Former Salvadoran President Alfredo Cristiani is prosecuted for Jesuit massacre

Published at: 19/11/2024 11:30 PM

The Justice of El Salvador will prosecute former President Alfredo Cristiani (1989-1994) for the massacre of six Jesuit priests —five of them of Spanish nationality— and two collaborators, a fact that occurred in 1989 in the context of the civil war.

The Second Court of Investigation of San Salvador will put eight people, including former president Cristiani, in the dock for the crimes of murder and terrorism, reported La Prensa Gráfica.

Former soldiers Juan Bustillo, Juan Zepeda, Rafael Larios, Nelson López, Joaquín Cerna and Inocente Montano will also be tried.

The judge ordered the provisional arrest and the issuance of an international red alert for the capture of Cristiani, Bustillo, Cerna and Zepeda, as well as Rodolfo Parker.

The latter, a former deputy and former legal advisor to the Ministry of Defense, was also accused, along with two other former soldiers, of procedural fraud and concealment.

The hearing for the massacre began last week with the request, by the Prosecutor's Office, for the arrest of the former right-wing president and other defendants who did not appear in the trial. Only five of the 11 defendants showed up.

The victims were the Spanish Jesuits Ignacio Ellacurina, Segundo Montes, Ignacio Martín-Baró, Armando López and Juan Ramón Moreno, together with priest Joaquín López and two collaborators, Elba and his daughter Celina Ramos, of Salvadoran nationality.

According to the institution of the Judiciary, Cristiani “was present at the meeting where the crime was coordinated and its execution authorized.”

Mazo News Team