Deft Cristiani, Clumsy Washington

The arrest of an army colonel as a key suspect in the murder of six Jesuit priests in El Salvador means that Salvadoran officers are no longer immune from prosecution for alleged crimes, which is good. But the murder case is still unsolved, and won’t be until the case is pushed to a conclusion by President Alfredo Cristiani.

Nevertheless, Cristiani took a major step towards solving the murders when he ordered Col. Guillermo Alfredo Benavides detained, along with three lieutenants and four enlisted men, in connection with the Nov. 16 killings. Benavides is the highest-ranking officer ever charged with a political crime in a war marked by thousands of assassinations and disappearences.

Cristiani did not say whether Benavides was suspected of ordering the killings or covering up for someone else who gave the orders. But the mere fact that a colonel was detained has caused rumors of a possible coup in El Salvador, where the army has been a power behind the scenes for 50 years. Benavides comes from a particularly influ- ential military clique--he’s a member of the military academy class that currently holds most of the top commands in El Salvador--so Cristiani took a real risk in ordering him arrested.

That’s why it’s frustrating that the U.S. government is not doing a better job of holding up its end of this complex case. Not only did FBI investigators mishandle the questioning of the only known witness a couple of weeks ago, but now there are reports that U.S. investigators revealed to Salvadoran army officials the identity of the informant who linked Benavides to the killings. It is also reported that the informant, who is a colonel, has himself been detained for undisclosed reasons.

Not surprisingly, this news has only added to the already overflowing sense of anger and disaffection within the Salvadoran army, and has not made things any easier for Cristiani. With an explosive case like the Jesuit murders on its hands, you’d think the Bush Administration would be more thoughtful and careful. Cristiani is going to need all the courage he can muster to see this case through; and to see him through, Washington needs to give him more astute support than it has so far.