Killings of 6 Jesuit Priests by US-Backed Salvadoran Forces

Thousands of human rights activists are gathering at Fort Benning, Georgia this weekend for the annual protest to shut down the US Army training center once known as the School of the Americas. The school, now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, or WHISC, is used to train Latin American soldiers in combat, counterinsurgency and counter-narcotics. Critics have dubbed the training center the “School of the Assassins,” because some of its graduates have been responsible for some of the worst human rights abuses in Latin America.
This year’s protest will commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the murder of six Jesuit priests in El Salvador, their housekeeper and her daughter by the US-backed Salvadoran military. The Jesuit priests were killed November 16, 1989, twenty years ago this week, when a military unit entered the Central American University campus and shot them to death—the priests’ housekeeper and her daughter also killed. The Jesuits had been outspoken advocates for the poor and critics of human rights abuses committed by the ARENA government. Many of the soldiers involved in the murders were graduates of the School of the Americas at Fort Benning.
Earlier this week in El Salvador, the Jesuit priests were bestowed the nation’s highest civilian award, marking the first time the Salvadoran government has honored the priests since their deaths. El Salvador’s defense minister announced the military is ready to ask for forgiveness and open its archives to a long-sought investigation.
Blase Bonpane talking:
Our last visit with them was in a labor gathering just about a year before they were killed. We all met at the university there in El Salvador, la UCA. And Father Ellacuria really was in charge of the gathering. He didn’t just welcome us to the university; he was part and parcel of chairing the entire meeting. We were heavily buzzed by the helicopters at that time, and there were a lot of threats. Febe Velasquez was killed during that week. She was head of one of the major unions in El Salvador. And we fanned out from there to the countryside and saw the particular rebel activity in the area. And that was just about a year before they were killed in 1989.
you can start as early as 1971, when Father Ellacuria got there, and then the bombing of the university began in ’75. In ’77, there were twelve students killed, some from the university and some from the state university, and there were twenty wounded. They just opened fire on them. The bombing continued at the university of Father Ellacuria’s offices, of the library and of the high school. There’s a high school also in the area. So he was constantly under attack because of the charges of liberation theology. And if we read the torture manuals, which School of the Americas Watch uncovered, we see direct reference to theology of liberation as a subversive act, as a subversive organization on behalf of the people of El Salvador.
And then, of course, 1977, Father Rutilio Grande was killed, another Jesuit. And that was the time when Archbishop Romero said, “Me convertí,” “They converted me.” By that, he meant he was on—there on behalf of the poor and that he was no longer part of the oligarchic military connection, which used to be called the Holy Trinity in El Salvador. And, you know, the fact that he identified with the poorest of the poor, he became an object of threats, as well. And, of course, he was killed in 1980 on the 24th of March, and that was followed by the killing of the sisters, the four sisters, on December 2nd of 1980.
They were Maryknoll sisters, an Ursuline sister and a lay sister, as well. And they were killed on December 2nd, 1980. they were killed really by the security forces. They were raped and killed. And that also led to the conversion of Ambassador Robert White.
they had had dinner with him the night before, and he entered into the fray. And, of course, that was a great turning point. Joe Moakley and other Congress people got into it at that time.
And then, years later, actually—we’re talking about nine years later—the Jesuits were killed. But in between that time, tens of thousands of people were killed. The religious people have no more right to live than anyone else, and so it was every day torturing and killing.
And it is so ironic that today the Congress of the United States has a special commemoration of the Jesuits, Resolution 761. They mention them all. It reminds me of the Scriptural statement that first they kill the prophets, then they honor them. You know, and so, here they are, all mentioned: first is the rector, Ignacio Ellacuria, then his vice rector, Ignacio Martin-Baro, Segundo Montes, Amando Lopez, Juan Ramon Moreno, Joaquin Lopez y Lopez, the housekeeper Julia Elba Ramos, and her daughter Celina Mariset Ramos. And that’s the twentieth occasion of their death at the University of Central America Jose Simeon Canas, located in El Salvador.
And they talk about how the military came in and murdered them all, and then they speak about the work that each one of them did, including the housekeeper and her daughter. And then they mentioned the Jesuit colleges in the United States. And, of course, they also mention that a Salvadoran jury found guilty two Salvadoran military officers, including Colonel Guillermo Alfredo Benavides Moreno. And that was the first time in Salvadoran history when any of the military were charged.
Now twenty years later at the School of the Americas, its new name is WHISC. we’re still involved in intervention. El Salvador has had its people in the streets for over 150 days. I spoke to President Zelaya this week. They are dealing with the junta in the same fashion. The democratically elected president, Zelaya, was ousted on June 28th.
at this very time, Senator DeMint made a deal with the State Department, with Hillary Clinton and others, to say, “Alright, I’ll support Tom Shannon as the ambassador to Brazil.” And he’s bragging about the fact that, as a result of that, he got their non-cooperation with the reinstatement of President Zelaya. And so, we have actually seen the open tension within the State Department at this time, and President Obama has remained on the sidelines on this one. I think he’s making a great mistake, because he said, “They’re asking me now to intervene,” as though we were asked to intervene militarily. We’re not asking that. We’re asking that the law be kept. The Organization of American States has jurisdiction to solve this problem. They decided entirely in favor of President Zelaya.
Obama condemned the coup. At the same time, he is not allowing the law to be kept. The law is structured through the Organization of American States and the UN, all of which have condemned the coup.
we were asking that the law be upheld and that criminals who had overthrown the government of Honduras not be treated on an equal basis. It’s as if someone stole your car, and the judge said, ”Well, maybe I’ll give it back to the one who stole it.” You know, there’s no logic in the behavior. So we were very disappointed in Obama in that case.
The Salvadoran defense minister says that the military is ready in El Salvador to apologize. it means someone high up may make an apology. But for years, they were torturing the Salvadoran people, and that’s why Archbishop Romero commanded them to mutiny. He said, you know, “I beg you, I order you, stop the repression.” And he was murdered very shortly after.
before he was murdered was played in a boom box in the trees of Fort Benning by Father Roy Bourgeois, the founder of the School of the Americas Watch.
Roy Bourgeois climbed a tree and aired that sermon at Fort Benning over the barracks where the Salvadoran troops were sleeping. And they came out hearing the voice of the archbishop. Then, of course, Roy was arrested. He has spent at least five years in federal prisons in his protests. And it’s a great testimony for peace that he’s given to the world.
And that was the beginning of the real strong opposition. So he’s had now support from all over the country, from universities and high school students. It will be at least 20,000 there this weekend to once again protest at Fort Benning. So it’s a very exciting time.
But the intervention in the Americas continues. Honduras is the—one of the ALBA nations. The ALBA nations, including Venezuela and Bolivia, and going into Ecuador and Cuba, as well, and Nicaragua, are a whole new direction for Latin America and a very exciting direction. They’ve come in with a new currency. They’ve come in with a new banking system. They’ve come in with a new political system, which the people of Latin America have had in their hopes, desires and anxieties for centuries. And we’re trying to break that link, striking at the weakest member of the ALBA nations. Next, if this succeeds in Honduras, Paraguay will be next, and then it will be Nicaragua, and then it will be El Salvador, because, you remember, the FMLN is now in charge in El Salvador. The FSLN is in charge in Nicaragua. It’s amazing. So, many of us never thought we’d see so much rapid change in Latin America so fast in our lifetime.
the whole new movement in Latin America is irreversible. It’s not going to return back where it was. And it’s a very exciting development. We shouldn’t be afraid of it. We operate on paranoia, of great fear, of Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales and all the way down to Uruguay and Chile. The movement is in process. And it is such a shame that we can’t be part and parcel of that movement. When Obama went to the meeting with the thirty-two countries, Trinidad, Tobago, the parting shot from the ALBA nations was, quote, “Are you a prisoner?”
They felt that Obama seemed to be under the spell of the military. It came directly from Hugo Chavez—“Are you a prisoner?”—because they’ve seen prisoner. And I’ve seen presidents who were prisoners in Guatemala, that were elected and then immediately told by the military, “You will do what we say, or you’re out of here.” And we almost feel that happening with Obama now. It’s quite frightening.
His policy on Cuba has been to do a few small issues, nothing in the area that should be done. Our business with Cuba has increased massively in recent years, in spite of the fact that it may appear to be illegal. But the rice farmers of Louisiana and other places are doing a lot of business with Cuba.
they’re tolerated by the Treasury Department. And the business goes on. But the whole thing should be ended, the massive blockade that has gone on for a half century, you know. And it still goes on, and it’s still very difficult for people to spend time in Cuba. If you go there as a—for a vacation, you can be arrested and fined. Canadians have been going there for decades. It’s one of their favorite vacation places.
Discussion with Blasé Bonpane.
Blasé Bonpane, former Maryknoll priest who serves as the director of the Office of the Americas. For more than four decades he has worked to promote human rights in Latin America. He also hosts the show World Focus on Pacifica Radio’s KPFK in Los Angeles and is the author of many books, including Civilization Is Possible.
– from democracynow.org