Jun
Advocacy, Human Rights, Politics
Social Organizations Demand Investigation of Murders of Activists, May 13 2008
Civil Society Organizations Demand the Attorney General Investigate the Murders of the Human Rights Activists
On May 12th diverse organizations from the Civil Society presented a report to the Attorney General of the Republic (AG) to demand investigations into the various murders of human rights promoters in El Salvador.
The report was motivated by the fact that the authorities in charge of the investigation of the crime, a priori declared the murders were committed by gang members or delinquency that without at doubt affects our country, without having done a preliminary investigation and omitting the parameters that the Collaborative Group for the Investigation of Illegally Armed Groups with Political Motivation in El Salvador establishes to determine the probability of politically motivated criminal acts, which are: a) Mode of operation b) Profile of the victim and c) Impunity of the authors.
The result of the written report has been “the future opening of the respective case to carry out the investigation that they are soliciting.” This is according to the person receiving the document delegated by the AG.
The following is the document that was presented to the AG, submitted by the Foundation for the Study and Application of Law:
San Salvador, May 12th 2008.
Mr. Attorney General of the Republic:
The people that endorse this complaint are Salvadoran citizens, of legal age, who conform to the Penal Code Articles 1 & 29, and Penal Process Code Articles 19, 83, 84, 229 & 230. To you, sincerely, we state:
We have come to file a penal complaint for the crimes of aggravated homicide (Art 29 Pn C) perpetrated against Héctor Antonio Ventura Vásquez, 18 years old, which occurred in the town Valle Verde, in the municipality of Suchitoto, in the department of Cuscatlán, on May 2nd, 2008, by two unknown subjects that entered into the house where said youth was sleeping and attacked him with sharp weapons.
As well, we also present a penal complaint for the crimes of aggravated homicide (Art 129 Pn C) against the following people: Eligio Ramírez Andrade, local leader of the FMLN in Cuscatancingo, March of 2006, husband and wife Francisco Manzanares and Juana de Manzanares, Suchitoto, July of 2006; husband and wife Alex Wilberto Flores and Lidia Peñate de Flores, active in the FMLN, Coatepeque, August 2006; Gerson Roberto Alvayero, member of the FMLN and the Anti-Dam Movement, Santa Ana, January of 2007; the youth Alejandro Franco, youth member of the FMLN, Cuscatancingo, May 2007; Miguel Angel Vásquez, Secretary of Finances of the Electric Sector Workers Union, July 2007, in the municipality of Mejicanos, department of San Salvador; Salvador Sánchez Roque, investigative journalist, Soyapango, September of 2007; Wilber Moisés Funes, FMLN mayor in Alegría, department of Usulután, murdered together with the youth Zulma Rivera, leader of the UACI for the municipality presided by Mr. Funes, municipality of Alegría, January 2008; Omar Huezo member of the CNP and security worker for a FMLN representative, murdered with the youth Henery Navarrete; San Pablo Tacachico, April 2008; and the youth William Landaverde, also having occurred in Suchitoto, department of Cuscatlán in Mayo of 2008.
All the aforementioned facts, have been characterized by attaches where there exits factual elements to presume the existence of intellectual authors (art. 34 of the Penal Code) which is to say intellectual authors, who could have ordered the homicides and have approval of the people who definitively acted with direct authors or coauthors of the crime (art. 33) and whose ultimate goal would have been to eliminate the victims for the reason that their participation in activities that can be considered opposition to the public politics of the government of El Salvador, be they in professional, communal or political party areas.
Presentation of the facts
Homicide of Hector Antonio Ventura Vasquez
The homicide of the youth HECTOR ANTONIO VENTURA VASQUEZ, who was 19 years old, occurred on May 2nd, 2008 in the middle of the night, in a house in the town of Valle Verde, municipality of Suchitoto, department of Cuscatlán. The young man was murdered with a knife (cutting or stabbing) and received at least one fatal injury in the area of his heart; another victim, also a youth, survived the attack with injuries.
The victim is on of the fourteen people who were prosecuted for political motives, after participating in an action of legitimate social protest against the privatization of water in the Suchitoto municipality, July 2nd, 2007.
The crime was carried out six days after all the defendants received a definitive dismissal of their case, revealing the false accusations that the government and the Attorney General of the Republic maintained against the group of social activists for more that nine months.
The direct assailants, according to preliminary information, were at least two men, who entered into the house were the young men were sleeping and must have carried out the attack at the back of the house, even though they would have had to go through three doors to reach them.
Because of this it becomes evident that the youth Hector Ventura fits the profile of a political opponent, fighting for social issues, who suffered arbitrary persecution by the government for political ends shortly before his death. So that, he was murdered in an action destined to kill him and his friend, who was with him, which was the goal of the attack.
The homicide case of Eligio Ramirez Andrade
Mr. Eligio Ramirez Andrade was murdered at 11:30 am on March 16th, 2006 in front of house number 15, in the alley number 30, area 53 of the neighborhood Villa Hermosa, in the municipality of Cuscatancingo, department of San Salvador. Eligio Ramirez was 35 years old and acted as the President of the governing town council of the Villa Hermosa neighborhood, as well as being an active member of the Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation (FMLN).
Mr. Ramirez Andrade had received death threats by the then Mayor of the ARENA party in Cuscatancingo, Mr. Mauricio Aguilar, and by his bodyguards; there also exists prior relative information to the supposed hiring of assassins for the now ex-mayor already mentioned, to kill Mr. Ramirez Andrade, in spite of which the Attorney General of the Republic, it seems, has not carried out investigations to confirm this hypothesis.
Homicide case of Francisco Manzanares and Juana Monjarás de Manzanares
The husband and wife Francisco Manzanares, 77 years old, and Juana Monjarás de Manzanares, 75 years old were murdered in their place or residence, located in Rafael Palacios Avenue, in the city and municipality of Suchitoto, in the department of Cuscatlán, by unknown subjects on the morning of July 2nd, 2006.
The responsible parties caused their deaths by using cutting or stabbing weapons; the forensic evidence concluded that both people were physically tortured with extreme sadism, using the same weapons and blows for physical torture. The murderers changed the scene of the crime by spraying oil and lime over the bodies of their victims, the floors and the walls.
The husband and wife were active members of the Farabundo Martin Front for National Liberation (FMLN) since the beginning of the armed conflict in 1980, two of their children have been publicly known as FMLN members.
One of their children, also named Francisco Manzanares, was the victim of a presumed arbitrary execution by Civilian National Police (CNP) agents after the end of the armed conflict. Their other daughter, Marina Manzanares, was a participant in the insurgent radio called “Radio Venceremos” and in actuality is active in said party and an activist in favor of historic memory with respect to the grave violations of human rights that occurred during the armed conflict.
Marina Manzanares has publicly denounced that, during the electoral campaign of 2006, she received threats and insults by members of the National Republican Alliance (ARENA) in Suchitoto. Months before the executions, the Manzanares couple received diverse types of threats towards their daughter, Marina, and towards Mr. Francisco Manzanares; during one of these, unknown and “well dressed” subjects came to the victim’s house and gave Mrs. Monjarás a box containing bones and dirt.
After the murders were committed, Marina Manzanares denounced the perpetration of threats and intimidating acts against her by unknown subjects. The result of the prosecution’s investigation that has looked into the existence of intellectual authors is unknown.
The prosecutor’s investigation in this case has been summarily deficient and even the assigned prosecutor offered declarations in the press suggesting members of the very Manzanares family as potentially responsible parties of the crime, which makes us presume that an illicit interest exists on the part of the Attorney General to divert the investigations away from those truly responsible for the crime.
Homicide Case of the Husband and Wife Alex Wilgberto Flores Montoya and Lidia Mercedes de Flores
The husband and wife Alex Wilgberto Flores Montoya, a 43 years old gym teacher, and Lidia Merecedes de Flores, 43 years old, were murdered at 4:00pm on August 23rd, 2006 in the area of San Isidrio, town of Conacaste, in the jurisdiction Coatepeque, in the department of Santa Ana. Both were active members of the opposition party, FMLN.
At the moment of their death, the victims were driving in a pick up which they owned, on a the old road that goes from Santa Ana to Coatepeque, at the kilometer marker 57.5 in the town Conacaste, when they were intercepted by various unknown subjects that made them get down from the truck and shot them at a close range. The bodies of the victims were left out on the side of a neighboring road, next to the train tracks. The cadavers showed shots to the head by fire arms. The assailants drove a blue Mazda pickup and stole the victims’ identification. The victims passed through the place of the occurrence regularly.
There are no known results of the prosecution’s investigation that has been carried about the existence of intellectual authors in this case.
The Oscar Alejandro Franco Case
At 8:00pm on May 1, 2007, the young man Oscar Alejandro Franco Arévalo, 21 years old, was murdered by many heavily armed subjects that were transported in a blue microbus with unmarked plates in front of Oscar’s house located in the Santa Rosa neighborhood, at the end of the Los Angeles Avenue, in the municipality of Cuscatancingo, in the department of San Salvador.
The victim received various injuries to the thorax, produced by projectiles from a fire arm, carried by a subject that got off the aforementioned bus.
The authors of the murder of the young man left in an all terrain vehicle. The victim had previously been accosted by unknown men and even by CNP agents for being an FMLN sympathizer and for dressing in tee shirts and other clothing that alluded to that political party.
There haven’t been investigations by the Attorney General of the possible intellectual authors responsible for this crime.
Homicide Case of Gerson Roberto Alvayero
On January 26th, 2007, Gerson Roberto Alvayero, a 33 year old driver for the Promoting Foundation of Cooperatives (FUNPROCOOP) and active member in the FMLN, was found murdered on the old highway that goes from Santa Ana to San Salvador, in the area known as El Mora.
The victim was found in a vacant lot and found in advanced stages of decomposition and presented multiple injuries produced by a sharp weapon to the abdomen, thorax and neck. The body was completely clothed and had all his personal identification and money.
According to judicial findings, the victim died as a result of multiple penetrating wounds to the thorax and abdomen produced by a short sharp weapon.
At the moment of his death, the victim had worked for FUNPROCOOP for 33 years and due to this work was involved in various activities in favor of cooperative development and what more was an active member affiliated in the FMLN and also of the National Anti-Dam Movement, of which various organizations in the departments of Santa Ana and Chalatenango participate like the Center of Appropriated Technology (CESTA) and the National Association of Agricultural Workers.
Homicide Case of Mr. Miguel Ángel Vásquez
During the dawn of July 18, 2007 at the end of the Guadalupe St, in the alley Sinaloa, in the residential area Mexico, in the municipality of Mejicanos, in the department of San Salvador; the cadaver was found of Mr.Miguel Ángel Vásquez, 43 years old, who worked as a gasoline analyst for the Duke Energy Company, located in Soyapango and was also the secretary of finances for the Electricity Sector Workers Union (STSEL).
The victim was found in an empty lot, in the already mentioned neighborhood, and showed signs of two bullets in the head and without identification, so that the body was taken from the scene as an unidentified person, until his relatives went to the Institute of Legal Medicine of San Salvador toe identify the body.
Mr. Miguel Ángel Vásquez had worked 30 years as an employee for the Duke Energy Company and worked prior to that for the Hydroelectric Commission of the Lempa River (CEL) and had a work schedule from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm, so that on the 17th of July 2007, as was customary, he left his job at 5 pm in his vehicle, a 1993 Toyota Corolla, on his way to his house in the municipality of Santo Tomas, in the department of San Salvador.
There are no known results from the Attorney General with respect to clarifying this serious crime.
The Case of the Journalist Salvador Sanchez Roque
The journalist Salvador Sanchez Roque, 38 years old, was murdered September 30th, 2007 in the municipality of Soyapango, in the department of San Salvador.
Sanchez Roque reported for the radio stations: Mi Gente, YSUCA, and Maya Vision. He lived in the very populated sector of Soyapango, east of the capital city.
A gang member has been captured as the person responsible; however, the prosecuting authorities have not pushed for investigations to establish the participation in the events of the intellectual authors of the homicide.
Homicide Case of Wilber Moisés Funes and Zulma Rivera
Mr. Wilber Moisés Funes, 41 years old, mayor of the municipality of Alegria in the department of Usulután, for the FMLN party and the youth Zulma Rivera, leader of the UACI of the same area, were murdered by the hit man, who attacked them using fire arms on the rural road in the mentioned municipality on January 9th, 2008.
The case was broadly published in the media of the country and in the international media, as the person who was actually prosecuted was also part of the same municipal government of Alegria.
In spite of the aforementioned, the participation of possible intellectual authors has not been plainly clarified; being evident that the person who was tried by himself would not have the capacity to carry out the crime with out the help of other people related to the hit man structure that carried out the homicides.
Homicide Case of Mr. Omar Huezo and Henry Navarrete
Mr. Omar Huezo, who worked as a bodyguard for a legislator for the FMLN, and the youth Henry Navarrete were murdered the night of the 24th of April 2008 in the community of Itamaura, in the municipality of San Pablo Tacachico, in the department of La Libertad.
The murderers used fire arms indiscriminately against the group of people in which Huezo found himself having a conversation, with the fatal results already mentioned. Up until the date the crime has not been clarified.
Homicide Case of William Landaverde
The youth William Landaverde was murdered on May 5th, 2008, in the municipality of Suchitoto, department of Cuscatlán, barely three days after the murder of the youth Hector Antonio Ventura Vasquez, by subjects that previously deprived him of his freedom and had the appearance of gang members.
There are not any antecedents that link Landaverde with gangs, which seems to point to the fact that the assassins could have acted on behalf of the intellectual author of the crime. The murderers acted with a high level of sadism, stripping the victim, tying him in a pool with out water, and bashing parts of his body with rocks. The crime has still not been cleared up.
Similar to Hector Ventura Sosa, the youth, Landaverde, was a relative to families that had been sympathizers and mobilizers for the FLMN in the municipal zone of Suchitoto.
Presumption of the existence of intellectual authors in these cases
Those signed bellow wish to express our concern that considering the circumstances of the case, the prosecuting authorities tend to rule out beforehand the factual political motive of the homicides, seeking protection in the indisputable common criminality that overwhelms our country and do not investigate the responsibility of the intellectual authors of the events.
Given the characteristics of the already described homicides those signed below have the deep conviction that it is very probable that these crimes were perpetrated with the participation of the intellectual authors and the direct authors that acted under a model of assignment, a situation popularly known as “hit men.”
Our presumptions are that these are politically motivated crimes, through the use of hired killers and the existence of intellectual authors, which are founded in the factual analysis of the case, in the application of the parameters that during its time the Collaborative Group for the Investigation of Illegally Armed Groups with Political Motivation in El Salvador established, and whose final report was published July 28, 1994.
These parameters, used to establish the probability of criminal politically motivated acts or with the participation of illegally armed structures, are the following:
- Modus Operandi which requires the planning of the crime, through the means of the selection of the victim or moment and place best suited to carry it out without inconvenience (which supposes spying activities or obtaining prior information), revealing the operative capacity of a group of organized persons.
- Victim’s profile, determined by his or her political, social, or institutional activities that identifies them as a political opponent (in case of political execution); or that the victims pertain to a social groups considered “dangerous” or “enemies” by the official state political power or by traditionally violent political sectors, and socially intolerable (in cases of social cleansing).
- Impunity for the authors as consequence of the failure of the state to fulfill its obligation to investigate the crime with severity and diligence.
Petition
Because of all that has been shown and based in the facts and Constitutional orders and legal citations, we respectfully ask:
- That the present complaint is accepted and given due process.
- That the necessary and respective diligence is taken in the investigation to maintain and reaffirm that which is exposed in this complaint.
- Specifically, that the participation of intellectual authors in the homicides mentioned here are investigated, so much as the probable existence of motives related to political, professional, communal activities of the victims.
Notification should be directed to the offices of the Foundation of Studies for the Application of the Law (FESPAD), located at 25 Calle Poniente N 1332, Colonia Layco, San Salvador; telephone and fax 22 36 18 18.
We designate as common representatives for the notifications Gustavo Pineda Nolasco, of legal age, lawyer, of this address, who is the Coordinator of the Attorneys of FESPAD and signer of this complaint.
San Salvador, May 12th 2008.
