Case of Six Murdered Jesuit Priests Re-examined!

I have been reading multiple reports on this story from all over the Internet. Sources focused on human rights, international law and justice, faith based groups, groups with a focus on Latin American history and just plain folks who report, blog and post about world news generally have all been writing about this piece of news!

Charges have been filed by two Human Rights Organizations in Spain against former Salvadoran president Alfredo Cristiani and 14 members of the army in connection with the 1989 slaughter of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her teenage daughter.

According to an article at the Global News Blog:

The Spanish Association for Human Rights (APDHE) and the San Francisco-based Centre for Justice and Accountability (CJA) filed a criminal case in the Spanish high court against former president Cristiani (1989-1994), accusing him of protecting the murderers and obstructing the subsequent investigation, and against 14 officers and soldiers of the Salvadoran army for their direct involvement in the massacre and in covering up the crime.

Read the whole story here. More information can be found on blogs and news sources all over the web if you do a quick search.

I find this to be amazing news because when we visited the sight of the murders at University of Central America last August, our tour guide was hesitant to identify those responsible even to us, a group of church folk from the US. The answer we received to the question of "who was responsible for this atrocity, the Government or some rogue members of the Army?" was a rather short and vague, "the person responsible was the only one who could have given such an order". We were all immediately struck by the fear in this answer. She obviously felt unable to tell us, even after 19 years, her thoughts on the perpetrator(s).

May the hearing of this case bring justice in this case and more importantly, may it help eliminate more fear from this country.

More links about this story:
New York Times
Irish Times
LA Times

Initiative by Women in El Salvador

I just came across this great web page that sells cards made by a community of women in El Salvador that have been working successfully toward recovery since 2001. Here is a small section from their story as it appears on the website Hope for Women.

In 2001, massive mud slides and a devastating earthquake left many families in the highlands of El Salvador homeless and jobless. With their fields destroyed, many people began traveling long hours to low-paying factory jobs in the capital. A group of enterprising women, however, formed Arte Comasagua, an artisans’ organization that handcrafts stylish designs from native flowers and plants. These women now work locally, caring for their families and saving for their future.

Take a moment to visit this website to see some of the beautiful work these women create. If you like it, you can purchase from them right from the site.

We have no financial interest or gain from this organization or any sales that are generated. We just wanted to share another example of people helping themselves up and give you the opportunity to see some beautiful crafts.