Portrait of Impunity

Former Major Roberto D'Aubuisson gave the order to assassinate Archbishop [Oscar Romero] and gave precise instructions to members of his security service, acting as a 'death squad', to organize and supervise the assassination.

From Madness to Hope: the 12-year war in El Salvador: Report of the Commission on the Truth for El Salvador, 1993, 127-138.

President of El Salvador and ARENA party leader Tony Saca lays a wreath at the tomb of former Major Roberto D'Aubuisson, founder of the ARENA party. Saca was commemorating the 13th anniversary of D'Aubuisson's death on February 21, 2005. Saca commemorated D'Aubuisson as one who left "a true party for the defense of the people. It is for that that we will remember him."

With images like this, one month before the 25th Anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Romero, is it any wonder that there has not been true reconciliation in the 13 years since the conclusion of the civil war in El Salvador?