The following notes have been edited to correct errors and to add explanations and updates. Parenthetical notes and remarks from the original are enclosed in parentheses. Present day [2022] updates are italicized and enclosed in square brackets.
5 October 1990, 3:00 PM - University of Central America
We are welcomed to the university and led back a hallway to a conference room/library where some of the items which were attacked during the massacre are on display. [On the night of 16 November 1989 members of the elite Atlacatl Battalion of the Salvadoran military invaded the UCA and massacred six Jesuit priests/scholars, their housekeeper, and her daughter.] There are text books and a Bible which were machine-gunned into tatters. A scorched and blistered portrait of Archbishop Romero hangs in a charred wooden frame. The glass which had once covered it drips in icicles from the lower edge of the frame, melted by flame throwers and solidified again into tortured columns. The wooden panel above the door frame is pierced repeatedly with bullet holes, mementos of that terrible night nearly a year ago.
A slightly-built, middle-aged Spanish priest enters the room and takes his seat at the head of the conference table. He is introduced to us as Rafael Sivatte, an assistant to Fr. Jon Sobrino.
"I have been here since 1985, more or less - teaching at the university three months of each year. The last time that I was here was just before the massacre. But now I am settled in to stay as the Old Testament professor and assistant to Jon Sobrino.
"The room in which we are seated is the Monsignor Romero Center. The theological library is next door. In this building are rooms for the Masters of Theology study, and also the religious sciences department, plus lecture and reading rooms. On the second floor above the lecture rooms is the professors’ residence. On the night of 15 - 16 November 1989 the attack was centered here in the residence.
"There were actually two different military operations. In the first, forty to fifty soldiers opened fire against the doors and walls in the downstairs, concentrating on destroying items. The second was a small group of perhaps eight soldiers who entered the residence and committed the assassinations.
"This occurred Wednesday at night. On Monday afternoon there had been a search. Soldiers came in through the windows in a room down the hall. Fr. Moreno found them and called Fr. Ellacuria, who had just returned from Spain. They concentrated on looking at the residences, asking who lives here? and here? and here? This was much more than a search to find arms. It was a reconnaissance of the residential area. The same soldiers who conducted the search were the assassins.
"Two months ago President Cristiani and Col. Ponce admitted that they had ordered this search. Now they are saying that in the search they found arms and uniforms. This is false. If this had been the case, why didn't he make the announcement of such a find on the day of the search? They want to confuse the whole situation and to delay the trial even more.
"The relationship between the search and the assassinations is very clear. What is not clear is why President Cristiani has said that he ordered the search. Perhaps this is a deceit, and that the soldiers made the search under orders from someone else. The search was made at 6:30 PM. Permission for the search was asked at 9:00 PM!
"As for the status of the trial, there are tremendous problems in making any advances. First there was an effort to transfer the site of the trial to Santa Tecla, where everyone knows that the judge is unjust. But the present judge maintained his hold on the case. What we have heard is that it had been promised to Col. Benevides that the transfer would be made and that he would be cleared by Easter week 1990.
"Recently there have been some new developments which give hope. First, Cristiani renounced immunity and went to testify. This means that all military personnel who had only given written testimony now are beginning to follow his lead and go to court to testify. The judge is calling the high military commanders who were meeting together on the evening of 15 November, just before the assassinations. They are being asked if the Jesuits were discussed at that meeting, but all of them say that they don't know, or they don't remember.
"It appears to us that the assassinations were planned a while before they were carried out. Not just the Jesuits were targeted in the plan, but also leading union organizers, Medardo Gomez [Lutheran Bishop], Edgar Palacios [Baptist minister], and others. The important thing about this testimony is that the court is able to call people and that they are going.
"The second point is that while the assassinations were taking place, Cristiani was calling together a meeting of the leaders of the high command. There were also two U.S. advisors at that meeting. This is an important element, because the U.S. embassy has tried to maintain its distance. Now it is confirmed that there were high ranking U.S. advisors at the meeting. The U.S. has maintained that they played no role in planning with the military, not even planning of defense during the November offensive. Now this position has been refuted.
"Third, in September the judge was finally able to have Buckland come here to testify about what Aviles had told him that Benevides told him (Aviles) about the assassinations.
"Cristiani and Ponce want the trial to end quickly. They are hoping that no more people will be implicated. There seems to be some kind of struggle going on. People are saying that the order could only have been given by Ponce. Military officers are accusing each other. We hope that military unity can be broken and that one can begin to say what really happened."
Question: What has the Jesuit provincial said about the case?
"We think that of any judge, the one who is handling the case is the best. He is being threatened with death, but he wants to continue with the trial. Our provincial has mentioned on TV that he was happy with the way the trial was going. In this he was referring to the choice of judge. He also said that he is not happy with the difficulties being put in front of the judge.
"The last time he spoke on Channel 12, about a month ago, he gave three names of colonels who have not yet been investigated, and he called for their interrogation. Col. Oscar Alberto Leon Linares in Morazan was head of the Atlacatl Battalion. Col. Jose Domingo Flores Portillo was the immediate superior of Benevides. There is also Col. Carlos Mauricio Guzman Aguilar, now in Costa Rica, who was head of intelligence (equivalent to our CIA). In the Monday search of the university residences, one member of the search party was from the intelligence unit.
"There are two versions of how someone from intelligence happened to be with that group: one is that he was sent to accompany the soldiers, and the second is that they just happened to meet and he came along. Cristiani lies. Our provincial is happy with the judge, but not with the progress of the trial. Two days after Benevides testified secretly before the judge for six hours, Cristiani made the statement about arms' being found during the search. Benevides testified that the order for the assassinations came from above. Cristiani is afraid because those who gave the order could be very close to him, or could be someone from the embassy."
Question: Did Benevides name names?
"Not specifically, but he speculated that the source of the orders could be in the chain of command leading to Flores and Ponce."
Question: What propaganda was being put out about the Jesuits both before and after the assassinations?
"UCA was founded in 1965, but Jesuits were here long before that. Before the UCA took a position in favor of poor people, Jesuits were located in two areas – Aguilares, which was Rutilio Grande's area, and [an unnamed] school. They began to teach that education was a means of liberating everyone. In Aguilares they supported the Base Communities and the popular organizations. This provoked a reaction from the oligarchy.
"Between 1977 and 1980 the Jesuits associated with the UCA began to defend the agrarian reform. In 1981 Fr. Ellacuria came out in favor of negotiations with the FMLN. At that time the word 'negotiations' was considered traitorous. Because of his stand, Fr. Ellacuria had to flee to Nicaragua under death threat.
"All of this provoked a reaction from the oligarchy and the military. Lists of names kept coming out, and Fr. Ellacuria was always at the top. Harassment would become more intense, then less intense. Many times we were denounced on TV as communists, traitors, etc.
"As soon as the assassinations were committed, there was a soldier in one of the garrisons who claimed that he knew about it before the Jesuits made the announcement. The Archbishop heard on military radio gleeful announcements that they had killed the Jesuits and would continue to kill communists. Rivera y Damas [Salvadoran Archbishop] and his assistant also heard this statement made over loudspeakers by the leader of the First Brigade."
Question: How has this situation affected your teaching and your theology?
"We are operating not just in the context of war, but in the context of injustice and repression. I am dedicated to the prophets. It is not hard to find prophetic reality in what is happening here. The Bible we have read half correctly. Now we can read it more nearly correctly based on what has happened here.
"I am a parish priest for a very poor community. They are very alive and filled with hope. I also see some university persons open their eyes and begin to realize that they are among the privileged."
Question: What has been the response of the Vatican?
"The Vatican has in a diplomatic way condemned, perhaps a little more forcefully than usual, the killings. Jesuits of the world, also churches worldwide and part of the Catholic church itself, have given us much solidarity. There has been a mountain of bishops from the U.S. come to visit. I don't feel very defended by the Vatican, much more so by the solidarity of the people. The leader of the Jesuits came here in December and insisted that the university continue. Since February I have received three to four hundred delegates from around the world in this very room."
Question: How is the Jesuit case impacting the war and the negotiations?
"First, if the U.S. chooses to continue to send weapons, we will not see an end to the conflict, because there are still military people who think that they can win the war. So the first influence that the Jesuit case can have is to raise questions in the U.S. about continuing to send arms. It has created a more difficult situation for the army. And it has forced the government to go farther than they had wanted to in the negotiations.
"Second, by way of this case many people have discovered the incredible corruption and violence of the army. Many people used to believe the propaganda, but now they don't believe it so much anymore. The people are very anxious for peace. All are demanding that the war be brought to an end."
Question: Within the military has there been any change in the plans to kill the "intellectual leaders" of the resistance?
"Perhaps within the ranks of those whom we can call professional there has been some change. They are bothered by what their brothers have done. I believe there are some in the military who did not agree to the killing of the Jesuits. It is clear, however, that there are military personnel who still continue with the plan to kill all leaders of the popular movement. The Moakley report said that there was conflict within the military. The very next day there were press reports here which insisted that the military is totally united. The Moakley report bothered the military immensely.
Question: Please tell us a bit about UCA.
"Most careers are represented in the university except for medicine, and we are planning to add a medical school. This is not a Jesuit university, but rather a private institution with Christian inspiration. We never wanted a pontifical university. We have an ideal number of students, about 7100. Not everyone pays the same; fees are based on ability to pay. Who can come to the university? Only high school graduates, and poor people don't usually make it through high school. So even though we have sliding scales for fees, the school is still not accessible to everyone."
[Postscript: Following this conversation we were invited to spend time in the library and the adjoining garden. On a table in the library were two photo albums carefully documenting the aftermath of the massacre. Graphic images of the blood-soaked, mutilated bodies of the eight martyrs filled the pages. I had known intellectually of the atrocities, and how the U.S. funded, supported, and in some cases trained the assassins, but seeing those vivid pictures brought the horror of our complicity home to me in a new way.
In the garden we gathered to offer prayers at the memorial planted by the groundskeeper, bereaved husband and father of the two women who were among the murdered ~ a circle of six red rose bushes for the Jesuits, and in the center, two white ones for his family.
From today’s perspective, more than thirty years later, I wish that I had noted in my journal some of my reactions to the intensity of the day. But I know that I wasn’t ready yet to form my thoughts into coherent language. And when we returned home, what was most urgent was to get the stories of what we had heard and seen out to as many as possible who might join us in urging Congress to cut off military aid and to support the peace negotiations.
What I do know is that my life was irrevocably changed by my experiences with Project Via Crucis, both in El Salvador and here in the U.S. My commitment to justice making was strengthened. My determination to speak truth to power was reinforced. My tolerance for double-talk, for empty promises, obfuscation, and outright lies from elected and appointed officials was reduced to zero. I do my best to live in accordance with high ethics and values, and my prayer is always that I may stay with the struggle.]
Copyright © 2022 Marian L. Shatto
No comments:
Post a Comment