Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2003 - El Salvador

CDHES office raided¹¹⁴

On 7th May 2003, unknown persons entered the office of the Human Rights Commission of El Salvador (CDHES, Comisión de Derechos Humanos de El Salvador) in San Miguel Department, which also covers La Unión, Morazán and Usulután Departments. Documents about human rights abuses, personal information about the volunteers working for the Commission, and equipment were stolen. The incident is probably connected to the activities of the CDHES, which, several weeks earlier, had successfully prevented the eviction of poor families from San Miguel, including 250 families from the El Jagüey community, where the Salvadorian armed forces want to build an Air Force base.

On 21st May 2003, in a public letter, the president of the CDHES, Miguel Montenegro, expressed his concern about the theft of documents, which endangers the lives of volunteers and witnesses. The CDHES urged the National Civil Police (PNC) to open a full enquiry to identify the culprits and bring them to justice.

At the end of December 2003, no investigation has been opened into the case.

[Refworld note: This report as posted on the FIDH website (www.fidh.org) was in pdf format with country chapters run together by region. Footnote numbers have been retained here, so do not necessarily begin at 1.]

114. See Urgent Appeal SLV 001/0503/OBS 022.