Salvador Death Squads May Be Back
Salvadorian authorities asserted that human rights attorney Beatrice de Castillo´s denunciations of the existence of death squads operating in the country must be profoundly investigated.

Reports on the reactivation of groups engaged in activities similar to death squads have been submitted to the Human Rights Attorney´s Office, according to de Castillo, who said that people do not make denunciations because they were afraid.

“When we talk about extermination groups we include groups of economic and social power, which are able to handle people, pay for weapons and above all, buy impunity,” she noted.

The attorney said those groups have also entered the National Civil Police.

Attorney General Benito Lara, member of the Legislative Public Security and Drug Committee, assured denunciations like that by de Castillo cheapen the principles and tasks the police must have.

Lara and members of the main opposition party, Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, said those crimes directly affect the entire population, and called to investigate de Castillo´s denunciations.

More than 3,760 Salvadorians were assassinated in 2005, the highest number during the last seven years.