Twenty-four years ago a man named Oscar Romero, the Archbishop of El Salvador, was assassinated in cold blood. Monsignor Romero was a voice of the marginalized poor at the beginning of the country’s civil war in the 1980’s. He, like so many other Salvadorans, died in a battle that should never have been waged—a fight for the right to live.

As Archbishop in a country where 95% of the population is Roman Catholic, Romero was as a voice of the common citizens in their appeal to the ruling class oligarchy and the military’s death squads to stop killing and kidnapping their families and friends.

On a battlefield where the might of the military was driven by US weapons, training, and political support, Romero’s appeals included asking the US government to stop sending military aid to his country. According to Tom Gibb, BBC correspondent in El Salvador during the 1980’s civil war, “It was the largest counter-insurgency war against left-wing guerrillas [the US had been involved in] since Vietnam.”

As people continued to disappear and be murdered and tortured, Romero used his position as a religious leader to call for justice in a public appeal to the men of the armed forces on March 23rd, 1980, saying:

“Brothers, you came from your own people. You are killing your own brothers. Any human order to kill must be subordinate to the law of God, which says, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ No soldier is obliged to obey an order contrary to the law of God. No one has to obey an immoral law.”

Romero was shot through the heart by a professional assassin the next day while celebrating mass.

Architect of Death
The extremely public and high profile case of Archbishop Romero is but an example of the sinister methods that were used just over two decades ago by those vying for political control and power over a country being destroyed from the inside out. Romero and many others like him were silenced by assassins sent by the man who would later make an unsuccessful bid for the presidency, Major Roberto D’Aubuisson.

A United Nations Truth Commission investigation into Romero’s murder in 1992 found that, “There is full evidence that …[former] Major Roberto 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.”

D’Aubuisson, a graduate of the School of the Americas, was widely known as the head of El Salvador’s notorious death squads from 1978 to 1992. Before his own death in 1992, he founded the extreme right-wing political party, ARENA, which runs El Salvador to this day.

The party still holds control through members in top political positions, such as the Office of the President. In recent national elections, the ARENA candidate won the presidency for the fourth time since 1989. This sad irony is a bitter pill to swallow for the Salvadoran people who survived more than a decade of terror by those who supported ARENA’s inception.

Fueling Injustice
Two years ago on the anniversary of Archbishop Romero’s assassination, US President Bush made a conspicuous appearance to the tiny Central American nation. His official aim was to perpetuate the image that US involvement in the outcome of El Salvador’s civil war was a ‘win’.

More recently, the Bush administration has heavily endorsed the trade policies of CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement), and promises that it will bring greater prosperity to both El Salvador and the US.

According to the office of the US Trade Representative, “CAFTA fulfills a key U.S. objective of opening markets with free trade partners.” It is also billed as a hemispheric step toward trade liberalization that goes hand in hand with the WTO and FTAA. But one might ask whether trade deals based on the rules of the mighty US could just be another form of control, and not the positive engagement it is being billed as.

Opponents of CAFTA and the policies of ARENA paint a more shadowy picture of the state of affairs in El Salvador today than the US government. Jose “Chencho” Alas, founder of the Foundation for Self-Sufficiency in Central America (FSSCA), argues that the presidential win for the ARENA candidate is a sign that the people’s long-waged struggle for justice is not over.

Alas, who served as an advisor to Archbishop Romero prior to his assassination, says, “The ARENA government favors CAFTA, a trade agreement that will have small and medium-sized farmers and businesses competing directly against subsidized US corporations.”

Alas goes on to say that although the landscape has changed, his people’s struggle remains a quest to live in safety and dignity: “If the opposition FMLN party had won, prominent US representatives had threatened to cut off El Salvador's main source of income: remittances from families living here. Thus, we begin another chapter in the struggle for peace, justice, and economic security for my people.”

Continuing Struggle
El Salvador’s recent history of violence, fear, and repression has left deep wounds that are healing slowly. Neighboring government policies that strive to push the country forward, without first helping it to come to terms with its past, may be missing the mark of effective international relations and diplomacy.

The Salvadoran people must live with the knowledge that their own military was responsible for the disappearance and kidnapping of more than 30,000 people and the death of nearly 70,000 by the end of the war. And they must also live with knowing that justice has not been served yet, as the military colonels responsible have never faced war crimes tribunals.

The work of peace and equality advocates like Archbishop Romero to bring justice to El Salvador continues today as this tiny nation struggles to realize its vision of democracy and freedom. It lives on in the voices of people like Chencho Alas.

What El Salvador needs now, perhaps more than economic opportunity and trade deals, are strong allies to the north who are willing to help them lay their bloody history to rest.