which disrespects what was resolved by the Constitutional Chamber.

"This implies the total closure of the case," Baulenas explained and added that his team will analyze what legal actions could be taken to avoid impunity.

The recent 133-year sentence against former Security Vice Minister Inocente Montano in Spain reignited discussions in El Salvador about the urgency of reactivating the local judicial process. The Supreme Court decision, however, totally changed the landscape.