Man Is Found Liable in Killing of Salvadoran Archbishop (Óscar Romero)

[Khephra]

A federal judge found a retired Salvadoran air force captain liable on Friday in the 1980 killing of Archbishop Óscar Romero and ordered him to pay $2.5 million in compensatory damages and $7.5 million in punitive damages.

"To be liable for the killing of a human being, you don't have to pull the trigger," Judge Oliver W. Wanger of Federal District Court said to 100 spectators in the courtroom here, many of them Salvadoran. The courtroom erupted in applause, and many in attendance began weeping.

The former officer, Álvaro Rafael Saravía, was not present and had no representation.

Vivid memories of the assassination and the archbishop's role in human rights were recalled in the courtroom in a weeklong hearing on Mr. Saravía's liability. A sniper shot the archbishop to death on March 24, 1980, as he celebrated Mass at a hospital chapel in San Salvador. No one was held responsible for the killing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/04/national/04bishop.html

[ck4829]

1. The man who was responsible for his murder was Roberto D'Aubuisson

Pat Robertson has praised Roberto D'Aubuisson as a "very nice
fellow".

The truth about Roberto D'Aubuisson:
D'Aubuisson was a Death Squad leader, the group was known as the
ARENA party . D'Aubuisson was considered to be the most notorious
torture and Death Squad leader in El Salvador; he was described by
Robert White, former U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador, as
a "pathological killer," and was widely known as "Major Soplete"
(i.e., "Major Blowtorch"). And According to the Truth Commission,
D'Aubuisson was responsible for the killing of Archbishop Oscar
Romero. D'Aubuisson "gave the order to assassinate the Archbishop and
gave precise instructions to members of his security service, acting
as a "death squad", to organize and supervise the assassination".

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anti_cnp/message/138

[Judi Lynn]

2. Archbishop Óscar Romero, murdered because he dared

criticize the U.S.-supported right-wing violence. It's a familiar pattern, isn't it?

Kill the peace makers before they screw everything up.

What a hideous crime. From the Fresno Bee:

Romero relative a victor in suit

Judge finds Salvadoran strongman responsible for archbishop's slaying.

By Vanessa Colón
The Fresno Bee

(Updated Saturday, September 4, 2004, 3:27 AM)

Courtroom onlookers hugged and others shed tears after a federal judge in Fresno ruled Friday that a one-time Modesto resident was responsible for the 1980 assassination of El Salvador's archbishop, Oscar Romero.

Judge Oliver W. Wanger found Alvaro Rafael Saravia liable in a civil suit for crimes against humanity and for an extrajudicial killing or killings not authorized by law in a civilized society.Wanger set damages at $10 million, $7.5 million of which were punitive.

"The cold-blooded assassination of Romero could not be a better example of extrajudicial killing," Wanger said in court.
Wanger said Saravia was part of a regime that "essentially ... functioned as a military ... engaged in the systematic violation of human rights." Shouts in Spanish of "Romero is present" rang out from within the packed courtroom. Loud applause was heard outside the courtroom when the attorneys slipped into the hall.

Saravia was found by the court to be the right-hand man of death squad leader Roberto D'Aubuisson, who is believed to have ordered Romero's murder. Saravia apparently lived in Modesto, which is within the federal court district based in Fresno.
Romero was fatally shot March 24, 1980, while celebrating Mass in a church in San Salvador, El Salvador's capital. He was revered in El Salvador for speaking against human-rights abuses. His death ignited international protests, making him an icon on the par of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mohandas K. Gandhi. Romero's killing was unsolved and no one had been held responsible or prosecuted. He is in the process of being canonized as a saint.
(snip/...)

http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/9092862p-9992387c.html
(Free registration required)

[Judi Lynn]

3. You might want to read the tie-in to George W. & George H. W. Bush

Sunday, 24 March, 2002, 18:28 GMT
US role in Salvador's brutal war


Salvadoreans mark the anniversary of Romero's death


By Tom Gibb
BBC correspondent in El Salvador during the civil war in the 1980s



There is a tremendous irony that President George W Bush has chosen to visit El Salvador on the anniversary of the murder of the country's Archbishop, Oscar Arnulfo Romero, 22 years ago.

A campaigner against the Salvadorean army's death squad war, Monsignor Romero was shot through the heart while saying Mass, shortly after appealing to the US not to send military aid to El Salvador.

US officials are saying that President Bush's visit is in part to celebrate a US success story in which his father was personally involved

The appeal fell on deaf ears and for the next 12 years, the US became involved in its largest counter-insurgency war against left-wing guerrillas since Vietnam.

Today US officials are saying that President Bush's visit is in part to celebrate a US success story in which his father was personally involved.
(snip/...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1891145.stm

Damned ugly business, isn't it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

original news source:

news.independent.co.uk
Now, more than 24 years later, a court in California will today hear evidence against one of those accused of orchestrating the murder of Archbishop Romero. That man, Alvaro Rafael Saravia, the right-hand man to the leader of El Salvador's death squads of the 1980s, has lived in the US for the past 19 years but has not been seen in public since papers were filed against him last September. The hearing will be held in his absence.

The civil action is designed to establish Mr Saravia's alleged complicity in the killings and seek damages against him. Archbishop Romero often spoke critically of the US, which supported the right-wing government of El Salvador and those of other Latin American countries in their so-called "dirty wars", training and funding paramilitary forces.

Among those trained by the US was Mr Saravia's boss, the late Major Roberto D'Aubuisson who is said to have ordered the archbishop's assassination. He studied at the notorious School of the Americas, a US military college in Fort Benning, Georgia, which for decades taught counter-insurgency to more than 60,000 cadets from Latin American regimes, It was renamed in 2001 after a series of scandals, including the discovery there of stacks of torture manuals.
(snip)

http://www.atsnn.com/story/75120.html

[anarchy1999]

4. No surprises here. The most criminal family this nation has ever

had. THE BUSH's! They are our legitimate MAFIA! Hired thugs for Corporate America.

[4morewars]

5. CLOSE THE SOA !!!!!!!!!!!

Close it now !!!!!!!!!!!!! Murder and torture is being committed in your name with your money !!!!!!!!!!!!Help us to close it down?? Come to the gates of Ft. Benning with us in November !!

More info here:

http://www.soaw.org/new/index.php