Document #1175310
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
'Defensa Civil' is translated to English as
civil defense. It is not a group but rather it is the name of a
government policy to counteract guerrilla activities in rural areas
[The Continuing Terror (Americas Watch, Washington, D.C.,
1985), pp. 81-87.]. According to The Civilian Toll 1986-87
(Americas Watch Report, Washington, D.C., 1987), p. 112, "Civil
defense in El Salvador is a very mixed bag. In some areas units are
composed of the town bullies; in others they are reluctant
"volunteers." In some places, they represent a combination of the
two. Historically, civil defense has been responsible for many
human tights abuses. The perpetrators of these abuses are rarely
brought to justice."
9 January 1990
El Salvador:Information on a massacre in
July 1987 in the village of El Volcancillo close to the town La
Laguna in the Department of Chalatenango.
From:
IRBDC, Headquarters
Keywords:
El Salvador / human rights / human rights
violations
No specific information regarding the
aforementioned subject was found in the sources currently available
to the IRBDC. However, according to Human Rights in El
Salvador (Comisión de Derechos Humanos de El Salvador
(CDHES), San Salvador, 1987), in the month of July 1987, there was
one bombing in the Department of Chalatenango. There was no
mentioned of any specific village.
Also, the Salvadoran newspaper El
Mundo, reported on July 23, 1987 the detention of a group of
'campesinos' carried out purportedly by soldiers in the
Cantón de Los Prados de La Laguna. ["Piden Investigar
Atropellos", El Mundo, July 3, 1987, p.3.]
The New York Times reported on June
22, 1987 that "The three peasants whose throats were slashed last
week are now recovering in a hospital here, where they were
interviewed. All three, who are from near the village of La Laguna
in Chalatenango Department, said that soldiers attacked them and
that they believed the soldiers belonged to either the Fourth
Brigade of the Belloso battalion." ["Salvador Army Brutality I Said
To Rise", The New York Times, June 22, 1987.]