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Defending Natural Resources, Sister Cities
Over 100 International Organizations Demand Investigation : July 24, 2009
San Salvador, El Salvador.
One hundred and eight international organizations sent a letter to the Interim Attorney General, Ástor Escalante Savaria, this Friday (July 24, 2009), demanding an exhaustive investigation into the kidnapping and brutal assassination of activist Gustavo Marcelo Rivera Moreno.
In the letter the organizations categorically rejected the declarations that the district attorney Rodolfo Delgado offered to the media, that Rivera was assassinated by gang members after an altercation. According to the organizations, the classification of the crime as common violence is discarding a priori the existence of intellectual authors behind the killing.
The organizations affirm that “If Marcelo’s murder is left in a state of impunity, it will generate a climate of intimidation and uncertainty for social leaders and activists, undermining the advances in the democratic process in El Salvador.”
Copies of the letter were sent to Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes, the Minister of the Interior Humberto Centeno, the Director of the National Civilian Police Carlos Ascencio, the Chief of Public Security of San Isidro, Saúl Venegas, the Acting Ambassador of the United States in El Salvador, Robert Blau, and the Ambassador of Canada in El Salvador, Claire Poulin.
Read the full text of the letter and see the 108 signing organizations here.
