Impunity in politically motivated assassination sets dark precedent as electoral season begins

On the morning of January 9th, leaders from the rural community ofLas Casitas in the municipality of Alegría, Usulután, waited for thearrival of their mayor and his staff to discuss the construction of asoccer field in their community. But Moises Funes, the 31-year-oldmayor from the FMLN party, never arrived.
    Just before reaching the community, Funes was waved down by a manin a truck. Upon stopping his car, Funes and his companion, municipalemployee Zulma Rivera, 22, were shot and killed. According to thetestimony of a single witness, the assassin then escaped in his vehiclethrough the coffee fields. He has yet to be identified.

In the following days, the atmosphere in this small town was one of mourning and sadness. Over 5,000 people attended Funes funeral. A mayor who had been truly loved was now lost forever.
The district attorneys office began an investigation, announcing that it could not say whether the motive was political or personal, but that it would investigate the crime as it would any other. In El Salvador, where between 80% and 85% of crimes remain unresolved, these words didnt breed optimism. Indeed, the district attorneys office has yet to detain any suspects, and so far the case has remained in impunity.
    Sigfrido Reyes, FMLN Senator and Chief of Communications explained that while those responsible remain free, the people are in fear because there exists a threat that continues to be relevant: the assassins are free and they can therefore think about assassinating anybody.
    This fear materialized on February 3rd, when Lorenzo Campos, the only witness to the double-assassination, was gravely injured by gunshot. Campos works as a driver, and upon arriving to pick up a female client who had arranged a ride by telephone, was shot twice in the throat and once in the neck, leaving him badly wounded. On January 9, Campos was the first person at the scene of Funes murder and tried to rescue the mayor, bringing him to the hospital in his own vehicle.

Moises Funes and Alegría

    When Funes won the municipal election in March 2006, unseating Carlos Antonio Luna of the right-wing ARENA party, who had been in office for 12 years, it quickly became clear that not everybody thought the change was for the best. Funes mother, María Auxiliadora Ramírez, recalls that ARENA party loyalists came to the familys house to throw rocks when the results were announced. The FMLNs Reyes remembers, the municipal government of ARENA that lost the elections carried out completely illegal acts that amounted to giving away the fundamental wealth of the city: an ecological park, a lagoon.
    Between election day and Funes inauguration as mayor, the Alegría lagoon and a tourist center were leased to a private company on 15 year contracts. The towns stadium was rented to a privately-owned soccer team. On May 1st, when Funes and his staff opened the small, three-room mayors office, they were surprised to see what else had been given away: over half of the computers and the city car. The citys bank account was nearly empty.
    Soon after Funes took office, the death threats started arriving to his cellular phone from an anonymous computer address. Unlike the mayor, who until his death did not denounce the threats, Funes close friend, the local priest, received threats as well and requested a transfer to a different parish. Soon after his transfer was granted, the violence started.
    Funes father, José Angel Funes, was shot and badly wounded on April 26, 2006, just days before his son was inaugurated. He survived, and as the case unfolded, even mainstream media had to admit that the identity of the man responsible made a political motive for the crime an un-avoidable possibility. The suspect was ARENA activist José Monterrosa, blood brother of Colonel Domingo Monterrosa, who, among other crimes, was responsible for the deaths of over 900 innocent people in 1981 in the most infamous massacre of the Civil War, the El Mozote Massacre.

History Leans Towards 2009

    We are not in the pre-campaign anymore. The election season has now begun, says Alegría councilwoman Lilian Astrid Cortez. In El Salvador, politics go hand-in-hand with violence and insecurity. And with the election now less than a year away, the assassination of Moises Funes sets an ominous tone for campaign season.
Each time that a campaign draws near in which the anxieties of the right wing grow, we see how their attitude becomes more violent, more aggressive, said the FMLNs Reyes. We in El Salvador have a right wing that is very radical in ideological and political terms, a right wing with a tradition of violence and disrespect for life, and a right wing that does not accept, mentally they do not accept, that an opposition party could come to govern.
    In this context, continuing impunity in a high-profile, politically-motivated assassination such that of Funes sets a dangerous precedent. With El Salvadors presidential, legislative and municipal elections all scheduled for early 2009, social organizations and the FMLN continue to demand justice in the case of Moises Funes and Zulma Rivera, and will continue to do so until the truth is known.

from www.whenthereisjustice.blogspot.com