E/CN.4/1992/52
page 22
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'.
According to information received, three other persons who were
members of the Emmanuel Bautista de San Salvador Church were detained on
25 January 1990 by armed civilians. They were:
Victor Manuel Fuentes
Carlos Armando Avalos
Inocente Garay
Although there is no precise information on their arrest, it was learned
that they had been in the hands of the Treasury Police. The first two were
released on 29 January 1990 and the third of them is allegedly still being
held, on charges of being a guerrilla.
(c)
Detention and expulsion of foreign helpers of churches
Complaints have been received about the following cases:
Jennifer Casólo, the representative in El Salvador of the 'Christian
Educational Seminars' organization who was detained on 25 November 1989. She
was held for 18 days in Ilopango prison, released on 13 December 1989, and
deported to the United States.
Father Miguel Andueza, a Spanish Dominican priest, who was detained by
uniformed persons on 20 November 1989 in Santa Ana.
Reverend Brian Rude, of Canadian nationality, who was detained on
11 November 1989 by the security forces and expelled from El Salvador.
(d) Death threats and harassment
It has been reported that Catholic Archbishop Rivera y Damas received
telephone death threats, as did Lutheran Bishop Medardo Ernesto Dénez Soto,
who was forced to flee the country following bomb explosions at Lutheran
churches on 28 December 1989 and 10 January 1990. Other sources have affirmed
that the Jesuit Provincial in El Salvador also received death threats.
According to other sources, on 23 November 1989 soldiers distributed a
broadsheet in Teotepeque, accusing six members of the town's parish church of
being communists and enemies of the people. The broadsheet was signed by a
so-called 'Permanent Committee for National Salvation'."