Inter-American Court of Human Rights hears case of disappeared children

Written by Maria Hoisington, translation by Norma Kaminsky

Rochac Hernández et. al v. El Salvador

On April 2nd, 2014, attorneys from Association Pro-Búsqueda presented the cases of five children who were forcibly disappeared by state agents during the Salvadoran Armed Conflict to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in San Jose, Costa Rica. Pro-Búsqueda, representing the families of the five children, seeks financial reparations for the families as well as a mandate from the Court to require that the Salvadoran State take responsibility for the forced disappearances of children and address the continued impunity for these human rights abuses. The cases, which are collectively known as the “Rochac Case,” document the disappearances of José Adrián Rochac, Emelinda Lorena Hernández, Santos Ernesto Salinas, Manuel Antonio Bonilla Osorio, and Ricardo Ayala Abarca, who were taken during or immediately after counterinsurgency operations carried out by the Salvadoran military and paramilitary groups between 1980 and 1982.

During the hearing, the brother of Manuel Antonio Bonilla Osorio and the sister of José Adrián Rochac testified about the disappearances of their siblings and their efforts over the last three decades to locate them. Additionally, Marta Cabrera, a Nicaraguan psychologist, testified as an expert witness on the psychological effects and trauma suffered generally by families of disappeared children in El Salvador. Representatives from the Salvadoran government recognized the State’s responsibility for the disappearances of the five children, and the failure of the State to conduct a thorough investigation. They promised to provide reparations to the families of the victims, which will be mandated by the Court at the upcoming sentencing hearing.

Before initiating the judicial process at an international level, Pro-Búsqueda presented each of the five cases individually to the Salvadoran State through criminal complaints and complaints to the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office. After the lack of concrete steps by the State to respond to the complaints, Pro-Búsqueda joined the cases and presented them to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights in 2003. At a hearing in 2009 in front of the Commission, the Salvadoran State recognized that the forced disappearance of children was part of a systematic pattern of human rights abuses carried out by the State during the 12-year armed conflict and promised to begin the process to resolve the case.

In 2012, after the failure of the State to move forward with its investigation of the case and provide reparations to the families of the victims, Pro-Búsqueda requested that the Commission refer the case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The Court accepted the case in 2013, and subsequently granted Pro-Búsqueda access to the Victims’ Legal Assistance Fund in order to cover travel expenses for family members of the victims who would testify in front of the Court.

Pro-Búsqueda and the forced disappearances of children during the Armed Conflict

Association Pro-Búsqueda is a human rights organization that works to locate children that were forcibly disappeared during the armed conflict, provide support to victims and their families, and pursue justice for those affected by the conflict. It began as an effort of Father Jon Cortina, a Jesuit priest, who accompanied families in the search of their children in the department of Chalatenango after the signing of the Peace Accords in 1992. Pro-Búsqueda was founded in 1994 in order to formally and systematically record the cases of disappeared children and work to locate them.

In 1993, the Report of the United Nations Truth Commission, which investigated human rights abuses committed during the Salvadoran Armed Conflict, recognized that the forced disappearances of children were not isolated cases, but rather a systematic practice carried out by the Salvadoran military and paramilitary groups. This practice was part of the greater “scorched earth” strategy aimed at destroying the civilian populations that were considered “the social base for the guerrilla.” Children were systematically taken from their families and trafficked internationally, adopted to members of the Salvadoran military, or left in orphanages.

Since 1994, Pro-Búsqueda has registered 925 cases, and of those has resolved 386. They note that the principal roadblock faced in their efforts to locate disappeared children is the lack of cooperation of the Salvadoran State to investigate and provide information on these cases.

Poster published by Pro-Búsqueda in 1995.

Poster published by Pro-Búsqueda in 1995. “Where are they? More than three hundred disappeared boys and girls. ‘We are the families of children taken during military operations. We have come together to search for them because we know they are alive. Help us find them!

Background on the five cases

José Adrián Rochac was five years old when he was taken from his home in the municipality of San Martín during a military operation aimed at eliminating civilian support for the guerrilla. According to the testimony of José’s sister, María Juliana Rochac Hernández, and two neighbors, on December 12th, 1980, soldiers from the Salvadoran Air Force and paramilitaries entered his community and checked each house for members of the guerrilla and alleged supporters. When they reached José’s house, the soldiers killed his mother and took José. He was last seen by neighbors walking among a group of soldiers towards their military trucks.

Santos Ernesto Salinas was nine years old when he was forcibly disappeared from his home in the department of San Vicente. As reported by the Salvadoran newspaper Diario El Mundo, between October 16th and 29th of 1981, the Atlacatl Batallion and members of the National Guard initiated an operation to capture guerrillas in the area in response to a guerrilla attack that destroyed a government communication tower on the Lempa River. On October 25, 1981, the military entered Santos’s community. Santos ran into a neighbor’s house, which soldiers then entered, removed all of the adults, and massacred them on the banks of the Lempa River. Neighbors saw soldiers carry away a boy that matched Santos’s description. The Salvadoran State recognized these facts at a hearing in front of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights on November 6, 2009.

One-year-old Emelinda Lorena Hernández was disappeared on December 11th, 1981, during a counterinsurgency operation known as “Operación Rescate,” in the department of Morazán. According to the U.N. Truth Commission, the operation, which spanned almost two weeks, was carried out by the Atlacatl Battalion, units from the Third Infantry Brigade, and the San Francisco Gotera Commando Training Center, and involved a series of massacres throughout the department, including the massacre of approximately 800 civilians at El Mozote. During this operation, soldiers would enter a community, take people from their homes, separate them into groups of men, women, and children, and systematically execute them. On the day of her disappearance, Emelinda’s parents fled their home and hid in the mountains. They came upon the house of Marta Ramirez, left Emeilinda there, and returned to their hiding place. That night, they heard gunshots, and returned to the house to find Marta Ramirez and her four children dead. There was no sign of Emelinda. A neighbor later reported that she saw a line of soldiers carrying several small children on their shoulders.

Manuel Antonio Bonilla Osorio and Ricardo Ayala Abarca were forcibly disappeared on August 22nd, 1982 in the department of San Vicente. This occurred during a military operation known as “Lieutenant Coronel Mario Azenón Palma,” in which more than 200 civilians were massacred. According to the U.N. Truth Commission, approximately 6,000 soldiers from the Atlacatl Batallion and other Infantry, artillery, and air support units from the area participated in the operation. That day, members of the Salvadoran military attacked their community, causing the inhabitants to flee into the hills. The soldiers tracked them down, opened fire, and kidnapped Manuel, age 10, Ricardo, age 13, and a neighbor named María Esperanza Alvarado. Family members of Manuel and Ricardo later heard that a woman and two orphaned children that had been captured during a military operation were being held at the military base in Sensuntepeque.