Ana S Letter To Peter Mackay

Avenida Barcelona No. 1223 Barrio San Jacinto, San Salvador El Salvador

San Salvador, January 15th, 2007 Mr. Peter Mackay Minister of Foreign Affairs Canada C/O Ms. Stéphanie Allard-Gómez Canadian Ambassador Edificio Centro Financiero Gigante 63 Avenida Sur y Alameda Roosevelt Nivel Lobby 2, local 6 San Salvador, El Salvador Dear Mr. Peter Mackay: I am a Canadian citizen who arrived in Toronto from El Salvador as a refugee in 1984. I am currently conducting research on the post war situation in El Salvador, particularly assessing Salvadoran State institutions’ involvement in bringing to justice those involved in crimes against disappeared people and their families. I am writing to provide you with my testimony as El Salvador commemorates the 15th Anniversary of the Peace Accords. My mother, Juana Irma Cisneros Ticas, was disappeared by five heavily armed men in plain clothes in El Salvador on September 12th, 1982. She was a registered nurse working at the Psychiatric Hospital in Cantón El Limón, Soyapango. In 1982, my family requested an Habeas Corpus hoping that the Salvadoran Supreme Court would investigate my mother’s whereabouts and/or inform me/us about the proceedings undertaken. On August 30th, 2006, myself, along other six families of disappeared persons, requested the Attorney General, Mr. Felix Garrid Safie, to investigate the disappearances of our family members. We have not received any reply or acknowledgment of our request to this date. According to declarations from government officials, the reconciliation process in our country is a success. In my opinion and based on my lived experiences, the Salvadoran communities are far from enjoying any reconciliation as the full implementation of the recommendations of the Truth Commission is still pending. Furthermore, the government of El Salvador has proven to be disrespectful to the collective grieving process and reconciliation efforts of the Salvadoran society by passing an Amnesty Law in 1993 aimed at protecting those, certainly involved in the disappearance of more than 8000 civilians.

Just to remind you, crimes such as massacres, tortures, and disappearances were particularly highlighted for investigation in the Truth Commission’s Report, but have been ignored to date by the Salvadoran government. The Truth Commission placed a particular emphasis on the complicity and failures of Salvadoran State institutions responsible of investigating human rights abuses. As you can see from my testimony, those institutions are still failing the Salvadoran and international community as they do not act in accordance to international Conventions and Agreements, nor to the Peace Accords spirit and the Salvadoran Constitution. I want the Canadian government to acknowledge my sorrow and traumatic experience in facing the Salvadoran justice system, as well as my disappointment on how the Peace Accords have failed thousands of Salvadoran families whose relatives remain disappeared and who have been denied justice. Those Salvadoran families living in El Salvador, Canada or elsewhere in the planet are still being traumatized as El Salvador commemorates the 15th Anniversary of the Peace Accords. More importantly, I want the Canadian government to include my testimony and those of the human rights groups in El Salvador and abroad in order to offer the national and international communities an informed opinion on the achievements, failures and limitations of the Salvadoran postwar situation. Finally, I am also requesting you to inform me on the current state of affairs of the Canadian government in terms of following up and evaluating the implementation of the recommendations of the Truth Commission by the Salvadoran government. Please respond to my concerns in writing to my email [email protected]. Yours truly,

Ana Cisneros SIN 487-816-407