NEWS RELEASE San Salvador, El Salvador

Dec. 12, 1997

MATTHEW EISEN AND FR. JOE MULLIGAN, SJ, PRESENT LETTER TO U.S. AMBASSADOR IN SAN SALVADOR TO BE FORWARDED TO PRES. CLINTON

SIX HUMAN-RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS JOIN IN VIGIL AT U.S. EMBASSY FOR FATHER CARNEY

FAST SUSPENDED ON 45TH DAY

SUPPORT FOR CAMPAIGN CONTINUES TO GROW

For more information, please contact EPICA in Washington, DC, at (202) 332-0292 or Matthew Eisen in San Salvador (pazsal@netcomsa.com) or Fr. Joe Mulligan, SJ, in Managua (guvols@nicarao.org.ni)

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Today at 9:30 a.m. Matthew Eisen and Fr. Joe Mulligan, SJ, delivered a letter addressed to President Clinton to the U.S. embassy in San Salvador, asking U.S. ambassador Anne Patterson to forward it to the White House. The letter is the same as the one which was delivered to the U.S. embassy in Honduras on Oct. 29, and this copy is also accompanied by the same set of demands and the sample copies of the blacked-out CIA and U.S. Army documents on Father James "Guadalupe" Carney.

The letter was delivered to the U.S. embassy as part of a vigil-demonstration in which Christians for Peace in El Salvador (CRISPAZ) took part, as well as the following Salvadoran human-rights organizations: Centro para la Promocion de los Derechos Humanos "Madeleine Lagadec"; Comision de Derechos Humanos de El Salvador; Comit de Familiares de Victimas de Violaciones a los Derechos Humanos "Marianella Garcia Villas"; Comit de Madres "Monsenor Romero"; y Comit de Madres y Familiares Cristianos "Padre Octavio Ortiz y Madre Silvia."

In addition to the posters and banners concerning Fr. Carney which were brought here from Honduras, pictures of many of the disappeared in El Salvador were also displayed in an expression of international solidarity.

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Today Eisen and Mulligan announced that their 45-day liquids-only fast, in which John Patrick Carney of Minneapolis (brother of Fr. Carney) has also participated, would be suspended this evening. "We have been fasting in Honduras and here in El Salvador," they said, n the hope that the U.S. government will respond more adequately to the Honduran governmentÆs official request for documents concerning the disappearance of Fr. Carney and others. We suspect that the heavily expurgated documents released thus far may be covering up evidence of criminal activity by U.S. or Honduran agents.

"We are not satisfied with the Clinton administrationÆs response to date. One letter from an official in the State Department, promising to consider our demands and respond adequately to each one, is the only response we have received from the executive branch. We are encouraged, however, by a letter to President Clinton from Congressmen Moakley and McGovern, insisting on a more adequate response from the administration, and a letter from Sen. Carl Levin informing us that the Senate Intelligence Committee had urged the CIA to declassify as much information as possible.

ther letters from former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, from Nobel Peace Laureates Rigoberta Menchu Tum and Adolfo Perez Esquivel, from Sister Dianna Ortiz and attorney Jennifer Harbury, from Bishops Samuel Ruiz and Pedro Casaldaliga, and many others in the U.S. as well as expressions of support from many Hondurans and Salvadorans, have indeed given us encouragement and hope for an eventual successful conclusion of this struggle.

n addition, coverage in the Honduran and U.S. media have made the Fr. Carney case better known. We express our gratitude to all who have written support letters to us and letters to their elected representatives in Washington. We are very grateful to the members of CRISPAZ for their hospitality and support, and once again we express our heartfelt gratitude to EPICA and COFADEH for their active work with us and their encouragement.

"Support letters are still coming in. Keith Kelleher, head organizer of SEIU Local 880 in Chicago, sent us a copy of his letter to President Clinton, as did Fr. Bob Scullin, SJ, of Columbus, Ohio; and Fr. Charles Currie, SJ, president of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, has also expressed his support.

"During the next few months, let us all continue our work on this case: writing to administration officials, members of Congress, letters to the editor, etc. Please follow up on contacts you have made. We will be vigilant to see how the Clinton administration responds to all the expressions of concern it has received and how the new administration of Carlos Flores in Honduras (taking office in January) responds. In a letter to members of Congress, President Clinton stated that U.S. government agencies would release documents on General Alvarez (former head of the Honduran Armed Forces) and on Battalion 3-16 (the torture and death squad of the Honduran army) this year; we are still waiting for that information.

"Let us evaluate this question again within a couple of months and see what needs to be done at that point. We have thought of the possibility of another letter-writing campaign and public actions during the first week of April, in Honduras (where a follow-up committee has been formed) and in the U.S. and other countries."

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Joe Mulligan plans to return to Managua on Saturday, Dec. 13, to resume his work with the Christian base communities. Matthew Eisen will continue his work with CRISPAZ in San Salvador. We will be in touch with you once again next week with some thoughts, reflections, and suggestions. Thanks again to all for all your work, support, and commitment!

Sincerely,

Matthew Eisen

CRISPAZ

Apdo 2944

Centro de Gobierno

San Salvador, El Salvador

tel: (503) 226-0829

email: pazsal@netcomsa.com

Joe Mulligan, SJ

Apdo 2419

Managua, Nicaragua

tel: (505) 278-6965

email: guvols@nicarao.org.ni

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