On Sunday, José Luis Escobar Alas, the Archbishop of San Salvador, responded to those who want to reopen the murders carried out during the country’s civil war (particularly that of former Archbishop Oscar Romero) saying that a repeal of the Amnesty Law would bring about a “difficult situation” for the country. He said that “as a Church, we have pardoned them” but that the Supreme Court of Justice and the Legislative Assembly should “make the decisions” in this matter.
President Mauricio Funes recently commented that Romero’s assassination “cannot go unpunished” and has asked the Legislative Assembly to elect an attorney general “with sufficient courage” to address the issue.
Oscar Romero, the former Archbishop, was assassinated during a public mass on March 24, 1980. The UN truth commission—created as part of the 1992 Chapultepec Peace Accords—determined in its report that Roberto D’Aubuisson, the founder of the political party ARENA (Alianza Republicana Nacionalista), “gave the order to assassinate the Archbishop and gave precise instructions to members of his security service, acting as a ‘death squad,’ to organize and supervise the assassination.”
Archbishop Romero is still in the consciousness of the Salvadoran people. On August 15, the birthday of Archbishop Romero, some 500 Salvadorans made the pilgrimage to San Salvador to commemorate the 29th anniversary of his death.
