Extradition Refusal Shows “Impunity is Institutionalized” in El Salvador

By Brittney Hodnik
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador  – El Salvador’s Supreme Court has refused to arrest nine men who voluntarily admitted to killing six Jesuit priests in 1989.  The Court said that without a formal extradition request from Spain, the men would not be arrested, according to the Associated Press.  Judge Eloy Velasco indicted 20 former soldiers to be tried in Spain under “universal jurisdiction,” reserved for those crimes that are so grave they can be tried anywhere.

Activists want the former soldiers extradited and brought to justice to end impunity in El Salvador. (Image Courtesy of BBC News)
Activists want the former soldiers extradited and brought to justice to end impunity in El Salvador. (Image Courtesy of BBC News)

El Salvador underwent a civil war from 1980-1992 between guerillas and U.S.-backed Salvadoran soldiers.  On November 16, 1989, Salvadoran soldiers shot six priests, their housekeeper, and the housekeeper’s 15-year-old daughter.  Over 70,000 deaths and 8,000 disappearances are a result of El Salvador’s civil war. 

The right-wing sector and military in El Salvador considered the priests allies to the guerillas because of their criticism of human rights abuses throughout the country.  However, 12,000 documents given to Judge Velasco show that the crime was premeditated, reported Latin America Press.

In May, Spain issued arrest warrants for the men through Interpol under the authority of universal jurisdiction.  This principle allows crimes that are so egregious to be prosecuted in countries other than where the crime took place.  In this case, Judge Velasco wants to prosecute the men in Madrid, Spain, rather than El Salvador.  Five of the priests were Spanish, and one was Salvadoran.

According to Latin America Press, in 1991, four officials and five soldiers went on trial for the crime.  Two of them were found guilty but were released shortly thereafter under the 1993 Amnesty Law.  The Supreme Court has previously denied the re-opening of this case, stating that the statute of limitations has already passed.

Another man involved in the killings is former Salvadoran military officer, Inocente Orlando Montano who had been living in Massachusetts.  As reported by The New York Times, Montano appeared in United States District Court in Boston on August 23 for immigration violations.  Upon his arrest, Spain can now seek extradition to Madrid.

A handful of conservative sector personnel have applauded El Salvador’s Supreme Court for refusing the extradition and protecting these men.  Many however, feel outraged and want to see these men brought to justice.  Ima Guirola from the Women’s Studies Institute told Latin America Press, “The ruling shows that impunity is institutionalized in the country.”  Furthermore, Ramon Villalta of the Social Initiative for Democracy told Latin America Press, “I believe that impunity has been a characteristic of El Salvador for years.”

The men who turned themselves in did so because they knew the Salvadoran government would protect them, according to Latin America Press.  The fight will continue between El Salvador and Spain as to whether the men will be extradited or not.

For more information, please visit:

Latin America Press — Impunity Rules in Jesuits’ Murder Case — 1 Sept. 2011

BBC News — Spain Pushes El Salvador Jesuit Murders Case — 25 Aug. 2011

The Associated Press — Spain Seeks El Salvador Clarification on Suspects — 25 Aug. 2011

The New York Times — Salvadoran Tied to Killings Faces Immigration Charge — 23 Aug. 2011

Bolivian Ex-officials sentenced for their role in the Black October deaths

By Paula Buzzi
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America


LA PAZ, Bolivia – Bolivia’s Supreme court of Justice convicted five ex-military commanders of genocide on Tuesday for their role in the deaths of at least 64 unarmed civilians in an army crackdown during an October 2003 riot.


2003 riot sparked by a government plan to export natural gas through a proposed pipeline to Chile. (Photo courtesy of Aljazeera)
2003 riot sparked by a government plan to export natural gas through a pipeline to Chile. (Photo courtesy of Aljazeera).

The October 2003 riot, also known as “Black October,” was sparked by public outrage after the Bolivian government announced its plans to export Bolivia’s natural gas through a pipeline into Chile. Protestors who were fueled by years of anger over poverty and political marginalization, took to the streets of El Alto with sticks and rocks to demonstrate their disapproval.


Authorized by former president Sanchez de Lozada, soldiers opened fire on the protestors, killing 64 and wounding approximately 405. Among those killed were women and children. Sanchez claimed the use of force was justified because the protestors had cut off food and fuel supply to La Paz.


On Tuesday, three of the five former military officials responsible for ordering the crackdown, were each given 10 years in prison. The other two higher ranked military officials,  Roberto Claros, a former armed forces chief, and Juan Veliz, a former army commander, were each given 15-year sentences.


Also convicted of complicity in the killings were two former environment and labor Cabinet ministers, Erick Reyes Villa and Adalberto Kuajara, who were each given three year sentences.

Gonzalo Rocabado, one of the former military officials who received a 10-year sentence, stated that the trial was misguided because it was “a trial against the armed forces that followed the law.”


Family and friends of the victims of Black October cried out of mixed emotions at the verdict; some cried out of anger that the prison sentences were too short. Many had held a vigil outside the court house in Sucre for two months prior to the trial.


Indicted in the case but not tried because of Bolivia’s absentia law include Sanchez and Carlos Sanzhez Berzain, a former defense minister.


Both Sanchez and Berzain were forced into exile after the riot and currently reside in Florida. Bolivia has sought their extradition but strained relations between the U.S. and Bolivia may hinder this request.


For more information, please see:


Fox News – 5 Military Officers Convicted of Genocide in Bolivia; Two Ministers Guilty of Complicity – 31 August 2011

Aljazeera – Bolivia officers convicted over 2003 massacre – 31 August 2011

New York Times – Bolivia: 5 Officers Guilty of Genocide – 30 August 2011

Associated Press – Ex-military chiefs convicted for Bolivia crackdown – 30 August 2011

Leaked Cable Details Iraqi Women and Children Being Executed in U.S. Raid

By Tyler Yates
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A diplomatic cable recently made public by WikiLeaks provides evidence that U.S. troops executed at least 10 Iraqi civilians, including a woman in her 70s and a 5-month old infant, before calling in an airstrike to destroy the evidence.  This incident took place in 2006 in Iraq’s central city of Ishaqi.

A cell phone photo of the aftermath of what autopsies reveal to be an execution of 11 people including women and children (Photo courtesy of McClatchy).
A cell phone photo of the aftermath of what autopsies reveal to be an execution of 11 people including women and children (Photo courtesy of McClatchy).

The cable contains questions posed by a United Nations (U.N.) investigator about the incident after local Iraqi officials, who were angered by the soldier’s actions, demanded some sort of a remedial response.  The official U.S. response at the time was to deny that anything out of the ordinary had occurred.

In 2006, at the time of the incident, Ishaqi, about 80 miles from Baghdad, and not too far from Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, was considered extremely dangerous.  All roads in the area had been classified as “black,” meaning that there was a high probability they were booby-trapped with bombs.

The original report of the incident put the fault on an intense battle with an Iraqi Al Qaeda suspect that resulted in the complete decimation of the house he was hiding in, and the death of all of its inhabitants.

Townspeople denied this explanation, claiming instead that the soldiers had executed the 11 people living in the house, but military officials said that other accounts of the incident were highly unlikely to be true, and that they didn’t warrant further investigation.

Philip Alston, the U.N.’s special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, sent the cable to Condoleeza Rice, then Secretary of State, 12 days after the incident took place.  He had a different view of how the events unfolded.  Most disconcerting was his revelation that the autopsies performed on the dead from the incident revealed that they had been handcuffed and shot in the head.  Among the dead were four women and five children, all of which were 5 years old or younger.

Alston’s version of the events is as follows:  The troops approached a house belonging to a local farmer, and were met with gunfire lasting about 25 minutes.  After the firefight ended “troops entered the house, handcuffed all residents and executed all of them.” After the initial ground operation was completed a U.S. air raid occurred that destroyed the house.  “Iraqi TV stations broadcast from the scene and showed bodies of the victims.”

When questioned in an interview on Wednesday after the cable became public knowledge, Alston said that as of 2010 the U.S. officials still hadn’t responded to his requests for more information. He further said that such inaction and lack of response “was the case with most of the letters to the U.S. in the 2006-2007 period” of the Iraq war.

“The tragedy,” he continued, “is that this elaborate system of communications is in place but the (U.N.) Human Rights Council does nothing to follow up when states ignore issues raised with them.”

The newly leaked cable seems to vindicate the townspeople’s claims, and creates a lot of questions for both the military and Washington.  While civilian casualties are sadly a common occurrence during raid operations the killings described in the cable would clearly constitute a war crime.

Not surprisingly, the Pentagon hasn’t responded to any requests for comments on the incident, or the leak.

For more information, please see:

Daily Mirror — WikiLeaks reveals Atrocities by U.S. forces — 1 Sept 2011

Digital Journal — WikiLeaks cable says Iraqi children shot in head during U.S. raid — 1 Sept 2011

Huffington Post — WikiLeaks: U.S. Troops Executed Iraqi Children in 2006 Raid, According to U.N. Sources — 1 Sept 2011

International Business Times — WikiLeaks Cable Release: New Evidence that U.S. Troops May Have Massacred Iraqi Civilians — 1 Sept 2011

McClatchy — WikiLeaks: Iraqi children in U.S. raid shot in head, U.N. says — 31 Aug 2011

Chautauqua Law Dialogs Conclude

By Chad Gustafson

Originally published by the Post-Journal in Jamestown, NY
31 August 2011

MAYVILLE – Prosecutors of international war crimes tribunals are setting their sights on Muammar Gadhafi and other high-ranking members of his party in the fifth annual Chautauqua Declaration.

The declaration was read and signed Tuesday to close the fifth annual International Humanitarian Law Dialogues at Chautauqua Institution.

The declaration, created throughout this summer by eight of the world’s 13 chief prosecutors in international war crimes tribunals, aims to highlight progress that has been made throughout the past year in the arena of international war crime development and it stresses the importance of furthering that development so as to make war torn and corrupt regions of the world ultimately safer places, according to David Crane, who from 2002 until 2005 served as the chief prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

This year the declaration focused on the accomplishments of last year- notably the trials of Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic at the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, “thus signaling to all fugitives from international justice the international community’s commitment to bringing them to account,” the declaration reads. Successes in Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Libya, where Muammar Gadhafi and high ranking members of his party have been issued arrest warrants are also mentioned.

“This is a historical document,” Crane said. “It is the only time ever that you get the signatures of the chief prosecutors in all the world’s international tribunals and courts, and so it’s very important. It captures the sense of the world’s prosecutors about the state of international crime law in one place.”

The signing of the declaration was the culmination of the fifth annual International Humanitarian Law Dialogs, a three day event co-hosted by Chautauqua Institution and the Robert H. Jackson Center, which featured lectures and other seminars from Crane and his colleagues that addressed the ongoings of the court system they are currently working for or previously worked for, among other topics related to international humanitarian law.

Crane added that the venue is fitting given that just miles down the road from Chautauqua Institution, Robert Jackson, chief prosecutor of the Nazi regime after World War Two and often credited as the architect of modern international war crime law, was born and raised.

“We have a unique situation here,” Crane said. “Since Robert Jackson there are only 13 international chief prosecutors in the world and we all like each other, we’re friends, so what a terrible thing it would be if we took advantage of the rare occasion to see each other? … And I think Robert Jackson would have enjoyed this. He was a man of great life and would have loved to sit on the porch of the Athenaeum and look around to see his fellow chief prosecutors and talk about what he was thinking and the things he was concerned about- that’s exactly what we’ve been doing here.”

Moving into the autumn months, Crane said that of all the work currently being done in his field throughout the world, everyone is keeping their eyes on the Middle East.

“We’re concerned about what these dictators and thugs are doing to their people,” Crane said. “But we’re also concerned about these peoples who have been oppressed for so long- them taking revenge. Both ways is a problem so we’re going to see for the next two or three years a very testy and tumultuous Middle East. …It’s the most significant geopolitical event that we’ve had since the fall of the Berlin Wall.”