1980 murders of U.S. missionaries in El Salvador
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On December 2, 1980, four Catholic missionaries from the United States working in
Historical background
The
Murders
Kazel and Donovan, who were based in La Libertad, drove to El Salvador International Airport on the afternoon of December 2 to pick up two Maryknoll Sisters returning from a Maryknoll conference in Managua, Nicaragua. Kazel and Donovan were under surveillance by a National Guardsman at the time, who telephoned his commander. Acting on orders from the commander, five National Guardsmen changed out of uniform and continued to stake out the airport. Donovan and Kazel returned to pick up Clarke and Ford, who were returning from the same conference, on a flight due at 7:00 pm, which landed at 9:11 pm.[1] The five Guardsmen stopped the four women's vehicle after they left the airport. They were taken to a relatively isolated spot where they were beaten, raped and murdered by the soldiers.[1]
Peasants living nearby had seen the women's white van drive to an isolated spot at about 10 p.m. on December 2 and then heard machine gun fire followed by single shots, three hours after the flight was due. They saw five men flee the scene in the white van, with the lights on and the radio blaring. The van would be found later that night on fire at the side of the airport road. Later, the women's bodies were found knifed in a ditch.[1]
Early the next morning, December 3, they found the bodies of the four women and were told by local authorities — a judge, three members of the National Guard, and two commanders — to bury them in a common grave in a nearby field. The peasants did so, but informed their
Their shallow grave was exhumed the next day, December 4, in front of 15 reporters, Sisters Alexander and Dorsey and several missionaries, and Ambassador White. Donovan's body was the first exhumed; then Kazel's; then Clarke's; and last, that of Ita Ford. On December 5, a
Subsequent history
As news of the murders was made public in the United States, public outrage forced the U.S. government to pressure the
Unlike President Carter, succeeding U.S. President
In El Salvador's Decade of Terror: Human Rights Since the Assassination of Archbishop Romero, Human Rights Watch reports:
During the Reagan years in particular, not only did the United States fail to press for improvements … but, in an effort to maintain backing for U.S. policy, it misrepresented the record of the Salvadoran government, and smeared critics who challenged that record. In so doing, the Administration needlessly polarized the debate in the United States, and did a grave injustice to the thousands of civilian victims of government terror in El Salvador. Despite the
El Mozote Massacre that year, Reagan continued certifying (per the 1974 amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act) that the Salvadoran government was progressing in respecting and guaranteeing the human rights of its people, and in reducing National Guard abuses against them.[4]
In 1984, four national guardsmen—Daniel Canales Ramírez, Carlos Joaquín Contreras Palacios, Francisco Orlando Contreras Recinos and José Roberto Moreno Canjura—were convicted of murdering the four women and were sentenced to 30 years in prison.[5] Their superior, sub-sergeant Luis Antonio Colindres Alemán, was also convicted for the murders and received a 30-year sentence.[5]
According to the Maryknoll Sisters:
The [1993] U.N.-sponsored[6] Report of the Commission on the Truth for El Salvador concluded that the abductions were planned in advance and the men responsible had carried out the murders on orders from above. It further stated that the head of the National Guard and two officers assigned to investigate the case had concealed the facts to harm the judicial process. The murder of the women, along with attempts by the Salvadoran military and some American officials to cover it up, generated a grass-roots opposition in the U.S., as well as ignited intense debate over the Administration's policy in El Salvador. In 1984, the defendants were found guilty and sentenced to 30 years in prison. The Truth Commission noted that this was the first time in Salvadoran history that a judge had found a member of the military guilty of assassination. In 1998, three of the soldiers were released for good behavior. Two of the men remain in prison and have petitioned the Salvadoran government for pardons.[7]
The head of the National Guard, General Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, went on to become Salvadoran Minister of Defense in the government of José Napoleón Duarte.[8] In 1998, the four assassins confessed to abducting, raping and murdering the four churchwomen and claimed that they did so because Alemán had informed them that they had to act on orders from high-level military officers.[5] Some were then released from prison after detailing how Vides and his cousin Col. Oscar Edgardo Casanova Vejar, the local military commander in Zacatecoluca, had planned and orchestrated the executions of the churchwomen.[9] A 16-year legal battle to deport Vides Casanova soon commenced.[10]
Ita Ford's brother, attorney William P. Ford, spent more than 25 years using the U.S. court system to try to obtain justice for his sister and the other three murdered women. He worked closely with Human Rights First (formerly the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights) on federal lawsuits to try to bring Salvadoran generals to answer for the murder of the women, and, in other cases, for the torture and murder of members of the Salvadoran poor.[11] After their emigration to the U.S. state of Florida, Vides Casanova and his fellow general, José Guillermo García, were sued by the families of the four women in federal civil court. The case is styled Ford v. Garcia. The defense won the case. On February 24, 2012, however, a Federal immigration judge cleared the way for the deportation of Vides Casanova after the General was held liable for various war crimes which occurred under his command.[12] On March 11, 2015, the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed General Vides Casanova's appeal.[13][14] Vides Casanova was then deported back to El Salvador on April 8, 2015.[10]
Cultural depictions
Roses in December is a 1982 documentary about the murders, focusing on Jean Donovan.[15] This documentary won the Interfilm Award at the 1982 International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg.[16]
The dramatization
The murders were also depicted in Salvador, Oliver Stone's 1986 film about an American reporter trying to cover the overall conflict. In this film, actress Cynthia Gibb portrayed Cathy Moore, a character based on Jean Donovan. Moore is shown in several scenes interacting with the main character.[18]
Points of Arrival: a Jean Donovan journey is a 1996 play written by Paul Amandes, developed by and starring Lisa Wagner and her Still Point Theater Collective, supported by Call to Action.[19]
References
- ^ ISBN 1570750319)
- ^ Bonner, Raymond (April 19, 2015). "The Diplomat Who Wouldn't Lie". Politico.
- ^ Krauss, Clifford (March 21, 1993). "How U.S. Actions Helped Hide Salvador Human Rights Abuses". The New York Times.
- ISBN 9780300049398.
- ^ a b c Larry Rother (April 3, 1998). "4 Salvadorans Say They Killed U.S. Nuns on Orders of Military". New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved June 23, 2015.
- ^ "Part One: From Madness to Hope: El Salvador: Truth Commissions: Library and Links: U.S. Institute of Peace". June 4, 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-06-04.
- ^ "Martyrdom in El Salvador". Maryknoll Sisters. Archived from the original on 3 March 2001. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
- ^ Biography Archived July 5, 2008, at the Wayback Machine InterReligious Task Force of Cleveland; accessed October 7, 2005.
- ^ Larry Rother (April 3, 1998). "4 Salvadorans Say They Killed U.S. Nuns on Orders of Military". New York Times. p. 2. Retrieved June 23, 2015.
- ^ a b Preston, Julia (April 8, 2015). "U.S. Deports Salvadoran General Accused in '80s Killings". The New York Times.
- ^ "Human Rights First 25th Anniversary: Bios". Archived from the original on June 29, 2007. Retrieved February 27, 2016. biography of William P. Ford, accessed online December 11, 2006.
- ^ Preston, Julia (February 23, 2012). "Salvadoran May Be Deported From U.S. for '80 Murders of Americans". The New York Times.
- ^ Board of Immigration Appeals. "Matter of Carlos Eugenio VIDES CASANOVA, Respondent" (PDF). Executive Office for Immigration Review. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 12, 2015. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
- ^ Preston, Julia (March 12, 2015). "General in El Salvador Killings in '80s Can Be Deported, Court Rules". The New York Times.
- ^ "Roses in December" details Archived August 15, 2008, at the Wayback Machine at American Friends Service Committee lending library; accessed online December 9, 2006.
- ^ Mannheim-Heidelberg International Filmfestival Germany 1982 Awards at IMDB
- ^ "Humanitas Prize winners list 1975-2006". Archived from the original on September 17, 2008.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (April 25, 1986). "Salvador". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
- ^ "Notebook; A Love Story". The Tablet. November 16, 1996. p. 11. Archived from the original on September 21, 2015. Retrieved February 29, 2016.; Rousuck, J. Wynn (October 23, 1998). "Making a case for standing up to oppression Review: At Theatre Project, 'Points of Arrival' argues in unconventional -- and not always successful -- ways for goodness and enduring faith". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved February 29, 2016.; "Jean Donovan to get new life in drama: actress takes stage to recreate 'moments' in holy women's lives". National Catholic Reporter. January 19, 1996. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
Further reading
- "Hearts on Fire: The Story of the Maryknoll Sisters", Penny Lernoux, et al., Orbis Books, 1995.
- "Salvador Witness: The Life and Calling of Jean Donovan", Ana Carrigan, Ballantine Books, 1986.
- "Witness of Hope: The Persecution of Christians in Latin America," Martin Lange and Reinhold Iblacker, Orbis Books, 1981.
- "Who Was Dorothy Kazel?" from the diocese of Cleveland Wayback Machine
- "Here I Am, Lord: The Letters and Writings of Ita Ford", Jeanne Evans (editor), Orbis Books, 2005.
- "A Radical Faith: The Assassination of Sister Maura", Eileen Markey, Nation Books, 2016.
External links
- Justice & The Generals: U.S. Law – Trial History supporting material for documentary first aired on PBS. Accessed October 7, 2005.
- Martyrdom in El Salvador on Maryknoll Sisters website. Accessed October 7, 2005.
- Plant a Tree in Dorothy Kazel's Memory Memorial program in El Salvador in honor of the four churchwomen, accessed online December 8, 2006.
- Report of the Commission on the Truth for El Salvador (1993) accessed online December 9, 2006.
- Not Just Nuns. Jacobin. May 15, 2017.