Retired general René Emilio Ponce, a former Minister of Defense of El Salvador who was accused of ordering the murder of six Jesuit Priests in 1989, died on Monday, May 2nd, at the age of 64.
In a statement reported by The New York Times, the Defense Ministry said Ponce was admitted to the hospital last week for heart problems, and died later at a military hospital in San Salvador.
Ponce was under investigation in Spain for allegedly giving the order during a meeting of senior army officers to assassinate Father Ignacio Ellacuría, a Spanish citizen and rector of the University of Central of America, and his colleagues. Hours after the meeting, on November 16, 1989, the Jesuits were found dead on the university campus, along with their housekeeper and her 16-year old daughter. Although a U.S. congressional investigation and the United Nations Truth Commission in El Salvador both concluded that Ponce was one of several senior army officers involved in ordering the killings, he was never tried for the crime. In 2008, the Center for Justice and Accountability filed a case before Spain’s National Court under the principle of “universal jurisdiction,” charging Ponce and 14 others with responsibility for the assassinations. (more…)
