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News > El Salvador

Salvadoran President: 'Digging up in the Past Is Not Worth It'

  • A sign that reads,

    A sign that reads, "No more impunity" hangs at the entrance of El Salvador's Armed Forces headquarters, San Salvador, Oct. 12, 2020. | Photo: Twitter/ @Jbeltranluna_ Oficial

Published 16 October 2020
Opinion

Nayib Bukele is defying a Supreme Court's decision by not allowing a judge access to El Mozote massacre documents.

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele Thursday said he will not allow a judge to review military files related to 'El Mozote' massacre in which where nearly 1,000 people were killed in 1981.

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El Salvador's Govt. Refuses to Give Data on El Mozote Massacre

With this announcement, Bukele is defying a Supreme Court's decision, which declared inadmissible a Defense Ministry's appeal that sought to stop inspections of military archives.

"Digging into the documents related to El Mozote massacre is not worth it. If they had been sensitive or important, I would have had them destroyed," Bukele said without clarifying why he has not handed them over to the Court and the Prosecutor's Office.

San Francisco Gotera city's Judge Jorge Guzman has attempted to access military archives related to the civil war (1980-1992) on four occasions, but the Armed Forces have rejected his request.

"The judge's attempts are a show and a farce. If he hasn't been allowed to access to the files, it's because the Armed Forces' military bases are not holding the documents related to the massacre," Bukele said.

On Sept. 24, the president announced that he had declassified a series of military files related to the massacre perpetrated by the Atlacatl Battalion, which was trained by Washington to overthrow communism in the country.

"I determine that the 'El Mozote' archives are not secret and therefore must be released," Bukele assured then.

The lawyer of the massacre's victims condemned the government's attitude as he assured that "Bukele is lying. Either the documents were destroyed illegally, or he is complicit in the Armed Forces' conspiracy of concealment."

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