UN Commission on the Truth for El Salvador, From Madness to Hope: The 12-Year War in El Salvador, Report, 15 March 1993, in UN Secretary General, Letter to the President of the Security Council (S/25500), Annex. (PDF link)
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2. Extrajudicial executions
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(b) The leaders of the Frente Democratico Revolucionario (1980)
SUMMARY OF THE CASE
In the early hours of 29 May 1980, 58 members of the security forces and the Second Infantry Brigade arrived at San Francisco Guajoyo cooperative in Belén Güijat canton, Metapán district, Department of Santa Ana, dragged members of the cooperative from their homes in the adjoining houses and took them to the central area of the farm.
That same morning, the bodies of 12 victims were found, covered with a blanket on which were written the words "killed as traitors". Shortly afterwards, the justice of the peace carried out the requisite procedures.
The Commission finds the following:
1. On 29 May 1980, two employees of the Salvadorian Institute for Agrarian Reform (ISTA) and 10 members of the San Francisco Guajoyo cooperative were executed with large-calibre firearms in the central area of the cooperative, after having been dragged from their homes.
2. The deaths did not occur during an armed confrontation.
3. Members of the Second Infantry Brigade and of the security forces having jurisdiction in the Department of Santa Ana were responsible for the incident.
4. The Salvadorian State bears full responsibility for the execution of the cooperative members, which was a violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and for having taken no action to identify and punish those responsible.
DESCRIPTION OF THE FACTS 129/
General background
The San Francisco Guajoyo cooperative was founded in 1977 and there were some 260 families who were members. The organization did a great deal of educational and advocacy work.
The army and security forces launched a smear campaign against members of the cooperative, accusing them of being guerrillas. In 1979, the threats increased. There were constant army patrols and persecution was stepped up. Most members of the cooperative used to sleep in the hills for fear of being dragged from their homes in the night.
The operations were carried out by troops from the Second Brigade and by security forces, often accompanied by civil defence members. The accusation was always the alleged ties between cooperative members and the guerrillas, but cooperative members believed that the real motive was to block their demands.
The military operation
In the early hours of 29 May 1980, between 50 and 80 members of the Second Infantry Brigade, the National Police, the Treasury Police and the National Guard, including some National Guard members who were responsible for guarding the Guajoyo CEL, approached the San Francisco Guajoyo cooperative building.
The military contingent entered the cooperative from two equidistant points, moving in on the stable and dwellings located near its centre. They dragged cooperative members from their homes and took them to the central area of the farm. People were arrested according to a list, "although towards the end, they were taking anyone to the courtyard of the house".
Soldiers simultaneously burst into the cooperative offices, seizing three members of the cooperative who were looking after the premises. The group that entered the offices was headed by Adán Figueroa, 130/ known as "calache", of the Treasury Police, originally from Tahuilapa canton. They took the three to the central area of the farm. One of the survivors observed that "the others had already been made to lie face down, ready to be killed". Everyone was asked who they were and where they were hiding the weapons. A few minutes later the shooting began.
On realizing the operation was under way, particularly on hearing the noise of houses being searched, other members of the cooperative ran from their homes. One witness stated that a member who was on guard in the cooperative’s tobacco storeroom came to his house to warn him that a military truck had arrived. He was able to hide in time, but he heard the shots and "the cries and suffering" of those who had been arrested.
The executions
Twelve people were executed. According to the records of the Metapán Second Magistrate’s Court, the bodies were found in the central area of the farm. Seven bodies were found in the farmhouse courtyard, lying at intervals of about half a metre apart. The remaining five bodies were lying at a short distance from the first group. According to the forensic examination, all the wounds were caused by large-calibre weapons.
They executed people who apparently were not on the list. This was true of José Angel Mira, a mentally handicapped person who was arrested. When his father asked them to let his son go, the officer told him to lie down next to his son so that they could die together. This is what in fact happened.
Members of the cooperative who had fled to the hills found the bodies when they returned after the attack. Near the bodies they found a blanket on which were written the words "killed as traitors". According to witnesses, combined forces often did this to create confusion as to who was responsible.
Public version of the incident
The next day, a press source reported that a guerrilla camp had been discovered in an area close to Metapán "hours after alleged left-wing guerrillas killed 12 peasants, members of a cooperative which was working a farm taken over as part of the agrarian reform, in the area where the camp was discovered". It went on to say that "the Armed Forces Press Committee told ACAN-EFE" that some 30 guerrillas had joined the battle with the members of the National Guard who discovered the camp. According to the source, there had been no military casualties; however, it did not specify the number of guerrilla casualties either.
Another source, under the headline "12 killed at farm in subversive attack", reported an armed confrontation in which 12 people had been killed; "mostly peasants, and two ISTA employees wounded, at the San Francisco farm in Metapán district". It also reported that troops had been deployed: "men in olive-green uniforms entered the farm at Guajoyo in La Joya canton, Metapán district".
Action taken by the judiciary
On the morning of the executions, the competent justice of the peace went to the cooperative with his secretary and two forensic doctors to carry out the requisite legal procedures. The main findings in the record are as follows:
(a) Twelve people were shot and killed in the early hours of that day;
(b) Witnesses stated that a group of individuals in olive-green uniforms accompanied by civilians, who had dragged the victims from their homes, were responsible for the execution;
(c) According to the forensic examination, a number of the victims had been shot in the back and several of the bodies had been shot at close range. 131/ Furthermore it was not possible to determine where the bullets had entered and exited the bodies. 132/ Several of the victims were barefoot and only half dressed.
Having completed the preliminary inquiries, the justice of the peace transmitted the information to the ordinary court to institute the corresponding judicial investigation. That court took no further action and filed the information.
FINDINGS
The Commission finds the following:
1. There is full evidence that, on 29 May 1980, two employees of the Salvadorian Institute for Agrarian Reform (ISTA) and 10 members of the San Francisco Guajoyo cooperative were executed with large-calibre firearms in the central area of the cooperative, after having been dragged from their homes.
2. There is sufficient evidence to attribute responsibility for the incident to members of the Second Infantry Brigade and of the security forces having jurisdiction in the Department of Santa Ana.
3. The Salvadorian State bears full responsibility for the execution of the cooperative members, which was a violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and for having taken no action to identify and punish those responsible.
NOTES:
129/ The Commission received testimony from survivors and eyewitnesses. The accounts agree and are consistent with one another in describing the circumstances and indicating who was responsible. The relevant documentation was also reviewed. The court records and the forensic examination confirm that the incident occurred.
Belén Güijat canton was under the military jurisdiction of the Second Military Brigade which, in 1980, was under the command of Colonel Servio Tulio Figueroa. The Commission issued a summons to that officer through the Ministry of Defence. The only response it received - belated at that - was that he had retired. Information was also requested from the Minister of Defence concerning military operations carried out at the time in the district where the incident occurred; that request went unanswered. Despite repeated requests to the Minister of Defence for the names of those in charge of the security forces in Santa Ana and for information on military operations in Metapán in May 1980, no answer was received.
Another request to the present Commander of the Second Infantry Brigade went unheeded. A visit to Brigade headquarters to consult the records proved fruitless. Generally speaking, the competent military authorities did not cooperate in the investigation of this case.
130/ According to witnesses, he died a few years after the incident.
131/ The report on the medical examination of the bodies states specifically that a number of the bodies had what are known as powder burns. The forensic interpretation of this type of wound refers to the carbon ring that impregnates the skin when a person is shot at close range (under 30 centimetres). This carbon ring is caused by the deflagration of the powder when a shot is fired, leaving an indelible mark on the deceased’s skin; in other words, the shot "burns the skin".
132/ When a person is shot, it is usually quite simple to determine where the bullet entered the body and where it exited, since the dimensions and characteristics of the two holes are quite different. Accordingly, the only logical interpretation of the statement that the forensic doctor was unable to make this determination is that the deceased were shot at such close range and with weapons of such large calibre that the bodies were literally destroyed.