On June 5, 2018, 38 years after his torture and arbitrary detention, José Rafael Martínez Segura returned to Santa Tecla Penitentiary in the department of La Libertad, El Salvador. This time, however, he was joined by police officers and a fiscal (prosecutor) from El Salvador’s recently-created Human Rights Unit, tasked with investigating his case. Their visit was a step in the investigative process known as “reconstrucción de los hechos,” or “reconstruction of the facts,” where investigators visit the site where crimes occurred to situate survivors’ testimony in physical space. Rafael’s case, which was brought before the Attorney General of San Salvador by the Central American University Institute of Human Rights (IDHUCA) on October 17, 2016, seeks justice for the arbitrary detention, violation of due process, prolonged physical and psychological torture, and deprivation of liberty which he endured for a period of two years, three months, and 23 days.
For survivors of torture, recounting their experiences is painful, yet doing so as part of a process aimed at achieving justice can help channel that pain. Rafael hopes his case will help shed light on the widespread practices of torture and arbitrary detention during the armed conflict. While still imprisoned, detainees who endured these abuses joined together to create COPPES, the Committee of Political Prisoners of El Salvador, to support one another and advocate for their cause. At war’s end the group disbanded, but in September 2008, former COPPES members came together again at the invitation of the city of Santa Tecla, which was in the process of remodeling the former prison into a museum, to share their first-hand memories of the history of the prison from 1978 to 1982.
Following this experience, former COPPES members decided to reconstitute the organization, now to support one another in the process of healing and to contribute to the search for truth, justice, and reparations for wartime rights abuses. While dozens of men and women from COPPES have come forward to share accounts of torture, Rafael’s case is the first to be investigated by the Salvadoran Attorney General’s office, and therefore the best-positioned, at least at present, to help break down the walls of silence and impunity that have surrounded the wartime practices of torture and arbitrary detention in El Salvador.
Rafael Segura’s Testimony
Rafael Segura’s experience of arbitrary detention, deprivation of liberty, and torture began in July of 1980. Amidst a climate of escalating government repression, Rafael was captured by the Salvadoran Air Force and detained for 96 hours in the barracks of the National Police and Treasury Police, during which time he endured the torture practices known as “el avioncito” (“the airplane”) and “la capucha” (“the hood”).
Several months later, in February of 1981, members of the National Guard violently removed Rafael from his home in the municipality of Ciudad Delgado, transporting him to various detention sites before bringing him to the barracks of the National Guard, where he was be deprived of liberty, food, and water for ten days and endured various forms of psychological and physical torture such as “la capucha”, electric shocks, and threats against him and his family.
Rafael was then transferred to Santa Tecla Penitentiary, where he was received by the Committee of Political Prisoners of El Salvador (COPPES) and was detained from February 1981 to February 1982 alongside 125 other political prisoners. In an early-morning operation on February 20, 1982, all political prisoners were transferred to “La Esperanza” Prison (also known as “Mariona,” after the town where it is located). Rafael remained at La Esperanza until May 23, 1983. During his detention Rafael was periodically visited by delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross who were able to verify his detention, despite the frequent barring of ICRC access to detainees being held for interrogation.
Practices of Torture and Illegal Detention in El Salvador
José Rafael Martinez Segura’s detention and torture from February 1981 to May of 1983 is one case among thousands of crimes against humanity committed during the Salvadoran Civil War. During the conflict, the Salvadoran Army and security forces carried out counterinsurgency tactics against the civilian population in which individuals who were considered to be ‘political dissidents’ were persecuted, ‘neutralized’, or exterminated through regulated and systematic practices of illegal detention, forced disappearance, extrajudicial execution, and torture.
In an historic 1986 report, “Torture in El Salvador,” the non-governmental Salvadoran Human Rights Commission (CDHES) documented the conditions of imprisonment of 2,165 men accused of committing crimes against the state from January 1983 to August 1986. Published in English with the explicit goal of impacting US government policy towards its Salvadoran allies, the report was notable both as one of the first to employ rigorous quantitative methodologies to human rights violations in El Salvador, and because members of CDHES were themselves imprisoned in “La Esperanza” Penitentiary at the time.
In collaboration with COPPES, the CDHES researchers documented their own conditions, and carried out intake interviews for arriving prisoners, which allowed them to quantify rates of application of 40 different forms of torture and other inhuman treatment. The report also includes detailed personal testimonies of 8 prisoners, who describe how they were subjected to torture by state security forces.
The report concluded that individual detainees’ treatment corresponded to specific plans made by their captors. The military intelligence division, known as S-II, determined the “best torture method” to be applied to each captive, which included:
- Physical Torture: Utilized to undermine the individual’s capacity for physical resistance; the scale of intensity was determined by the interrogator. Various forms of physical torture were committed against 99.3% of detainees.
- Psychological Torture: Utilized to induce deepening levels of depression, with the goal of leading the person to lose or question his control over his own will; the induced psychological state is characterized by despair and anxiety. Various forms of psychological torture were committed against 97.7% of detainees.
- Physio-Psychological Torture: The complementary and mutually reinforcing physical and psychological tactics converge to elicit an involuntary confession from the inmate. Physio-psychological tortures were applied to 99.5% of detainees.
Methods of Torture Inflicted On Rafael Segura
According to Rafael Segura’s sworn testimony, at least five specific forms of torture were committed against him by members of the Salvadoran military and security forces. All quotes and figures in the following section are drawn from the CDHES “Torture in El Salvador” report:
- “La capucha”: Consists of fully covering the head of the victim with plastic, rubber, or cloth to make the individual experience momentary asphyxiations, often lined with with calcium carbonate (lime) causing burns and asphyxiation. This form of torture was applied to 18.7% of detainees.
- “El avioncito”: “Consists of tying a person’s hands and feet, or thumbs, behind the back, causing intense pain and dislocation of different parts of the body.” Physical violence is inflicted while the victim is in this position. This form of torture was applied to 10.2% of detainees.
- Forced to listen to the torture of other prisoners: “The prisoner may be forced to be present while others are tortured, or to listen to their cries, telling him that the same will happen to him if he does not collaborate.” This form of torture was applied to 63.5% of detainees.
- Threats against family: “Part of the constant psychological war against the prisoner during the time he is held captive in the security forces. They threaten to bring his parents, wife, and children if he does not cooperate.” This form of torture was applied to 76% of detainees.
- Electric shocks: “With the objective of making the detainee talk, electric shocks are applied to the inside of the mouth, ears, genital organs, and the most delicate parts of the body. During this process, victims are attached to metal beds and completely soaked with water to make the experience more painful.” This form of torture was applied to 13.6% of detainees.
The Legal Apparatus of Torture in El Salvador
The 1986 CDHES report concludes that the procedures used by the security forces and Salvadoran Army violated the most fundamental principles of human rights and applicable international norms. Moreover, it sheds light on the infliction of cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment that Rafael Segura experienced during his detention, as well as the laws that were utilized to obscure and minimize its existence. During the late 1970s and early 80s, the de facto military governments of El Salvador dictated a series of decrees granting the Armed Forces judicial authority and direct control over the population.
The 1977 “Law for the Defense and Guarantee of Public Order” gave the authorities broad latitude to detain anyone remotely suspected of opposition to the government, including severe restrictions on freedom of express and due process. Under Decree 507, enacted in December 1980, individuals suspected of “terrorist activity” could be held for “investigation” for up to 195 days, and military judges could order an additional period of 120 days of detention without charges. As scholar Margaret Popkin writes in Peace Without Justice: Obstacles to Building the Rule of Law in El Salvador: “Ironically, Salvadoran authorities pointed to this law as an advance. Before the enactment of Decree 507, suspected subversives were routinely tortured and executed, often after spending prolonged periods in abysmal conditions of clandestine detention. Thus the decision to have political prisoners, even if they were denied all due process protections, could be pointed to as an improvement.”
Decree 507 was superseded in 1984 by Decree 50, the “Law of Criminal Procedure Applicable Upon the Suspension of Constitutional Guarantees”, which indefinitely suspended constitutional guarantees for political prisoners, allowing them to be held incommunicado by the security forces for up to 15 days. It was during this period that detainees were subjected to the most intense regime of torture, intended to elicit forced collaboration and confessions. In addition, delegates of the International Red Cross were only allowed to visit the detainee after the eighth day of captivity, at which time, an extrajudicial confession had already been extracted from the prisoner. Decree 50 also allowed for extra-judicial declarations to be “witnessed” by members of the security forces who were conducting the interrogation. All of these factors obscured and minimized the effects of torture to observers. Decree 50 was invoked in the cases of all detainees in “La Esperanza” penitentiary documented by CDHES during 1983-1986.
According to an historic analysis submitted in support of Rafael Segura’s case by the Central American University Institute of Human Rights, in passing these decrees, the Executive Branch not only “debilitated the democratic institutions of the state” by awarding judicial authority to the military, it also “found a mechanism outside of democratic control to neutralize the movement of the opposition.”
Towards Accountability
Rafael Segura’s illegal detention and torture in July 1980 and February 1981 took place during the military dictatorship of the Revolutionary Government Junta led by Colonel Jaime Abdul Gutiérrez Avendaño and Napoleon Duarte.
According to declassified U.S. government documents and Salvadoran military resumes, members of the High Command of the Salvadoran Armed Forces at the time of Rafael’s initial arrest and torture in July 1980 included Minister of Defense José Guillermo García Merino; Vice-Minister of Defense Francisco Adolfo Castillo; Air Force Commander Juan Rafael Bustillo Toledo; National Police Commander Carlos Reynaldo Lopez Nuila; and National Guard Director Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova.
At the time of Rafael’s second arrest and torture in February 1981, all of the above officials remained in the same posts. In addition, declassified U.S. government documents identify Óscar Edgardo Casanova Vejar as head of the intelligence section, or S-II, of the Armed Forces Joint Staff.
Future Cases
The emergence of Rafael’s legal case in the public sphere more than 30 years after the fact is an important milestone for justice in El Salvador. Following the July 2016 repeal of the Amnesty Law which blocked the investigation of wartime abuses for more than a decade, and amidst the national and international legal processes against members of the former High Command for the El Mozote and UCA massacres, Rafael Segura’s case is emblematic of the many thousands of cases of torture and illegal detention which continue to await justice.
One such case is that of Vilma Gladys Vásquez Melgar, a COPPES member who was detained by the National Guard in September 1989 during a peaceful occupation of a church in San Salvador as a protest against ongoing government repression. Five months pregnant at the time, Vilma was held for 72 hours in a cold cell in a Treasury Police barracks, beaten, subjected to harsh interrogation, and threatened with termination of her pregnancy. Her unborn baby survived the experience, but Vilma was left with physical and psychological scars, including migraines, panic attacks, and a fractured relationship with her children caused by the necessity to live apart from them for their own protection. In addition to her own torture, Vilma’s brother was killed and her father disappeared during the war.
Vilma’s case was presented to the Salvadoran Attorney General’s office in 2015, and was featured in 2016 in Torturadas, a book collecting the personal testimonies of four women torture survivors, published by IDHUCA. She has recently been called to give testimony before the investigators at the Fiscalía’s Human Rights Unit, which is beginning research into her case.
Declassified US Government Documents on Prison Conditions in El Salvador
The US Government had a vested interest in claiming that its Salvadoran allies were complying with standards of due process and humane treatment of prisoners as a condition for US aid. Nevertheless, declassified documents relating to the US Government’s monitoring of detention conditions in El Salvador provide valuable historical context, especially when contrasted with other contemporary documentation including the 1986 CDHES report and the personal testimony of Rafael Segura and other former political prisoners.
Document 1: List of Prisoners held in “La Esperanza” Prison in 1983; Rafael is listed as #346.
Document 2: A March 1982 State Department telegram describes the application of “Emergency” Decree 507 as means to detain suspected terrorists without due process for a period of 180 days.
Document 3: December 1982 letter from COPPES to Ambassador Hinton reiterating their invitation to him to visit Mariona Prison. The letter acknowledges a visit by an embassy political attaché but notes that the embassy representative did not visit the wing where the political prisoners were detained.
Document 4: The Department of State’s “Country Report in Human Rights Practices for 1982” explains the systemic application of torture and denial of due process in the context of impunity created by Decree 507, as well as identifies “La Esperanza” (“Mariona prison”) as the largest detention site for political prisoners. Describes “Mariona prison” as possessing a “well-developed recreation and rehabilitation program”, with “prison directors who are generally responsive to their demands”.
Document 5: A 1984 State Department “Human Rights Report” describes Decree 50 and its predecessor, Decree 507; according to the Salvadoran constitution, these laws were employable only in “states of emergency”, yet they were used indefinitely without regulation to commit and cover up torture, among other crimes against humanity.
Document 6: An April 1984 U.S. Embassy letter in response to inquiries regarding disappearances and detention of members of the Salvadoran academic community in “La Esperanza” prison (referred to as “Mariona Prison”).
Document 7: A May 1986 CIA National Intelligence Daily report provides an example of the application of Decree 50 to award military jurisdiction over cases involving “subversion” and “terrorism”. The document also describes the “unprecedented application of Decree 50” in response to pressures within the armed forces and explains how military courts tend to limit the scope of the investigations.