Salvadorans hope Romero case leads to reconciliation

Published: 2004-09-08

FRESNO, Calif. (CNS) -- Salvadorans expressed hope that a federal judge's ruling against a retired Salvadoran military officer in the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero will promote reconciliation and justice in their homeland. "The truth has finally come out," said Eduardo Gonzalez, executive director of the Oscar Romero Clinic in Los Angeles. "We're free of oppression, free from fear and free from the pain of not having had justice for so many years," Gonzalez said. "It's a historic day for peace and justice in El Salvador and the world. Now true reconciliation can begin. For nearly 25 years, it's been a wound in our lives. Today we will begin healing that," he said. Gonzalez was among the 50 Salvadorans sitting on wooden courtroom benches Sept. 3 as Judge Oliver W. Wanger of the U.S. District Court in Fresno ruled that Alvaro Saravia, a retired Salvadoran air force captain who had been living in Modesto, hired and paid the archbishop's murderer. In the civil suit, Saravia, whose current whereabouts are unknown, was ordered to pay $10 million in damages to an unnamed relative of the archbishop.

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