Death Squads a concern in El Salvador

INTERVIEW/ Edgardo Amaya

The possible reemergence of death squads is a major concern in El Salvador, as reflected in a report issued by Amnesty International (AI) this past May. After raising similar concerns about neighboring Honduras, the AI report also denounces threats against human rights activists and violence against women, and notes that impunity is one of the main forces behind the high levels of violence in the nation.

"Death squads were born of paramilitary groups from the extreme right, made up of army officers, plainclothes police officers and civilians targetting political opponents or those suspected of opposing El Salvador's government during the civil war," said Edgardo Amaya, Criminal Law Coordinator at the Fundación de Estudios para la Aplicación del Derecho (Fespad).

El Salvador recent history of violence dates back to the time the nation was assailed by the 12 year civil war from 1980 to 1992, the so-called "dirty wars" period -when extermination groups made up of police officers and army men were used as tools of state repression against the opposition.

Speaking to Comunidad Segura about the AI report, Edgardo Amaya discusses the current levels of violence in El Salvador, a nation with a homicide rate of 55 per 100 thousand inhabitants (2005 data), five times the level the World Health Organization considers a "serious epidemic".

Among the most alarming pieces of information divulged by Amnesty International is the fact that 286 women were murdered in El Salvador in 2006. How do you see this data?

Amnesty's information is incomplete. The most recent data issued by the Instituto de Medicina Legal, IML, concerns 598 women victimized by first degree murder out of a larger universe of 3,906 first degree murders reported in 2006. Which is about 15.3% of the total.  According to the IML, the homicide rate for female victims increased by 50% over the last 7 years. In 1999, 6.22 females were killed per hundred thousand inhabitants, contrasting with a rate of 12.37 females killed in 2006.

The report mentions that human rights advocates are persecuted. Where do these threats come from, and what are the motivations behind the threats? What are the interests at play?

We cannot say that all the threats come from a single and well known source, although it is certainly suspected that government agents take part in intimidations. One aspect that threats and intimidations have in common is that they are all directed at the institutions that launch investigations into cases that either suggest police participation, or older cases with a suspected military involvement. But that does not mean however, that we can exclude the possibility  that organized crime is involved in these actions. 

The death squads mentioned in the AI report are one of the main sources of concern in the nation. How do you explain their emergence? 

Death squads were born of paramilitary groups from the extreme right, made up of army men, plainclothes police and civilians targetting either political opponents or those suspected of opposing El Salvador's government during the civil war period from 1980 to 1992.

What were the first signs that these groups were back?

The emergence of the “Sombra Negra” (Black Shadow), a death squad that targeted alleged delinquents, has been recorded since 1993. An investigation proved the involvement of police chiefs from the province where the squad was active, who in turn counted with the support of local business owners and political authorities. The investigations resulted in filing a weak case and the case was closed.

Who follows these cases? In what instances?

Human rights organizations such as the Tutela Legal del Arzobispado, Procuraduría para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (PDDH, the Human Rights Defense Attorney ) and Fespad have made acusations and brought to light proof of summary executions of alleged delinquents or gang members. Both Tutela Legal and the PDDH claim that all evidence points to government agent (police) involvement in some of these cases.

According to Amnesty International, impunity is one of major factors behind El Salvador's high indices of violence. What kind of impunity are we talking about, and what interests does it serve? 

We find, with respect to cases from the past, that impunity is associated with interests that are clearly political, since an investigation into the nation's history of war would probably involve people connected high up in the nation's governing political and economic elite.

There is impunity related to common crimes for a number of reasons: public security policies that are improvised, the lack of clear criminal indictment policies, which in turn, affect the course of criminal investigations. There have also been complaints of corruption in the Judiciary system.

Nevertheless, in the case of death squads for example, some trustworthy sources working with youths and gangs say that the majority of these cases could be the work of local citizens, without necessarily involving security institutions. With respect to both types of impunity, as a rule, no investigations are launched into the facts.

Translated by Lis Horta Moriconi

Read Further:

2007 Amnesty International Report – El Salvador

Fundación de Estudios para la Aplicación del Derecho (in Spanish)