El Salvador Lutherans report intimidation

The Lutheran Church in El Salvador and officials at the Salvadoran Lutheran University contend that a robbery and brutal murder on their campus in late January was an act of intimidation aimed at the church for being outspoken in politics.

Though computers, stereo equipment, cash and documents were stolen, university officials said in a statement the motive was not armed robbery. The murder is believed to be an attempt to silence the Salvadoran Lutheran Church and the university, said Medardo Gomez, the Lutheran bishop of E1 Salvador, in an interview with a Salvadoran newspaper, Diario Co Latino.

Speaking in Spanish, the bishop called the attack "politically related threats because we are a critical church."

Hector Fernandez, Lutheran University president, said January 31 that the university is known for "promoting a critical conscience in society, accompanying the people in their struggles for justice, and in giving opportunities of education for the poor in El Salvador."

Fernandez also said the January 29 murder of guard Manuel de Jesus Martinez, 46, who wag tied up, blindfolded, gagged and hanged from a tree on the university's campus, reminded him of violence perpetrated by armed groups daring El Salvador's 12-yearlong civil war, which ended in 1992.

Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, wrote a letter February 7 to Salvadoran President Elias Antonio Saca calling for a full investigation of the murder and increased security at the university.

COPYRIGHT 2005 The Christian Century Foundation
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