The Garcia-Prieto case

On Thursday and Friday, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights began a two day hearing in the case of Ramón Mauricio García Prieto Giralt. The Salvadoran government is being asked to account for its failure to act diligently in prosecuting a death squad killing diligently and its failure to protect the victim's family from subsequent threats and harassment as they pursued the case.

On June 10, 1994, Ramón Mauricio García Prieto Giralt, was gunned down by three men wearing military-style clothing in front of his wife and 5 month old son. The government did little to prosecute the case, but finally, after two years convicted one killer, labeled the murder "common crime," and declared the case closed. With this unsatisfactory result, and with threats and harassment of the García Prieto family, witnesses and lawyers, the family filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights.

The Human Rights Institute of the University of Central America has a
summary of the case, and you can also read the decision of the IACHR finding sufficient basis to proceed with the case online here.

UPDATE:

The government of El Salvador has apparently settled with the victim's widow for a payment of $4 million, but the parents and the Human Rights Institute of the UCA are vowing to continue the fight.

Comments

Anonymous said…
There are other reasons why this case is so important. As I note in my book, Freedom of Expression in El Salvador, the victim's parents "have accused retired General Mauricio Vargas--the Armed Forces representative durign the peace talks--of ordering the killing in response to a long-standing land dispute with the family."

Also note that Julio Ortiz Diaz has been convicted as a material author in this case as well as the murder of FMLN leader Francisco Velis. There has not been an adequate investigation of the intellectual authors in either case.
Anonymous said…
Here are other articles related to the issue:

http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cases/1998/elsalvador27-99.html
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR290151996?open&of=ENG-SLV

You know, as with Enrique Alvarez, it shows you that in El Salvador not even the "rich and powerful" are safe from murder by hands of another ARENA-PCN-ANEP mafioso. Fortunately for the Garcia Prieto family they have money to sue the state, to cause a great scandal, flea the country as opposed to the millions of salvadorans stuck here fearful of even serving as witnesses against "low class criminals", because the authority is incapable of protecting them but also corrupt that they confabulate with the criminals, and end up dying. In a way it is a pity that they are suing the state, instead of the cabal behind the shooting, but if this serves in any way to establish a new investigation into the case and give impunity a point against them, the Garcia Prieto family has my support. I do hope that their belief in "there can't be peace without justice" (as it semi-appeared in a LPG ad during the "celebracion de los acuerdos de paz") and achieve justice, because that will be one step further in the fight against the reigning mafias.
Anonymous said…
Here is a peace of news relating to the case. It appears that Garcia Prieto's widow accepted an arrangement with the mafia government for $4 million dollars (poor people always paying for the crimes of the mafiosos...), I believe it was as an arrangement in order for her not to testify.

http://www.diariocolatino.com/nacionales/detalles.asp?NewsID=15357
Hodad said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said…
I totally agree with all these comments. In fact there has been a lot of worries from our President regarding this case, after all he is just an ignorant HighShchool guy (meaning that he has not been in a University and has not taken any formal career than an stupid Communicator)
Laura said…
This comment has been removed by the author.