Another anniversary of the massacre of the Jesuits

Each November 16, we pause to remember a crime against humanity which remains, like so many others, in impunity and unjudged.  Today is the 29th anniversary of the massacre by Salvadoran troops in cold blood of six Jesuit priests, a female employee and her daughter. 

A few steps were taken along the path towards justice since the last anniversary.

The Spanish human rights trial is proceeding after ex-Colonel Inocente Montano was extradited from the United States to Spain at the end of 2017.   (Salvadoran courts have refused to extradite any of the other military defendants to Spain).   Montano has been defending his innocence by asserting that he was outside of the chain of command over the assassinations in 1989.

A criminal case in El Salvador has been re-opened to try the intellectual authors of the Jesuit massacre.   Progress in that case has been very slow.

On this 29th anniversary, watch this video reflection on the 1989 martyrdom of the Jesuits by Father José María Tojeira, Jesuit provincial at that time and continuing champion of human rights.   Father Tojeira remains committed to seeing that justice is achieved for his Jesuit brothers.