Sunday, August 22, 2004
Romero's death, revisited
A US court will begin hearings next week in a lawsuit against a man accused of organizing the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador in 1980.
In a California courtroom, witnesses will testify that Alvaro Rafael Saravia, a former Salvadoran military officer who now lives in California, planned the murder of the famous prelate, who was gunned down in his own cathedral. The killing-- one of the most shocking episodes in a period of bloody conflict in the Central American nation-- was quickly ascribed to right-wing zealots.
The case against Saravia is being brought by Center for Justice and Accountability, a human-rights organization based in San Francisco with ties to liberal political leaders. The witnesses against Saraiva will include Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, a former auxiliary of the Detroit archdiocese who now devotes his time exclusively to social causes; and Robert White, who was the US ambassador to El Salvador at the time of Archbishop Romero's assassination.
In a California courtroom, witnesses will testify that Alvaro Rafael Saravia, a former Salvadoran military officer who now lives in California, planned the murder of the famous prelate, who was gunned down in his own cathedral. The killing-- one of the most shocking episodes in a period of bloody conflict in the Central American nation-- was quickly ascribed to right-wing zealots.
The case against Saravia is being brought by Center for Justice and Accountability, a human-rights organization based in San Francisco with ties to liberal political leaders. The witnesses against Saraiva will include Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, a former auxiliary of the Detroit archdiocese who now devotes his time exclusively to social causes; and Robert White, who was the US ambassador to El Salvador at the time of Archbishop Romero's assassination.
