Apr 17 – A former Salvadoran defense minister faces deportation after a U.S. judge in Miami found that atrocities committed by troops under his command were not fully investigated, much less prosecuted. Those atrocities include the killings of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, four U.S. churchwomen [two from Cleveland, OH], and more than 1,000 peasants at El Mozote, the worst massacre of civilians in contemporary Latin American history.
Friday, April 11th — Visitors from across El Salvador, Honduras and even Guatemala make their way to the Department of Cabanas, El Salvador, to the town of Ciudad Dolores in North Central El Salvador for the Pilgrimage of the Virgin.
The quake shook the area for a prolonged time but local newspaper websites are not reporting significant damage at this point.
In February 2014, out-going Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes met personally with Pope Francis in the private library at the Apostolic Palace. Funes brought with him a piece of the cassock that Monsenor Romero was wearing at the moment when he was assassinated at the altar during Mass in 1980.
In January of 2014, Salvadoran President Funes proposed changing the name of El Salvador’s largest and most important airport in honor of the slain Archbishop and Social Justice Leader who was assassinated on March 24, 1980.
