From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord@igc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Date: 27 Jul 92 11:01 PDT
Subject: Proceso 524: Editorial
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476700279:000:6338
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Jul 27 11:01:00 1992


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: Proceso 524: Editorial

/* Written  9:44 pm  Jul 26, 1992 by cidai@huracan.cr in cdp:reg.elsalvador */

Center for Information, Documentation and Research Support (CIDAI)
Central American University (UCA)
San Salvador, El Salvador

PROCESO 524
July 22, 1992

EDITORIAL:
The truth must be an effort of society

     The Truth Commission has been well received by the Cristiani
government, whose spokespersons have had good words for it and
have promised their cooperation. The Commission's members have
repeatedly stressed the promises made to them by the president of
the Supreme Court, and have taken him at his word. All government
spokespersons have promised to heed the Commission's
recommendations, but the military has been careful to add that it
hopes the Commission will act with impartiality, in other words,
that it refrain from attacking what they refer to as the prestige
of the institution.
     We should not be deceived by governmental appearances. The
Truth Commission has been necessary because the Salvadoran
government has concealed and ignored the vicious reality of
repression throughout the twelve years of war. One government
after another has disseminated its own "official lie" regarding
the massive and systematic violations of the human rights of tens
of thousands of Salvadorans at the hands of the State. The
judicial branch, whose president is now brimming with promises,
has never taken seriously the violations that the Commission must
now investigate. The Attorney General's Office has also never
taken responsibility. The Legislative Assembly never paid any
attention to the problem. The U.S. government and its embassy
refused to acknowledge the most crying outrages and downplayed
others.
     The victims were discredited and their families were
humiliated in government propaganda, by government offices and by
Washington. Instead of defending the victims, they took the side
of those who violated human rights. Instead of guaranteeing
individual life and safety, they promoted death and terror. The
ends of the State were perversely and consciously distorted.
     A Truth Commission, such as the one which recently began
work, has been a necessity because the Salvadoran State turned
against its own citizens, refused to make reparations for the
harm caused them, and has even refused to acknowledge them. The
existence of the Truth Commission, on the other hand,
demonstrates that the official lie is now discredited, and that
its makers and propagators, as well as the deeds they concealed
and the persons they protected, must be exposed before the
public. Consequently, the Truth Commission must formally
establish the existence of the illegal summary executions, the
most relevant aspect of the war in terms of human rights
violations; forcible disappearances and torture to which
detainees were subjected by the army and security forces. The
Commission must also review the judicial proceedings conducted in
the cases of those imprisoned on political charges.
     In the Jesuit case, the Truth Commission must establish, in
accordance with the documentation presented, that there were
higher-ups who planned and gave the order to kill them, persons
whom the State has refused to investigate or even acknowledge,
and that the Armed Forces is perfectly capable of investigating
the case thoroughly and that, in not doing so, its highest
echelons must be considered responsible for the massacre and for
obstructing justice.
     Given how past governments actively collaborated in drawing
up, disseminating and defending the official lie, it is hard to
believe that the current government will make any attempt to
cooperate with the Truth Commission in investigating the crimes
and human rights violations of the previous decade. Its promises
of cooperation are more for public relations purposes than
expressions of political will. Therefore, unless additional
sources of information emerge, the Truth Commission will be
limited to formally recording what occurred. The mandate of the
Commission goes farther than that, however, given that it is
charged with investigating; but without cooperation from the
State or from the United States, it is practically impossible to
investigate more than what some non-governmental human rights
organizations have already done.
     The work of the Truth Commission actually appears to be more
modest than was expected, but that does not make it any less
important. Simply creating a formal register of the tens of
thousands of violations and crimes is of the utmost importance
for this country, because it will unmask the lie that has
prevailed until now. The decomposition of the Salvadoran State
will thereby be formally established.
     Given that the Truth Commission cannot expect cooperation
from the government and the army, it will resort to what it calls
an "open-door policy," in other words, anyone who has been a
victim of or witness to a human rights violation will have access
to the Commission to present his or her case. The Commission's
members have expressed their wish to listen attentively to all
witness who appear to register their claims, something that no
government here has ever wanted to do. Proof of this open-door
policy is the presence of Commission members not only in the
capital, but also in Perquin, one of the most hard-hit areas
during the war.
     For the Truth Commission, circumstantial or indicative
evidence will be sufficient, given that the State, which ought to
provide the necessary evidence, has never done so before nor is
it disposed to do so now, despite its promises of cooperation.
     Besides pointing out the institutional faults of the State
in its report, the Truth Commsion ought also to establish civil
responsibility in cases of human rights violations, since the
government has the obligating of providing reparations. Although
El Salvador does not possess sufficient funds to take on this
enormous responsibility, it could profit by providing a series of
benefits to surviving victims or their families.
     In order for the Truth Commission to fulfill its mandate, as
well as the expectations of the Salvadoran people, the latter
must cooperate by presenting their cases. In El Salvador, truth
requires an effort on the part of society.



Xref: sparky soc.rights.human:2653 misc.legal:14758 alt.activism:13417