Catholics commemorate slain archbishop as legal efforts in assassination case continue.
On Tuesday, Venezuela’s Foreign Affairs Minister Yvan Gil posted a message on social media marking the anniversary of the death of Salvadoran saint Oscar Arnulfo Romero.
“Forty-six years ago, humanity suffered the loss of a leader and an essential voice in defense of the most vulnerable in the face of violence and poverty: Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero,” he said.
“Today we pay tribute to his life and legacy, which advocate for peace, social justice and respect for the dignity of every human being.”
“His firm belief that faith and the Church must be synonymous with solidarity and commitment to those most in need resonates strongly in our struggle against inequalities,” Gil concluded.
On Saturday, Catholic faithful gathered in El Salvador’s capital to commemorate the anniversary of the assassination of the archbishop, carried out in 1980 by a U.S.-backed far-right death squad.
They assembled in Divino Salvador del Mundo Square, where Romero was beatified in 2015 before thousands of people, and recalled his legacy of defending human rights before the civil war (1980-1992), in which the Salvadoran army killed about 75,000 people.
In May 2017, San Salvador’s 4th Investigative Court ordered the reopening of the case over the killing of Monsignor Romero. Later, in October 2018, it ordered the Attorney General’s Office to conduct a new investigation.
Romero was killed by a sniper on March 24, 1980, while celebrating Mass in the small chapel of the La Divina Providencia cancer hospital in San Salvador.
In 1993, the report of the United Nations Truth Commission identified Army Maj. Roberto D’Aubuisson, founder of the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (Arena), as the intellectual author of the crime. The party later took him to Congress and nominated him as a presidential candidate.
Captains Alvaro Saravia and Eduardo Avila, as well as Fernando Sagrera and Mario Molina, among others, were involved in planning and carrying out the assassination.
Saint Romero was canonized in Rome on Oct. 14, 2018, before thousands of people, after then-Pope Francis signed a decree recognizing the miracle attributed to the clergyman.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
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