Finding El Salvador's Disappeared: What the US Files Reveal

In terms of accountability for the crimes of the past, El Salvador has long been a laggard in Latin America, effectively failing to hold anyone accountable for ordering crimes against humanity committed during its armed conflict from 1980 to 1992, or implementing any meaningful transitional justice process. Yet the victims' long struggle for truth, justice, and reparations has picked up steam in recent years, most notably through the 2016 overturn of the amnesty law which had blocked investigations or prosecutions of wartime crimes since 1993. In early 2017, in response to pressures from civil society in El Salvador and the United States, and at the urging of some members of the US Congress, the Salvadoran government committed to the creation of a commission to locate the remains of the estimated 5–10,000 Salvadorans forcibly disappeared during the war. The success of such efforts will rely upon access to government information, yet efforts to secure relevant files from Salvadoran government institutions have thus far been fruitless. In this context, due to extensive United States involvement in the Salvadoran conflict, US records may help fill the knowledge gap. This article assesses the extent to which relevant information has already been declassified by the US government, and the likely extent to which useful information remains unavailable. It finds that, contrary to the recent assertions of the US State Department, a great deal of information which could aid in these investigations remains classified, particularly in the files of military and intelligence agencies.