From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Date: 10 Sep 92 17:45 PDT
Subject: Death threats in El Salvador
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476700441:000:8915
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Sep 10 17:45:00 1992


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: Death threats in El Salvador

/* Written  5:30 pm  Sep 10, 1992 by hrcoord in cdp:ai.uan */


UA 276/92     Possible Extrajudicial Executions/
               Death Threats               3 September 1992

EL SALVADOR:
Jose Alejandro JACO PEREZ     trade unionist
Salvador Ivan RAMIREZ         trade unionist
Miguel Angel ALVARENGA        trade unionist
Mario VALIENTE                trade unionist
Juan MANGANDI                 trade unionist

Amnesty International is concerned that several trade union
activists in El Salvador have been targets of killings and
death threats. While neither the identity nor the motive of
the perpetrators is clear, the pattern of killings of trade
unionists involved in labor disputes and the failure of the
authorities to investigate them thoroughly, suggests the
involvement of government forces, or agents acting with
their complicity.

Jose Alejandro Jaco Perez, Conflicts Secretary of the
Asociacion de Trabajadores del Ministerio de Obras Publicas
(ATMOP), the Association of Workers of the Ministry of
Public Works, was shot dead in front of his family on 3
August 1992 by three armed men in civilian clothing who
broke into his Santa Ana home. The assailants allegedly
attempted to steal certain items from the house, including
documents relating to his trade union activities. This has
led trade union sources to conclude that this may have been
a politically motivated attack disguised as an act of common
criminality. They also claim that in previous weeks Jose
Alejandro Jaco Perez had received threats from local
authority officials in Santa Ana following a labor dispute
over wage increases in which he had been active.

Salvador Ivan Ramirez, First Conflicts Secretary for the
Federacion Nacional Sindical de Trabajadores Salvadorenos
(FENASTRAS), the National Trade Union Federation of
Salvadorian Workers, was shot dead by unidentified men on 31
July 1992 in a restaurant in San Salvador. The Comision
Investigadora de Hechos Delictivos (CIDH), the governmental
criminal investigation commission, has publicly implicated
another trade unionist in the killing, although to date this
suspect has not been detained. However, the testimony of
witnesses and other circumstantial evidence appears to
refute the CIDH's version that the killing was the result of
a personal dispute. Salvador Ivan Ramirez had received
repeated death threats after resuming his trade union
activity on his return from exile in 1991.

Miguel Angel Alvarenga, Conflicts Secretary for the
Sindicato de la Industria Turistica, Gastronomica y
Actividades Similares y Conexas (STITGASC), the Union of
Tourist, Gastronomic and Related Industries, and former
member of the FENASTRAS directorate, went missing on 17 July
1992. His body was found three days later dumped in a barrel
on the road to Apulo, Ilopango. Miguel Angel Alvarenga
appears to have been killed in his home, where there were
bloodstains and signs of struggle. Initial investigations by
the CIDH suggested the killing may have been the work of an
Air Force bodyguard acting in collusion with Miguel Angel
Alvarenga's wife, but may not have been politically
motivated. The whereabouts of both suspects is unknown.
However, FENASTRAS leaders have criticised the CIDH's
propensity to categorize this and other recent killings as
common crimes, as they believe that the killing is part of a
covert campaign by sectors within the Armed Forces to launch
a ''dirty war'' against government opponents.

Amnesty International has also received reports that at
least another five trade unionists have been murdered in the
last month, mostly in the west of the country. The
organization is seeking further information regarding the
circumstances of the killings.

Other prominent trade union activists involved in recent
labor disputes have received death threats. Juan Mangandi,
Mario Valiente and three other members of the executive
council (consejo ejecutivo) of the Asociacion Salvadorena de
Trabajadores de Telecomunicaciones (ASTTEL), the Salvadorian
Association of Telecommunications Workers, received
anonymous death threats in early August following a labor
conflict between the union and management. ASTTEL denounced
the threats formally to the authorities, but no steps have
been taken to identify those responsible.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Throughout the 12 years of armed conflict between the
government and the Frente Farabundo Marti para la Liberacion
Nacional (FMLN), trade union members suspected of links with
the FMLN have been prime targets of extrajudicial
executions, ''disappearances'' and torture by the
Salvadorian armed forces and ''death squads'' created by or
linked to them.

In January 1992 the government and the FMLN signed a peace
accord which included agreements to implement a wide range
of reforms and to create new mechanisms for human rights
protection. However human rights violations have continued
since the signing of the peace, including unclarified
''death squad''- style killings and death threats against
trade unionists and other government critics.

A series of recent strikes in protest at the government's
economic program and delays in implementing agreed economic
reforms have led to public accusations by the authorities
that certain trade unions are fomenting unrest and
jeopardising the peace process.  With industrial action
continuing over the government's privatization and taxation
measures, trade union activists fear that threats and
killings will recur.

Although the above incidents have been reported to the
authorities, as well as to the human rights division of the
United Nations Observer Mission in El Salvador (ONUSAL), the
Salvadorian authorities have routinely failed to investigate
such cases effectively. AI believes that the failure to
identify and punish those responsible for human rights
violations is a key contributory factor to their
continuation and undermines the effectiveness of other human
rights-related reforms resulting from the peace accords.

RECOMMENDED ACTIONS: Please send telegrams/telexes/faxes/
airmail letters: expressing concern at the recent spate of
killings of trade unionists, including Jose Alejandro Jaco
Perez, Salvador Ivan Ramirez and Miguel Angel Alvarenga;
calling on the appropriate authorities to carry out an
immediate and thorough investigation into these killings
which will result in the bringing to justice of those
responsible; urging that all appropriate measures be taken
to guarantee the safety of Juan Mangandi, Mario Valiente and
other trade unionists who have received death threats, and
that trade unionists in El Salvador be permitted to carry
out their trade union activities without threat to their
security; stressing your belief that human rights
violations, which have continued since the peace accord, can
only be eradicated if effective human rights reforms are
implemented in practice and if perpetrators of human rights
violations are held to account for their acts.

APPEALS TO:                          [Salutation]
1. President
[Sr Presidente / Dear President]

S.E. Alfredo Cristiani Burkard
Presidente de la Republica de El Salvador
Casa Presidencial
San Salvador, El Salvador
(Telex: 301 20245 RS SAL)
(Faxes: 011 (503) 71 09 50; 79 34 01)


2. Foreign Minister
[Sr Ministro / Dear Minister]

Sr. Jose Manuel Pacas Castro
Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores
Minsterio de Relaciones Exteriores
Bld. Manuel Enrique Araujo km6
San Salvador, El Salvador
(Telex: 301 20179 RREE SAL)
(Faxes: 011 (503) 98 17 74)


3. Minister of Labor and Social Security
[Sr Ministro / Dear Minister]
Sr. Mauricio Gonzalez Dubon
Ministro de Trabajo y Prevision Social
Ministerio de Trabajo y Prevision Social
2a avenida Norte 428
San Salvador, El Salvador
(Telex: 301 20016 TRABSALVA)
(Faxes: 011 (503) 79 08 77)


4. Human Rights Procurator
[Sr Procurador / Dear Sir]
Dr. Carlos Molina Fonseca
Procurador Nacional de Derechos Humanos
Procuraduria General de la Republica
13a C.Poniente, Centro de Gobierno
San Salvador, El Salvador

COPIES OF YOUR APPEALS TO:
National Trade Union Federation of Salvadorian Workers
FENASTRAS
10a avenida Norte, 120
Costado Oriente del Mercado ex-cuartel
San Salvador, El Salvador
(Faxes: 011 (503) 21 18 58)

Federation of Independent Associations of El Salvador
FEASIES
1a Avenida Norte, 811
San Salvador, El Salvador
Faxes:      (503) 22 39 91

Newspaper
Diario Latino
6a avenida Norte, 325
San Salvador, El Salvador    (Faxes: 011 (503) 71 09 71)

COPAZ
Asamblea Legislativa
6a planta
Edificio Centro de gobierno
San Salvador, El Salvador    (Fax: 011 (503) 71 35 88)

Ambassador Miguel Angel Salaverria
Embassy of El Salvador
2308 California St NW
Washington DC 20008

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the Colorado
office between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm, Mountain Time, weekdays
only, if sending appeals after October 14, 1992.