On the 35th anniversary of the FENASTRAS bombing, UWCHR revisits case
Thirty-five years after the deadly October 31, 1989 bombing at the headquarters of the FENASTRAS union federation in San Salvador, researchers at the University of Washington Center for Human Rights have continued their search for information pertaining to this attack, which has never been brought to justice. A review of dozens of recently released documents related to the case and its investigation helps situate the bombing in its historical context and offer important behind-the-scenes insights on U.S. government responses at the time.
In the 1970s and 1980s, FENASTRAS (Federación Nacional Sindical de Trabajadores Salvadoreños, or National Trade Union Federation of Salvadoran Workers) was known for its leftist positions critical of the government. Like members of other trade union organizations, FENASTRAS had long experienced repression, including torture and forced disappearance, in retaliation for their activism. The October 1989 attack on the organization’s headquarters followed months of escalating violence against civil society organizations critical of the government, none of which were investigated; but the scale of the blast, and its timing in the midst of fragile peace negotiations between the government and the FMLN, led to immediate outcry and calls for an investigation. Believing the government was responsible for the attack, FENASTRAS personnel initially denied police investigators access to the blast site. Citing this refusal to collaborate with the police, both US and Salvadoran government officials suggested that the bombing may have been a “false flag” operation by the FMLN. And thirty-five years later, the case still languishes in impunity, though a unit of the Salvadoran Public Prosecutor’s Office specializing in cases from the internal armed conflict is currently reviewing the case.
Continue reading the full report on the Unfinished Sentences website.
Unfinished Sentences is an initiative of the UWCHR which aims to document and share stories of survivors of crimes against humanity committed in the context of El Salvador’s armed conflict, and to support Salvadoran efforts for truth and accountability.