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Justice on Hold in El Salvador
Justice is still a pending issue
of the government agenda of El
Salvador, stated Miguel
Montenegro, president of the
Human Rights Commission.
According to the specialist, the
impunity of many cases
registered during the internal
war and after the
re-establishment of
constitutional law have
stimulated criminality.
He emphasized the lack of state
policy on unemployment and
insecurity that makes the
country one of the riskiest in
the region, where there are a
yearly average of 54 homicides
for every 100 thousand
inhabitants.
Montenegro recalled that the low
intensity war imposed by the
United States on El Salvador
cost the lives of 85 thousand
persons as well as eight
thousand men and women
disappeared, most victims of
cruel torture in government
jails, he noted.
Montenegro proposed a program of
reparation and compensation of
the victims of the armed
conflict and their surviving
families.
A National Forum of Truth and
Reconciliation and a national
day of mourning for the victims
are some of the actions he
suggested, as well as a Truth
Foundation according to
international law.
Salvadoran social movements are
the only ones who set up a
memorial with 26 thousand names
of war victims to boost an end
to impunity and initiatives to
achieve justice in international
courts, he emphasized.
He concluded that only through
the eradication of impunity and
social injustice can El Salvador
guarantee that the recent,
painful and sad past never be
repeated.
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