Getting Justice in El Salvador Is Impossible, Expert Says

A leading U.S. expert on the justice system in El Salvador says that “the rule of law has broken down” in the embattled Central American country and that “it is not possible at any level for human rights victims to look to the legal system for protection.”

The assessment came last week in the closing stages of a major class-action lawsuit in Los Angeles federal court accusing U.S. immigration officials of systematically denying Salvadoran refugees their rights to apply for political asylum.

Michael H. Posner, executive director of a New York public interest law center called the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights, testified that right-wing military officials now dominate the Salvadoran justice system and make it impossible to prosecute military crimes against civilians.

“The government as a whole and the system as a whole has been unable to muster the political gumption to hold these military people accountable for their actions,” Posner said. “The (Salvadoran) security forces have been allowed to operate as though they are above the law.”

No Prosecutions

Posner, one of the last of 50 witnesses called by a coalition of human rights groups involved in the court challenge, recounted a series of murders in El Salvador linked to rightist military officers and said none have been fully investigated and prosecuted.

He said the unsolved murder of Roman Catholic Archbishop Oscar Romero in March, 1980, during a mass at a Salvadoran hospital has had a particularly strong impact among civilians in the predominantly Catholic nation, convincing them that there is no point in even attempting to seek government help against human rights violations.

“For the archbishop to be shot and for there to be no investigation has had a devastating effect and probably a more depressing effect on most Salvadorans than anything that’s happened in the last eight years,” said Posner. “I think every other Salvadoran feels tremendously vulnerable.”

(An investigating judge was appointed to the Romero case but no arrests have been made.)

Posner recounted a series of atrocities linked to the Salvadoran military--including the mass murder of a team of soccer players in the village of Armenia in 1981 after an exchange of insults at a Salvadoran Army roadblock checkpoint.

“Twenty to 40 people were killed,” he said. “There had been a confrontation at the roadblock, and several days later soldiers came to town and killed them. The soccer team had to be eliminated from its league because there were no members left.”

Although there were “several arrests” in that case, Posner said Salvadoran justice officials have made no effort in that or other cases to pursue investigations into the culpability of high-ranking officers.

Testimony Prompted Criticisms

The testimony by Posner prompted strong criticisms by U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon, who has presided over the 11-month trial, of the way Salvadorans are treated by officials of both El Salvador and the United States.

“We protest, we protest, we protest, but we keep sending them (the government) money,” Kenyon said in the courtroom. “They are victims of their own country and they are victims in the sense of our policy.”

Kenyon emphasized that he is withholding judgment on the case until the government, which begins its defense of U.S. policies this week, has a chance to fully respond to the charges brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups, but he observed that the trial has been “a real revelation” to him.

“I’m sorry that the whole country doesn’t hear it,” said Kenyon, who has become increasingly critical of U.S. practices regarding Salvadoran refugees since the start of the trial.

‘They’re Treated Like Dirt’

“The testimony here is that if you call a local authority in El Salvador, that’s a joke. It’s worse than that. It can be hazardous to your health,” Kenyon said. “Then they come (to the United States) and, according to the testimony so far, they’re treated like dirt. I would just love to have everybody hear both sides of this thing.”

The ACLU and other human rights groups are asking Kenyon for an injunction that would force the INS to notify all Salvadorans detained by immigration officials of their rights to apply for political asylum and to be provided with legal representation.

Previous testimony has established that 97% of the Salvadorans who apply for political asylum in the United States are denied asylum on their initial application. In fiscal 1985, a U.S. Immigration and Naturalization report disclosed that 2,299 Salvadoran applications for asylum were denied and only 74 were granted.

Government attorneys, who plan to conclude their defense by December, have privately predicted that the case may reach the U.S. Supreme Court. They have argued that Salvadorans who enter the United States illegally should not be treated any differently than other illegal aliens arrested by the INS, contending that if all Salvadoran immigrants applied for political asylum it would overburden the U.S. immigration system.

Needs to Take a Gamble

They also contend that conditions in El Salvador are gradually improving, and that they do not coerce Salvadorans to return to their homeland.

In his testimony last week, Posner said he believes that the justice system in El Salvador could be strengthened if Salvadoran President Jose Napolean Duarte was willing to gamble his power against that of the country’s military leaders.

“He has tremendous leverage and considerable good will, but he’s a man who has not stuck his neck out,” Posner said. “The U.S. is giving $500 million a year in aid to El Salvador. Without that aid, the government of El Salvador couldn’t survive.