El Salvador: Step Forward

Justice moves slowly

The investigation had dragged on for almost two years, straining relations between the U.S. and El Salvador and attracting reproachful editorials worldwide. Finally, a sign of progress emerged last week. Salvadoran Judge Bernardo Rauda Murcia ruled that five former National Guardsmen accused of murdering four American churchwomen in 1980 must stand trial.

The case has been controversial from the day three nuns and a Roman Catholic lay worker were found sexually abused, shot, and buried in a shallow grave about 30 miles southeast of San Salvador. After months of stonewalling by Salvadoran authorities, the five suspects were finally taken...

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