Civil war priest massacre case prompts reflection in El Salvador

Last week, the Catholic Church beatified two priests from El Salvador who were victims of massacres during the country’s 1979-1992 civil war. The conflict resulted in at least 75,000 deaths and left more than 12,000 missing, leaving open social and economic wounds still open today.

From the outside looking in, El Salvador appears to be a forward-thinking country, becoming the world’s first state to accept Bitcoin as an official currency, electing its youngest president in history, and becoming one of the most exciting destinations for foreign investment. But these civil war scars remain, particularly with regard to a series of unsolved massacres — with one in particular gaining renewed attention, juxtaposed with the beatification from the Vatican.

In November 1989, at the tail end of the civil war, a military death squad murdered six Spanish and Spanish-Salvadoran Jesuit priests who were sleeping at the Central American University in San Salvador, as well as their cook and her 15-year-old daughter.

Those involved in the massacre were trained in the U.S. and...