The 1989 University of Central America Massacre

Posted onAuthorSOA Watch

The 1989 University of Central America Massacre

Sources at the [SOA] say that when…soldiers go through the urban-combat exercise with blanks in their weapons, half the time the village priest (played by a U.S. Army chaplain) is killed or roughed up.”
–Newsweek Magazine, August 9, 1993

On the night of November 16, 1989, a Salvadoran Army patrol entered the University of Central America (UCA) in San Salvador and massacred six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter. Those killed in the massacre at the University of Central America were:

    • Ignacio Ellacuría, rector of the University and a leader in efforts to broker a peace agreement to end the civil war
    • Ignacio Martín-Baró, who studied the effects of war on the human psyche
    • Segundo Montes, a strong advocate for refugees and human rights
    • Amando López, a gifted counselor and pastoral worker
    • Joaquín López y López, director of an education program in poor communities
    • Juan Ramón Moreno, a gifted preacher and retreat leader
    • Elba Ramos, the housekeeper for another group of Jesuits on campus, remembered as sensitive and intuitive
    • Celina Ramos, Elba’s teenage daughter who had worked as a catechist

Nineteen of the military officers cited for this atrocity have received training at the US Army School of the Americas. SOA Graduates that participated in, planned, or covered-up up the Massacre include:

Name: General Rafael Humberto Larios
Dates/courses: Command and General Staff course at the SOA in 1977.
Info: Was present at meetings where the orders were given and discussed, was General and  Minister of Defense at the time.

Name: General Juan Rafael Bustillo
Dates/courses: CIO Orientation course at the SOA in August of 1965
Info: Participated in the meetings where orders were given for the massacre. Held the rank of general and was commander of the Salvadoran Air Force at the time.

Name: General Juan Orlando Zepeda
Dates/courses: 1975, Urban Counterinsurgency Ops.; 1969, Unnamed Course
Info: Participated in planning the assassination of the Jesuit priests and covered-up the massacre (United Nations Truth Commission Report on El Salvador, 1993)
Member of the “La Tandona” and held the rank of colonel and served as the Vice Minister of Defense at the time of the massacre. Prior to the massacre he publicly accused the UCA of being the center of operations for the FMLN and was present for the meetings where orders were given for the massacre. He was later promoted to the rank of general. The Non-Governmental Human Rights Commission in El Salvador also cites Zepeda for involvement in 210 summary executions, 64 tortures, and 110 illegal detentions. (Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador)

Name: Colonel Inocente Orlando Montano
Dates/courses: 1970, Engineer Officer Course
Info: Jesuit massacre, 1989: Was in on the planning of the massacre, and cooperated in the cover-up. (United Nations Truth Commission Report on El Salvador, 1993)
Held the rank of colonel and was a Vice Minister in the Salvadoran government at the time of the massacre. Prior to the massacre he publicly accused the Jesuits of being aligned with subversive movements and was present for the meetings where orders were given for the massacre.  On September 11, 2020, a Spanish court convicted him for the ‘terrorist murders’ of the 5 Spanish Jesuits and sentenced him to 133 years in prison.

•  Colonel Francisco Elena Fuentes – held the rank of colonel and was the commander of the First Infantry Brigade in San Salvador at the time of the massacre. He was present for the meetings where orders were given for the massacre, and one day after the killings, troops from his First Infantry Brigade attempted to intimidate members of San Salvador’s Archdiocese by transmitting messages over loudspeakers saying, “We are still killing communists, Ellacuría and Martín-Baró have fallen, surrender, this is the First Brigade.” Fuentes took the Irregular warfare course at the SOA in 1969, a second course in 1973, and was invited to the SOA to be an instructor in 1985.

•  Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Camilo Hernández Barahona – held the rank of major and was the interim Assistant Dean at the Military College in El Salvador at the time of the massacre and later promoted to lieutenant colonel. On the night of November 15, 1989, he was present when Benavides informed the officers at the Military College of the order he had been given to murder Ellacuría and remained silent when asked by Benavides if anyone objected to the order. Later, Benavides ordered Hernández Barahona to organize and plan the operation.

Hernández Barahona organized and attended the meeting where the orders were given for the massacre. He also handed over an AK-47 rifle that had been captured from the FMLN and told them to use it in the massacre. The use of the FMLN AK-47 would serve to point blame away from the Armed Forces and toward the FMLN. Additionally, Hernández Barahona ordered them to leave behind at the murder site propaganda mentioning the FMLN.

Hernández Barahona was also involved in the cover up, by taking part in the burning of a small suitcase containing photographs, documents and money which the soldiers had stolen from the Jesuits. In conjunction with Benavides he ordered that all Military College arrival and departure logs for that year and the previous year be burned. This was done to prevent investigators from learning who had attended the meetings held at the Military College at the time the murders of the Jesuits were being planned and ordered. He attended the SOA twice in both 1972 and 1975.

•  Second Lieutenant Gonzalo Guevara Cerritos – held the rank of Second Lieutenant and was assigned to the Atlacatl Battalion at the time of the massacre. He was not the commander of the unit, but was an officer with command authority over the troops that carried out the massacre. He was sentenced to three years for instigation and conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism for his role in the Jesuits massacre and was later released and continued active service in the armed forces. Cerritos came to the U.S. in 2005 and was employed in Los Angeles. He was deported back to El Salvador in April 2007. He attended the SOA in 1988.

•  Sergeant Antonio Ramiro Avalos Vargas – was a sergeant in the Salvadoran Army and was assigned to the Atlacatl Battalion at the time of the massacre. In the 1991-1992 trial he admitted to killing Fathers López and Moreno. He was not convicted. He attended the SOA in 1988.

Biographies courtesy of the Center for Justice and Accountability’s website. You can access the full biographies here.

    • 1LT Yusshy Rene Mendoza Vallecillos, 1988, Commando Operation Course
    • CPL Angel Perez Vasquez, 1987, Small Unit Training and Management
    • 1LT Jose R. Espinoza Guerra, 1982, Spanish Officer Cadet Course
    • 1LT Gonzalo Guevara Cerritos, 1988, El Salvador Cadet Course
    • COL Carlos Armando Aviles Buitrago, 1968, Cadet Course
    • GEN Juan Rafael Bustillo, 1965, Counterinsurgency Orientation
    • COL Francisco Elena Fuentes, 1985-1986, Guest Instructor; 1973, Officer Supply
    • 1LT Francisco M. Gallardo Mata, 1992, Combat Operations; 1990, Combat Arms
    • LTC Carlos Camillio Hernandez Barahona, 1972, Combat Arms
    • 1LT Ramon E. Lopez Larios, 1992, Combat Arms; 1988, Infantry Officer
    • 1LT Rene Roberto Lopez Morales, 1990, Combined Officer Advanced Course; 1988, Commando Operations Course; 1987, Combat Arms Officer Course
    • COL Inocente Orlando Montano, 1970, Engineer Officer Course
    • GEN Juan Orlando Zepeda, 1975, Urban Counterinsurgency Ops.; 1969, Unnamed
    • 1LT Mario Arevalo Melendez, 1989, Commando Operations Course
    • CPT Jose Fuentes Rodas, 1986, Combat Arms Officer Course; 1980, Cadet Orientation
    • SGT Antonio Ramiro Avalos Vargas, 1988, Small Unit Training and Management
    • 1LT Jose V. Hernandez Ayala, 1991, Combat Arms Officer Course
    • 1LT Edgar Santiago Martinez Marroquin, 1991, Combat Arms Officer Course
    • COL Nelson Lopez y Lopez, 1968, Cadet Course
    • COL Manuel Antonio Rivas Mejia, 1975, Urban Counterinsurgency Ops.;1970, Cadet
  • GEN Gilberto Rubio, 1976, Logistics Management Course,1971, Tactical Officer Cadet