Herbert Ernesto Anaya Sanabria

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Herbert Anaya (* 1954 in San Salvador , † October 26 in 1987 San Salvador) was the president of the non-governmental organization Comisión de Derechos Humanos de El Salvador (CDHES). He was killed in an assassination attempt near his home on October 26, 1987 . Sanabria was the fourth head of the CDHES, who was murdered in El Salvador during the 1980s or disappeared without a trace, although none of the cases has been resolved satisfactorily so far. Anaya's son was shot and wounded in early 1993 when gunmen tried to stop the car of Sanabria's widow Mirna Perla de Anaya.

Life

Sanabria joined the student organization Asociación General de Estudiantes Universitarios Salvadoreños (AGEUS) during his studies in the 1970s . He was later one of the co-founders of the human rights organization CDHES. He also worked for a committee for families of people who were murdered or who disappeared without a trace. On May 26, 1986, he and Reynaldo Blanco, later chairman of the CDHES, were abducted by members of the secret police and interrogated and tortured for nine months in the prison "La Esperanza" in the Las Marionas district . During this time in prison, Sanabria prepared a human rights report that included testimony from 430 of the 432 inmates in prison describing the torture methods they were subjected to. The 160-page report and a video documenting evidence of torture were smuggled out of prison and sent to the Marin County Interfaith Task Force . On February 2, 1987, Sanabria was released as part of a prisoner exchange.

Herbert Anaya was at that time by the US government and the government forces FAES accused, a leader of the FMLN - guerrilla to be. It was claimed that the CDHES was the rebels ' propaganda arm, but they failed to provide evidence.

Anaya commented on the human rights violations after his release, claiming the death squads were directly commanded by the military . His claims were subsequently confirmed by human rights organizations.

attack

On October 26, 1987, Sanabria was murdered in a parking lot near his home in the Zacamil district of San Salvador. According to witness reports, three men were involved in the murder. Ballistic tests later showed that six shots were fired from the same weapon. Sanabria's death was followed by demonstrations in San Salvador for several days, as well as reactions abroad. His body was in protest against the US - Embassy lays out and later taken to the command headquarters of the army.

National and international human rights groups as well as civil organizations expressed their condolences. The union umbrella organization Unión Nacional de los Trabajadores Salvadoreños (UNTS) made the government under José Napoleón Duarte , the US embassy and the FAES General Staff responsible in a public statement . The government of the Federal Republic of Germany, the SPD and the French government asked Duarte to clarify the circumstances of the crime. UN Secretary General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar , Human Rights Watch , Amnesty International and other human rights groups protested against the murder of Sanabria.

In protest against the attack on Anaya, the FMLN and the Frente Democrático Revolucionario (FDR) suspended negotiations with the Duarte government on October 29, 1987. On the same day, Reni Roldán resigned as a member of the Commission of National Reconciliation on the grounds that Anaya's assassination and the disappearance of union leader Salvador Ubau and similar cases were not isolated events.

Investigations

According to the report by the International Truth Commission , created in El Salvador as part of the peace agreement, it could not be said with certainty whether the death squads, the Salvadoran army, or the FMLN were responsible for Sanabria's death.

Rumors circulated that the Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo (ERP) organized the assassination attempt on Sanabria. Sanabria was a member of the ERP itself, but, unlike other leaders, preferred a peaceful solution to the conflict. Two months later, the police arrested ERP member Jorge Alberto Miranda Arévalo. Arévalo initially testified that he was involved in the attack as a watchdog, a statement that he later withdrew on the grounds that he had been put under psychological pressure and sleep deprivation. Although he could not be identified by the eyewitnesses, he was found guilty in 1991 and sentenced to a maximum of 30 years in prison. The International Truth Commission criticized the violation of Arévalo's fundamental rights and his treatment by the police.

The allegations against the ERP have been denied by both Anaya's widow and CDHES. Instead, Sanabria's colleagues reported a series of direct and indirect threats by the El Salvador government during 1987. In addition, in March 1987, Sanabria's father was arrested by the National Guard and interrogated about his son's activities.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ CDHES 30 AÑOS DE COMPROMISO archive link ( Memento of the original from July 5, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cdhes.org.sv
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Jose Gutierrez: The Killing of Herbert Anaya Sanabria ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Green Left Online, April 7, 1993 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.greenleft.org.au
  3. ↑ Truth Commissions Digital Collection: Reports: El Salvador - Summary of the case of Herbert Anaya Sanabria ( Memento of the original from January 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. United States Institute of Peace  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.usip.org
  4. ↑ Human Rights Watch: El Salvador - Accountability and Human Rights: The Report of the United Nations Commission on the Truth for El Salvador (PDF; 359 kB) Vol V, Issue No.7, August 10, 1993
personal data
SURNAME Sanabria, Herbert Ernesto Anaya
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Salvadoran human rights activist
DATE OF BIRTH 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH San Salvador
DATE OF DEATH October 26, 1987
Place of death Zacamil