This post is from Tim's El Salvador Blog which has information and links to current events and history. He does have a perspective that I don't always agree with but he has done very good work around the issues in and about El Salvador.
I do think he has been harsh towards Sanchez Ceren and the FMLN in general for some things and I'm sure he realizes the Fumes candidacy was a compromise of different groupings and I for one support the turn to the left within it but just wish it would involve and listen to the grassroots more and other tendencies within the FMLN. Also as a long time supporter and solidarity organizer, who helped found CISPES in Madison,Wi. back in the day( before some sectarian strife) and with members of the Iranian students against the Shah(two leftists parties), a Turkish woman organizer and leftist, a student from MECHA and myself organized the first large demo in solidarity with the FMLN of over 5000 people in a snowstorm,*I think the repeal of the amnesty law is necessary and important.* Cort http://luterano.blogspot.com/2013/01/sanchez-ceren-would-seek-repeal-of.html Wednesday, January 16, 2013 Sánchez Cerén would seek repeal of amnesty law<http://luterano.blogspot.com/2013/01/sanchez-ceren-would-seek-repeal-of.html> Salvador Sánchez Cerén, the FMLN's candidate for president of El Salvador in 2014 is stating that he will seek repeal of the 1993 amnesty law which has, so far, protected war criminals from the country's bloody civil war. Sánchez Cerén is the current vice president, and an ex-guerrilla commander from the time of the civil war. In remarks published in the online periodical ContraPunto<http://www.contrapunto.com.sv/politica/sanchez-ceren-promoveria-derogacion-ley-de-amnistia>, the left wing candidate stated that, if elected, he would act to repeal the law which has prevented the prosecution of those who committed crimes and atrocities during the 70's and 80's. The vice president stated: "I think the population should assume it is necessary to repeal the amnesty law for there to be justice. ... It is necessary because our population is divided. The wounds are open and doing this act of justice in order to end impunity would give new boost to democracy." This position of Sánchez Cerén represents yet another flip-flop<http://archivo.elfaro.net/secciones/elecciones2009/20080908/elecciones7.asp> on this issue by the FMLN. In 2007 the FMLN introduced legislation to repeal the law in the National Assembly. Then in 2008, the party of the left and its presidential candidate Mauricio Funes announced that they would not push to nullify the amnesty law. The 1993 Amnesty Law was passed immediately after the UN Truth Commission issued a lengthy report detailing many of the human rights violations during the war years and finding the 90% of the civilian deaths in the war had been at the hands of governmental forces. As Bethany Loberg has written<http://luterano.blogspot.com/2011/12/el-mozote-seeking-justice-in-spite-of.html> : Nevertheless, when the Truth Commission report came out, the Salvadoran legislative assembly waited only five days to pass the General Amnesty Law for the Consolidation of Peace, which provided broad, absolute, and unconditional amnesty to everyone who participated in political and common crimes in any form during the war, including those previously exempted under the reconciliation law. The amnesty law went so far as to explicitly preclude any further investigation into these cases. The amnesty law was a clear attempt to keep anyone involved in the murder of Archbishop Romero, the El Mozote Massacre, the murder of the Jesuits, and other crimes against humanity from facing investigations, charges or further publicity. Statements like that of Sánchez Cerén are easy to make during a presidential campaign. It will be much more difficult to get the votes in the National Assembly, even if the FMLN maintains the presidency. The Inter-American Court for Human Rights recently ordered El Salvador to annul the amnesty law<http://dwkcommentaries.com/2012/12/13/the-el-mozote-massacre-the-inter-american-commission-on-human-rights/> as part of the court's judgment condemning El Salvador's response to the El Mozote massacre.. -------------------- http://dwkcommentaries.com/2012/12/13/the-el-mozote-massacre-the-inter-american-commission-on-human-rights/ The El Mozote Massacre: The Truth Commission for El Salvador and the Subsequent Salvadoran General Amnesty Law and Dismissal of Criminal Case<http://dwkcommentaries.com/2012/12/13/the-el-mozote-massacre-the-truth-commission-for-el-salvador-and-the-subsequent-salvadoran-general-amnesty-law-and-dismissal-of-criminal-case/> The El Mozote Massacre: Recent Salvadoran Efforts To Redress the Crimes<http://dwkcommentaries.com/2012/12/14/el-mozote-massacre-recent-salvadoran-efforts-to-redress-the-crimes/> » The El Mozote Massacre: The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights On December 11, 1981, the Salvadoran military detained and systematically executed virtually all of the 200 men, women and children in the small village of El Mozote in the northern part of the country.[1]<http://dwkcommentaries.com/Users/d/Documents/Blog/IAComm'n--El%20Mozote.docx#_edn1> [image: IACHRlogo]<http://dwkcommentaries.wordpress.com/2012/12/13/the-el-mozote-massacre-the-inter-american-commission-on-human-rights/iachrlogo-3/> Now we look at a case regarding this Massacre before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR or Commission).[2]<http://dwkcommentaries.com/Users/d/Documents/Blog/IAComm'n--El%20Mozote.docx#_edn2> *The Petition to the Commission* In October 1990 (nearly nine years after the Massacre) the Oficina de Tutela Legal of the San Salvador Archbishops Office filed apetition<http://www.cidh.oas.org/annualrep/2006eng/ELSALVADOR.10720eng.htm> with the IACHR alleging various human rights violations by the State of El Salvador in connection with the massacres in El Mazote and five other nearby villages. The Salvadoran government did not seriously challenge the allegations as to what happened in the villages. Instead, it asserted that (a) the case was not admissible to the IACHR because the petitioners had not exhausted their remedies in the country; (b) there was a criminal investigation precipitated by a complaint that was not made until 1990; (c ) the investigation proceeded properly despite great external difficulties caused by the war; (d) the case properly was dismissed in accordance with the General Amnesty Law; and (e) and the petitioners had failed to appeal that dismissal. *IACHRs Determination of Admissibility of the Petition* In March 2006 (16 years after the filing of the petition and 25 years after the Massacre), the IACHR determined<http://www.cidh.oas.org/annualrep/2006eng/ELSALVADOR.10720eng.htm> that the petition was admissible, *i.e*., eligible for further proceedings. The parties (petitioners and the government) were proper parties under the American Convention on Human Rights. The petition alleged violations of the Convention occurring within the territory of a party to the Convention after it had become such a party. Most importantly for admissibility, the exception to the requirement for exhaustion of domestic remedies was satisfied: the systematic violations of human rights in the country made it impossible to file a complaint prior to 1990, appeals of dismissals based on the General Amnesty Law were not necessary, and the state had the responsibility to initiate criminal proceedings based on the Supreme Courts recognition or creation in 2000 of possible exceptions to that Law and had not exercised that option. In reaching these conclusions, the IACHR relied, in part, on the report of the Truth Commission for El Salvador. *IACHRs Determination of State Violations* On November 3, 2010 (20 years after the filing of the Petition and 29 years after the Massacre), the Commission issued its 79-page merits decision <http://www.cidh.oas.org/demandas/10.720Eng.pdf> that the massacres at El Mozote and neighboring locales constituted an unconscionable breach of the most fundamental principles of the American Convention [on Human Rights]. The shocking number of men, women, children and older people who dies at the hands of the Atlacatl Battalion must remain etched in the memory of Salvadoran society so that events such as [these] . . . will never be repeated. The State of El Salvador has an urgent duty to pay its historic debt to the memory of the victims, their surviving relatives, and the people of the country . . . . (¶ 339) More specifically, the IACHR concluded (¶ 340) that the State of El Salvador had violated: - (a) the rights to life, humane treatment and personal liberty of the victims who were executed extrajudically; - (b) the special rights of children who were executed extrajudically; - (c ) the rights to humane treatment and privacy of the women who were raped; - (d) the right to property of the murdered victims and the survivors whose homes were destroyed and whose means of livelihood were stolen or eliminated; - (e) the right to humane treatment of the survivors and relatives of the murdered victims; - (f) the right of freedom of movements and residence of those who were forcibly displaced; and - (g) the rights to a fair trial and judicial protection of the survivors and relatives of the murdered victims. The Commission directly addressed the Salvadoran General Amnesty Law. That Law and its application [for dismissal of the El Mozote criminal case] . . . are incompatible with the international obligations of the State of El Salvador under the American Convention [on Human Rights] . . . . [The] amnesty law can have no legal effect and cannot continue to be an obstacle to the investigation of the massacres in El Mozote and neighboring locales, nor to the identification and punishment of those responsible. (¶ 330). This conclusion was supported by citations to numerous decisions to that effect by the Commission itself and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and to resolutions by the U.N. General Assembly (¶¶ 314-329). As a result, the Commission recommended that within two months the State of El Salvador : (¶¶ 341-342): 1. Make adequate reparations for [these] violations of human rights . . . , both in their material and their moral aspect, including the establishment and dissemination of the historic truth of the events, suitable commemoration of the victims who died, and implementation of an appropriate program of psychosocial care for the surviving relatives. 2. Establish a mechanism to ensure that the victims killed in the massacres at El Mozote and neighboring vicinities are identified as fully as possible and take the necessary steps to pursue the exhumation, identification and return of the remains of those victims in accordance with the desires of their families. This mechanism must also facilitate the complete identification of the relatives of the murdered victims, so that they can be eligible for the reparations . . . . 3. Render ineffective the General Amnesty Law . . . as it prevents the investigation, trial and sanction of those responsible for human rights violations and the rights of victims to truth, justice, and reparation. Also, any other *de jure *or *de facto*obstacles, such as judicial or investigative practices, must be eliminated. 4. {T]he State should proceed immediately to investigate in an impartial, effective manner and within a reasonable time with the purpose to establishing the facts in a completely, identify the intellectual and material authors and impose the sanctions that correspond. In the immediate fulfillment of this obligation, the Salvadoran authorities cannot invoke the validity of the General Amnesty Law . . . . 5. Annul the General Amnesty Law . . . and ensure that no similar legal mechanisms are activated to obstruct the clarification and punishment of crimes against humanity such as those that occurred in this case. 6. Take the measures necessary to prevent similar events in the future, in observance of the duty to respect and guarantee human rights recognized in the American Convention [of Human Rights].In particular, implement permanent programs on human rights and international humanitarian law in the armed forces training schools. ------------------------------ [1]<http://dwkcommentaries.com/Users/d/Documents/Blog/IAComm'n--El%20Mozote.docx#_ednref1> A prior post<http://dwkcommentaries.wordpress.com/2012/12/13/the-el-mozote-massacre-the-truth-commission-for-el-salvador-and-the-subsequent-salvadoran-general-amnesty-law-and-dismissal-of-criminal-case/> set forth a brief summary of the facts of the Massacre, the investigation of same by the Truth Commission for El Salvador and the subsequent adoption of the Salvadoran General Amnesty Law and the dismissal of a criminal case on the basis of that Law. [2]<http://dwkcommentaries.com/Users/d/Documents/Blog/IAComm'n--El%20Mozote.docx#_ednref2> Background about the IACHR is set forth in a prior post<http://dwkcommentaries.wordpress.com/2011/06/13/international-criminal-justice-the-jesuits-case-before-the-inter-american-commission-on-human-rights/> . 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