Rights for Youth and Women
Press Release: Recently Acquitted Political Prisoner Assassinated, June 10 2008
Contact:
Emily Carpenter sistercities@gmail.com 514.664.1074×103 (Canada)
Liana Dalton lndalton@gmail.com 608.206.4965
Recently Acquitted Political Prisoner Violently Assassinated
Salvadoran and International Groups Call for Investigation into Escalating Political Killings in El Salvador
June 10, 2008 – Over 100 international organizations have joined a coalition of over 40 Salvadoran organizations, calling for an investigation of the May 2nd assassination of social movement activist Hector Antonio Ventura Vasquez, and the investigation of over 15 other assassinations being considered political in the past two years.
The Salvadoran Archbishop’s human rights office and the Foundation of Study for the Application of Law , FESPAD, have found these killings fit international criteria, including the political profile of the victim, the preplanning and character of the crime, and the lack of investigation on the part of the government.
Hector Antonio Ventura Vasquez and thirteen others, now known as the Suchitoto 14, had been arrested last July 2nd for their participation in an anti water privatization forum in the town of Suchitoto, in what has been called an excessive use of force on the part of the police force, backed by the military. The Suchitoto 14 were then charged with terrorism, under El Salvador’s controversial decree 108 “Special Law Against Acts of Terrorism”. All charges were finally dismissed on April 16th, 2008. Two weeks later, on May 2nd, 19 year old Hector Antonio Ventura Vasquez,was brutally stabbed to death at night in a house where he and a 14 year old friend were sleeping in the community of Valle Verde outside ofSuchitoto. Hector was stabbed in the head and the heart. The fourteen year old survived the attack. Ventura’s murder came two days, after he had met with the Mayor of Suchitoto, where h eagreed to speak about the Suchitoto case at the “Day Against Impunity” event planned for the anniversary of the Suchitoto 14 arrests, July 2, 2008.
A coalition of Salvadoran groups delivered a petition to the Attorney General’s office on May 13, demanding the immediate investigationof the murder of Hector Ventura and the number of other cases considered political killings. They say that authorities routinely attribute political murders to the gang crime prevalent in El Salvador, when in fact there is evidence that gangs are actually being used for political assassinations. In the last month, there have been reports of at least two more brutal murders of people connected to political opposition work from communities surrounding Suchitoto, killings reminiscent of death squad assassinations during the war. These events are underlined by the official verification that paid assassination squads linked to the National Civilian Police have been recorded active in other parts of the country.
Ligia Guevara from FESPAD expressed her concern over the escalating attacks: “We want to say to the Attorney General, who directs the penal process, ‘Look, these cases are happening and they have political links’. We want them to be investigated before the election process begins because during the electoral process this can intensify and that is what we’re afraid of.”
“These atrocious crimes demonstrate why we must demand a complete investigation of this and all the other murders with possible political motivations. We ask the national and international community, as they have stood with the Suchitoto 14 through out the last 10 months, to keep working in solidarity to achieve justice for the victims of these crimes,” said Lorena Araujo Martinez, president of CRIPDES and one of the Suchitoto 14.
