Jesuits of the UCA still have their voice

Sunday, November 16, marked the 36th anniversary of the Jesuit massacre at the University of Central America José Simeón Cañas in El Salvador (the "UCA").   On that date in 1989 during El Salvador's bloody civil war, soldiers from an elite Salvadoran army battalion assassinated six Jesuit priests and a female co-worker and her daughter on the campus of the UCA.  It was a murderous attack on voices which had consistently denounced human rights abuses and and sought peace and justice for the oppressed millions of El Salvador. 

This year's anniversary comes in the midst of the 4th year of the State of Exception in El Salvador in which tens of thousands have been imprisoned for years in hellish prisons without trial and without guarantees of due process.  Allegations of torture, which echo back to the bloody decades of the 70s and 80s, are being made again by victims and their families. The military roams anew the streets of the country.  

Although many voices have been imprisoned or forced into exile by the Bukele regime in the past year, the Jesuits of the UCA continue to speak with faithful consistency about what justice and human rights demand in El Salvador.   Although at least 53 Salvadoran journalists have been forced into exile according to Reporters Without Borders, and human rights defenders have been imprisoned, frequent and pointed editorials continue to be aired on YSUCA, the UCA radio station, which provides independent news coverage and interviews of opponents of the government as well.  

Groups seeking justice for events in today's El Salvador were drawn to the commemoration of the Jesuit massacre. Families of those whose loved ones have disappeared into the prisons of the State of Exception, denied any contact with the outside world, joined the candle-lit procession.  They walked with others in a chain of solidarity going back 36 years and more.    

The sermon at the commemoration mass was delivered by the rector of the UCA, Mario Cornejo.  He noted the thousands of complaints of human rights violations during the State of Exception received by the UCA's human rights office and repeated the UCA's commitment to stand with the most vulnerable in society:

This year's anniversary came just two months after the unexpected passing of another important Jesuit voice in El Salvador, Father Jose Maria ("Chema") Tojeira.  He was a fellow Jesuit of those massacred at the UCA in 1989, and continued in El Salvador until the time of his death as an outspoken voice for social justice and human rights.  Among other positions he served as rector of the UCA and later headed the University's human rights office. Throughout the past 36 years he had been the leading spokesperson for the Jesuits' quest for justice in the massacre case, and an end to the near total impunity enjoyed by perpetrators of war crimes during the country's civil war.

The criminal case in a Salvadoran court against those accused of ordering and covering up the massacre is stalled.  Although it was reopened a year ago, there has been no movement since.  By all appearances, the case had more to do with bringing charges and headlines about Bukele political opponents Alfredo Cristiani and Rodolfo Parker, than the case did with wanting to hold El Salvador's retired military brass accountable for a crime against humanity.