El Salvador has ordered a former president to stand trial for the 1989 murders of six Jesuits, their housekeeper and her 16-year-old daughter—a notorious crime from the Central American country’s civil war, which has languished in the realm of impunity.
A judge in San Salvador issued a 18 November decision ordering former president Alfredo Cristiani, a former congressman and nine others to stand trial as the intellectual authors of the attack on the Jesuits.
Cristiani, who was president between 1989 and 1994, was charged with murder, conspiracy and terrorism in 2022.
His whereabouts remain unknown, according to media reports. The priests were killed by soldiers in their residence on the campus of the Jesuit-run Central American University—an institution they accused of being infiltrated by guerrillas.
The university has long rejected that accusation and demanded justice for the eight victims. Catholics in El Salvador expressed mixed feelings on the decision to bring Cristiani to trial.
The judge’s decision came just two days after the 35th anniversary of the Jesuit martyrs’ murders, marked with a 16 November memorial Mass.
The slain priests’ memory continues to inspire Catholics in El Salvador and beyond.
“The memory of the martyrs is very much alive,” said Jesuit Father Jeremy Zipple, who travelled with a group from Belize for the memorial.