Bukele declassifies files on El Mozote massacre

Credit: MARVIN RECINOS / AFP via Getty Images

(CNN Spanish) -

The president of El Salvador Nayib Bukele announced this Thursday on the national network that he will declassify the military files on the massacre in El Mozote, a small town located about 200 kilometers from San Salvador.

The president assured that he will hand them over to the authorities that are carrying out the investigation to help identify those responsible for the murder of some 1,000 people, mostly children, according to the report from the Center for Justice and International Law.

"This government is committed to justice and truth, to the victims," ​​said Bukele on national television, three days after the Ministry of Defense denied access to judge Jorge Guzmán, responsible for the investigation of the massacre that occurred in 1981 , during a military operation in the civil war, according to the report of the Truth Commission prepared with the support of the United Nations.

Bukele argued that the files he will deliver are what exists on the massacre "since most of the files were destroyed" at some point in the last 40 years.

The president explained that the Ministry of Defense did not allow the entry of the judge, the experts and lawyers because it considers that it does not have the powers to carry out the inspection of the military archives.

In addition, the "General Staff do not have those files on El Mozote," concluded Bukele.

• MIRA: Nayib Bukele challenges the CSJ and will demand negative covid-19 test from passengers to enter El Salvador

In this context, Milena Mayorga, current deputy of the Legislative Assembly, was sworn in this Thursday night by President Bukele as El Salvador's ambassador to the United States.

Mayorga considered, in May 2017, that Colonel Domingo Monterrosa was a "hero" who gave his life for the country.

Monterrosa is pointed out in the Truth Commission's report as the military man responsible, along with others, for the operation in the El Mozote village, which killed about a thousand people.

In this case, there is a group of soldiers accused.

In the past, retired General Juan Rafael Bustillo, a former commander of the El Salvador Air Force, has denied any connection with the El Mozote massacre.

"I want you to know that I have not come to say that I am innocent, but I want to tell you that I am not guilty of the events in El Mozote," Bustillo said in his voluntary statement.

Other soldiers have preferred not to give their statement.

However, his lawyer Lizandro Quintanilla has said that in the process they will prove that they were not responsible for the facts.

Controversy between Bukele and magistrates continues

Meanwhile, in another chapter of the controversy between the Executive Power and the Constitutional Chamber, Bukele announced that he will ask the Attorney General of El Salvador to investigate the magistrates of the Chamber for the crime of prevarication.

That is, to issue a resolution contrary to what the Law establishes.

According to Bukele, the Chamber fails to comply with its responsibility to "safeguard the right to life of Salvadorans" with the ruling that temporarily prohibits the requirement of a negative PCR test for covid-19 by Salvadorans and permanent residents who wanted to return to the country from September 19 through the international airport and on Monday 21 through land borders.

The General Directorate of Migration and Foreigners (DGME) and the Autonomous Port Executive Commission (CEPA), notified the airlines that they should require the passengers to test before boarding the plane.

Otherwise, the companies would face fines of US $ 6,000 for each passenger who does not meet this requirement.

The Prosecutor's Office opened an investigation on Wednesday to determine whether government officials have violated the law by demanding proof, after the Constitutional Chamber certified to the Prosecutor's Office that the government did not comply with the precautionary measure that suspended the demand for proof while carried out the study.

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