El Salvador President
Mauricio Funes In Abuse Apology
By Emilio San Pedro, BBC News
The president of El Salvador has apologised
for human rights abuses committed by the
state during country's 12-year civil war.
President Mauricio Funes made the first
formal apology by one of the country's
presidents since the end of the conflict in
1992.
He said the right-wing authorities who
governed the country at the time had
committed grave human rights abuses.
He also said they had violated the country's
constitutional order.
"In the name of the state of El Salvador, I
ask for pardon," said the president,
speaking at a ceremony on the 18th
anniversary of the end of the conflict.
Those words - the first of their kind since
the end of the war by a Salvadoran president
- will be welcomed by the families of the
more than 75,000 people who died in the
conflict.
However, Mr Funes, who represents the party
of the former Marxist FMLN rebel movement,
will no doubt come under criticism for
failing to also apologise for the abuses
committed by the rebels during the war.
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