A NEW report on Central America from Amnesty International claims the "Roberto d'Aubisson death squad" has re-emerged in El Salvador, almost 18 years after Archbishop Oscar Romero was murdered on Major d'Aubisson's orders.
According to the report, Central America and Mexico: Human Rights Defenders on the front line, the death squad re-emerged in June with threats to murder 15 people, including the National Human Rights Procurator, Ms Victoria Marina Velasquez, and several prominent Catholic Church leaders.
The report examines human rights in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, and claims a persistent pattern of intimidation and persecution of human rights activists in the region, including activists in those countries undergoing peace processes and political transitions.
"Solidarity and grassroots action to promote human rights values is often the only tool civil society has to protect these rights. Members of these organisations, or isolated individuals, should be protected, not targeted for attack," the director of the Irish section of Amnesty International, Ms Mary Lawlor, said in Dublin yesterday.
The Amnesty report also high-lights intimidations threats and attacks directed at organisations dedicated to human rights in Mexico. The report says two bishops known for their work on human rights and on behalf of indigenous peasants in the state of Chiapas have been attacked and threatened with death.
The report highlights death threats against judges in Honduras, the torture and extra-judicial execution of lawyers and journalists in Guatemala, and attacks directed at defenders of human rights in El Salvador.
"Today we are launching a human rights defenders network to help protect these peoples' lives," said Mr Frank Jennings, Amnesty's Irish campaign co-ordinator.
Ms Lawlor called on the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Spring, "to join the network and commit himself to acting immediately on behalf of all these brave people whose lives are in danger for doing the work governments should do."