E/CN.4/1991/56
page 89
communique, which was sent to the local press, was also sent to churches,
trade unions, political parties, professional organizations and to accredited
diplomatic missions in the country.
(b)
Arbitrary detentions:
A complaint has been made that, on 19 and 20 November 1989, nine members
of the St. John the Baptist Episcopalian Church were arrested in church by the
National Guard. All the detained were also members of the Association for the
Development of Awareness for Man's Spiritual and Economic Revival (CREDHO), a
social programme of the Episcopalian Church.
The detained were:
Juan Antonio "Berti" Quifiones
Luis Gustavo Lopez
Jose Eduardo Sanchez Castillo
Randolfo Campos Benavides
Alex Antonio Tovar Flores
Jose Candelario Aguilar Alvarez
Jose Horacio Guzman
Julio Cesar Castro Ramirez
Luis Serrano.
All the above persons were subsequently released in December 1989 and
January 1990. According to them, they were held on the premises of the
National Guard and subsequently at Mariona and Santa Ana prisons, on charges
of taking part in an armed action by the Farabundo Marti National Liberation
Front (FMLN). Father Luis Serrano and Juan Antonio Quinones said they had
been beaten and threatened when they were in custody.
It is maintained that, on 30 November 1989 the Treasury Police launched
an assault against the parish church in Ciudad Credisa in San Salvador and
arrested three persons co-operating in the Colonia 22 refugee project. They
were:
Estela Cruz Bustamante
Jose Santana Lopez
Santiago de Jesus Vazquez.
According to their allegations, they were beaten, threatened, forced to
wear hoods and deprived of sleep while they were held at the main barracks of
the Treasury Police. They were released on 6 February 1990, 31 January 1990
and in December 1989, respectively. They had been accused, without grounds,
of co-operating with FMLN.
Furthermore, it has been reported that, on 19 January 1990, armed
civilians detained Marina Isabel Palacios, a member of the Christian Committee
for Displaced Persons in El Salvador (CRIPDES) in the centre of San Salvador.
Weeks later it was learned that she had been detained by members of the
"Police Honour Battalion" and subsequently transferred to the Ilopango prison,
where she was allegedly held on the charge of being a "terrorist criminal".