Salvador Rights Abuses Rose in ‘89, U.N. Says
El Salvador’s government presided over a “resurgence of torture” this year that included beatings of prisoners and summary executions of political opponents, according to a U.N. report released Friday.
The annual report by Jose Antonio Pastor Ridruejo of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights criticizes both the government and leftist rebels for kidnapings and assassinations.
“Members of the state apparatus, particularly of the armed forces, have carried out politically motivated summary executions whose exact numbers cannot be determined but are generally comparable to those for last year,” Pastor wrote.
The Roman Catholic Church counted the executions at 50 through August; the Salvadoran Human Rights Commission’s figure is 68.
As of Oct. 14, Pastor said, El Salvador’s justice minister told him that about 250 people were detained for political offenses, “a much higher figure than the previous year.” Pastor also found an increase in “government action against trade unions and peasant and other organizations.”
Pastor blamed the rebels for assassinating government officials and ideological opponents.
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