Dear Friends,
I am pleased to share the recent news about CJA's quest for accountability for human rights atrocities committed against the Salvadoran people. On September 11, 2012, one of the four high commanders of the Salvadoran military who has been indicted by the Spanish National Court for the 1989 massacre of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter, Colonel Inocente Orlando Montano, pled guilty in federal court in Boston to six counts of criminal immigration fraud and perjury. As a result, he will likely be serving a sentence in U.S. federal prison while he awaits extradition to Spain on the murder charges.
 CJA has long fought impunity in El Salvador. The brutality of the regime and the broad amnesty the military enjoyed are counter points to the bravery of our many friends and colleagues who fled to the U.S. as refugees or remained in country as courageous opponents. CJA has brought three successful civil cases in the U.S. against high level Salvadoran human rights abusers in addition to our ground-breaking criminal case in Spain which resulted in the indictment and extradition requests for those who ordered and carried out the murder of the Jesuits and the two women. The Spanish National Court has filed formal notice of its request for extradition which is now pending before the U.S. Department of Justice.
Our investigative efforts on behalf of the families of the Jesuits led to our discovery that Colonel Montano was living in Boston, and we alerted U.S. authorities. The fact that Montano has plead guilty helps bolster Spain's pending request to have Montano extradited to Spain. As Senior Legal Adviser Carolyn Patty Blum explained to the Boston Globe, the plea creates "fertile ground" for the U.S. to move forward on the extradition. Needless to say, CJA will do everything within our capabilities to ensure that happens.
Montano's sentencing is currently set for December 18, 2012. CJA commends the efforts of the U.S. Attorney's office in Massachusetts and the Department of Homeland Security for their vigorous pursuit of this case. For news coverage on Montano's plea please click here, for the press release please click here, and for more information about the Jesuits Massacre Caseplease click here.
Sincerely,
Pamela Merchant
Executive Director
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