Tribunal in Arcatao Aims to Restore Justice to War Crimes Survivors

In the Third International Tribunal for Restorative Justice in El Salvador, one of the judges addresses a witness.  He speaks directly to her, although he knows that his words are heard by the 250 person audience filling the large church of Arcatao, Chalatenango; thousands of listeners of the Radio Sumpul and YSUCA radio stations; future generations and judges who will watch the recorded testimonies; and even the perpetrators of the war crimes being described.

What would you need,” the judge asked the witness, “to feel that justice has been done?” He corrects himself, realizing mid-sentence that his first question was a futile one, “Or, specifically in this case, what would you need to feel that justice had been done in this case?”

“"I think it is necessary,” the witness says, “to find out who is responsible. Those people need to be brought to justice, and there needs to be some sort of reparations for the victims, so that the truth is brought to light and this never happens again.”

The woman speaking was giving testimony about two massacres committed in El Rincón, Manaquil, Nueva Trinidad, about 6 miles from the Honduran border in the department of Chalatenango in May and July of 1980.  The victims were one man and 11 women, two of them pregnant. As the woman testified and the judge declared, the women were killed because of they were sisters, mothers, and daughters of people who were active in base organizations for campesino rights.  Their murders were part of a brutal campaign of violence designed to frighten, or better said to terrorize, the rural working population away from defending their rights in the years leading up to and during the Salvadoran civil war.

The Human Rights Institute of the Jesuit University of Central America (UCA) began to organize Restorative Justice Tribunals three years ago with two goals in mind. 

For some, the tribunals are a way to hear the voices of victims of human rights violations that have been silenced in the national consciousness, government documents, and mainstream media. For those who are committed to speaking about their experiences in the war despite the emotional pain of remembering, the UCA Tribunals bring the country one step closer to achieving real, formal reparations. These people demand formal trials and consequences for those who committed war crimes; monetary reparations for affected communities; monuments, memorials, and a place in the collective consciousness of the country.

The UCA Tribunal takes place every year in a different part of the country.  The first Tribunal three years ago took place in San Salvador, last year’s was in Suchitoto, Cuscatlan, and this year the UCA Tribunal came Arcatao, Chalatenango.  Each year, cases are seen in the categories of summary execution, massacres, disappearances, and torture.  In Arcatao, from March 14th to 16th the tribunal heard three days of brave and heart-wrenching testimonies of war crimes that happened in each of these categories, almost exclusively in the relatively small region of north-eastern Chalatenango around Arcatao.  It was still more sobering to hear these testimonies knowing that each and every audience member has their own story to tell and that the tribunal could go for months and months and still not hear them all.

For those of us from Sister Cities who had the honor to participate, Jan, Molly Todd and Carol Dalton from Madison and myself, the Tribunal was a deeply moving event that left us more grounded in the history of this community and region and more deeply committed to struggles for truth, peace, and justice.

-Emily Carpenter, Sister Cities and MASCP Volunteer

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