Pro-Búsqueda attacked in El Salvador

Pro-Búsqueda's offices in San Salvador were broken into last night by at least three armed men. They tied-up the guard and then set fire to its archives and stole several computers. Pro-Búsqueda is a non-profit agency that has helped to locate at least 235 children who went missing during the civil war. Some of these children were stolen by Salvadorans military officials and a number were eventually adopted by US and European families.

"This is clear sabotage on our work," said director Ester Alvarenga, adding that she had not yet been allowed to enter the offices after the fire. "We don't know what documents they destroyed or took, but this is an attack against our work."

Official human rights prosecutor David Morales suggested the attack could be related to an appeal before the country's Supreme Court that would eliminate the amnesty of people who committed grave war crimes, and he asked the attorney general to make a priority of investigating the attack.

"They have the responsibility to look at the possibility that this was a politically motivated attack intending to intimidate Probusqueda because of their work in defending human rights," Morales said.

The Washington Office on Latin America released the following:

WOLA is deeply concerned by this event and its possible connection with the debate about amnesty for human rights violations committed during the civil war. The break-in at ProBúsqueda comes only weeks after the unexpected closure of Tutela Legal—an organization that played a critical role in documenting abuses during the civil war—and the announcement that the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal to the constitutionality of the General Amnesty Law. It is crucial that the civil war-era files of human rights defenders are preserved. We urge the Salvadoran government to condemn today's attack and to investigate and punish those responsible. We also urge the government to take steps to protect the various sources of data on human rights violations throughout the country.

I'm worried about the situation, as I'm sure most people are, and couldn't agree more with WOLA.