Activist disappears

Friends and family are speaking out about the disappearance of Marcelo Rivera, an activist involved in many contentious issues. From the Voices on the Border blog:
The social leader and activist, Marcelo Rivera, has been missing since June 18, and people in the community of San Isidro, where Rivera lived and worked claim that his disappearance is a result of human rights offenses and institutional corruption. While community members in San Isidro, Cabañas demonstrate against his disappearance and demand his return, the search for Rivera has had shown no success thus far.

Rivera was last seen by neighbors and family on June 18 in late afternoon hours in El Molino in the jurisdiction of Ilobasco. The search began on Sunday, June 20, led by family, neighbors, and community members. Some family members have said that they “have not seen involvement in the investigation neither from the PNC, or from the Attorney General of the Republic.”

The activist is a well-known social figure as a member of the Departmental Board of Directors of the FMLN, Director of the Casa de la Cultura, and Legal Representative of the Association of Friends of San Isidro Cabañas (ASIC). In January, Rivera was a head opposition leader in the denunciation of local election results in San Isidro, claiming fraud and corruption. Rivera has also been highly involved in the resistance to Pacific Rim’s mining projects.

Comments

Anonymous said…
"Rivera has also been highly involved in the resistance to Pacific Rim’s mining projects."

Ooooh! He's probably dead.
Unknown said…
Brilliant! And those who murdered him should be brought to justice...--if necessary by an international tribunal if the Salvadoran justice system proves itself incapable--it must be said without hesitancy. !Alto a la Impunidad!
billmart said…
That brings bad memories right? ... it does sound once again like Death Squads job. It looks like that type of activity will show in our scenario as the MF/FMLN government start applying pressure to punish so much corruption found and left from the previous ARENA gvmts.
Unknown said…
While your deep reporting of Salvadoran happenings is highly commendable, sometimes you should consider reporting on international things that may somehow influence/involve El Salvador.

For example, and I am sure that not many US outlets have payed attention, you could talk about Honduras' recent coup d'etat were Zelaya was removed from power.

Why is this of any relevance to El Salvador? Because this kind of actions can start new trends in the region, with the military taking action against elected officials, because a conflict of power is going on between "govs." (particularly considering the recent leftist trend in the region), and those who have the economic power of the region, and their sway on institutions that supposedly are loyal to the institutions of the country, and the population.

What I am trying to say, is that actions like this, can embolden ARENA to further try to delegitimize FMLN's government, and try to sabotage it, through its control of congress (by which it is already stalling the selection of an attorney general, and supreme court justices), and to even go and encourage dissenter action to the military, by use of a belligerent congress, the mass media outlets they control, and their economic clout.