Lutheran Pastor injured by blows from police

Diario CoLatino ran this story today regarding the beating of a Lutheran pastor by anti-riot police during anti-CAFTA demonstrations last Friday, December 17. Rev. Ricardo Cornejo is now receiving medical treatment in the United States for the blows he received. The medical treatment was made possible by the generosity of various churches in the United States.

The beating was denounced in El Salvador. Lutheran pastor Efrain Cerna called on the various sectors of Salvadoran society to repudiate this new attack against the church and its ministers. He denounced the director of the PNC, Ricardo Menesses, for ordering the violent break-up of the citizen protests and urged the Legislative Assembly to censure Menesses for abuse of power. Lutheran pastor Roberto Pineda called for the immediate firing of the PNC director, calling him a "threat to democratic civility" in El Salvador. Pineda announced that they would present the case to the Human Rights Procurator and the Institute for Human Rights at the University of Central America.

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