Web Letters: Mo(u)rning in El Salvador

Thank you for Roberto Lavoto’s thoughtful reporting in the recent FMLN electoral victory in El Salvador.

I interviewed Salvadoran President-Elect Mauricio Funes (who was Channel 12 news director at the time) while conducting research for my dissertation in 2000. In a country where the media have tended to support the status quo and justify human rights violations, Funes stood out as a professional committed to democracy. Unfortunately, this integrity later cost him his position at Channel 12.

Funes made it clear to me that he believed El Salvador needed to reform its corrupt, abusive police force; establish transparency through a Freedom of Information-style law; and strengthen the Office of the Human Rights Counsel (PDDH). For the sake of all Salvadorans, I hope that he makes these items his top priority. Doing so will not be easy, however, and the Funes Administration will need the support of the United States and the rest of the international community to make progress against deeply-entrenched interests.

While I am disappointed that Funes has stated that he will not challenge the 1992 and 1993 amnesty laws that provide impunity to those responsible for wartime human rights, I hope that he has the courage to press forward on the many, many postwar abuses not covered by those laws. These include cases that I have worked on, including Teamsters organizer Gilberto Soto, businessman Ramón García Prieto, and the countless youth killed by vigilante death squads.

I am the author of Freedom of Expression in El Salvador: The Struggle for Human Rights and Democracy (McFarland & Co., 2004).

Lawrence (Larry) M. Ladutke

Weehawken, NJ