Dear Friends,
A few days ago, my brother-in-law, human rights activist Jorge Acosta, nearly lost his life at the hands of three armed men. Your help is needed to bring to justice the attackers who have been terrorizing his village in El Salvador. The pattern of impunity is so strong in El Salvador, support from international friends will be critical to stopping this violence. (See the message below from my husband Francisco .) We thank you for anything you can do.
In peace,
Barbara Acosta
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MESSAGE FROM FRANCISCO ACOSTA
On Monday, February 9, 2004 three armed men attacked my brother, Jorge Acosta Arevalo, as he and his family were having dinner on their front porch. The incident took place in the rural village of La Mora, Suchitoto on the slopes of the Guazapa Volcano, one of the most conflictive zones during the 12-year civil war and its aftermath. The masked men appeared from behind the house carrying M-16 rifles, and took three shots. Jorge threw himself to the ground and tried to escape into the house, but was hit by a single bullet which pierced his back. A group of soldiers were patrolling just a few dozen yards down the road as part of the Government's anti-crime program. They reported the incident to the National Civilian Police, who arrived to transfer Jorge to the hospital, where he is now recovering in stable condition. Thankfully, no vital organs were affected.
Jorge is a recognized leader in the Province of Cuscatlan who served as the governor in 1979. He was forced to resign, however, after he was targeted by the death squads. In 1980, at the beginning of El Salvador's civil war, right wing Major Roberto D'Aubuisson publicly accused him of being a subversive. A few days later, a group of 30 National Guardsmen surrounded his house on the Guazapa Volcano and shot at him 13 times, but he escaped and was given asylum by Archbishop Oscar Romero. Romero was later martyred by the same death squads. Jorge and his family were forced to flee the country and were eventually separated. His wife and eleven children subsequently were given refuge in Australia, where they still reside.
Jorge returned to his hometown in 1992, where he has been working as a human rights activist for the non-governmental Human Rights Commission during the post-war period. Five years ago, Jorge began a campaign to seek justice against a band of armed kidnappers who have been terrorizing the region. They have been targeting community leaders and kidnapping them for ransom just when the kidnappers know the harvest is coming in and that these subsistence farmers will be receiving substantial amounts of money -- sometimes their entire year's income.
Shortly after Jorge began working on this campaign, a group of armed men left a note demanding that Jorge deliver his 12-year-old stepdaughter to them. A few days later, someone drove past his house and fired multiple shots, but no one was hurt. Jorge called in the media to denounce the threat, and demanded protection from the National Civilian Police, who set up a guardpost in his village. "I will not allow these kidnappers to terrorize me, my family and my community into silence," he told the press.
The following year, four men in civilian clothes showed up at a house belonging to another of our brothers and shot the caretaker, who had been asleep in a hammock. Pedro Chavez was killed, but not before taking the life of one of his attackers. Later, a neighbor reported that the dead attacker and two of his companions were members of the National Civilian Police. Contrary to the testimony of several eyewitnesses, the surviving attackers were never prosecuted. The police report stated that Pedro had instigated the attack against the police, not vice versa. The community began to become deeply uneasy with the pattern of impunity for the growing insecurityand violence.
During the last two years, Jorge has been working with the Oscar Romero University to organize the communities near the Guazapa Volcano around issues of health care for seniors, community safety, and food production. In December of 2003, he helped put together the Second Annual Senior Day in which over 400 elderly community members, including six centenarians, were honored.
The week before last Monday's shooting, Jorge gave another of a series of press conferences denouncing the band of kidnappers and demanding that the Government initiate a campaign to disarm civilians. As a result of the publicity generated by his efforts, one of the band's leaders was arrested and condemned to 30 years in prison.
A few days ago, a family friend went to the district attorney's office to ask about progress in the case, and was told that they had a backlog of other cases to resolve before they could attend to the attack on Jorge. "Anybody could want me eliminated and the strange thing is that neither the National Civilian Police nor the Attorney General has come to the hospital to take my statement. In other words, no one is investigating this," Jorge said yesterday.
It is clear that the government of El Salvador has been unable to guarantee the safety of its citizens or to bring to justice the perpetrators of violent crimes and human rights violations. In Jorge's case, the soldiers sent by the government, presumably to protect the community, were unable to prevent an attack from occurring just 40 yards from where they patrolled. Furthermore, in the past, human rights violations in El Salvador have enjoyed a pattern of impunity. In many cases, the police conduct a superficial investigation at most and subsequently file the case away under "unsolved crimes." For example, it is reported that 90 percent of the 7,900 gang members rounded up under the government's " hard hand" program were released last week.
WE NEED YOUR HELP
Please use your influence with your representatives and the Salvadoran embassy in your country to demand a deep investigation of this case, as well as protection for the witnesses. This case could become a turning point for El Salvador by bringing these perpetrators to justice and sending a clear message. Let's not permit more victims to be silenced and the case filed away in a drawer with so many others.
Francisco Acosta , PhD (hon)
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