On December 2, 1980, four Catholic missionaries from the United States working in

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

were raped and murdered by five members of the El Salvador National Guard (Daniel Canales Ramirez, Carlos Joaquin Contreras Palacios, Francisco Orlando Contreras Recinos, Jose Roberto Moreno Canjura, and Luis Antonio Colindres Aleman). The murdered missionaries were

Maryknoll Sister __NOTOC__ The Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic, or simply Maryknoll Sisters, are a group of Roman Catholic religious women founded in the village of Ossining, Westchester County, New York, in 1912, six months after the 1911 creation of the Marykno ...

Maura Clarke Maura Clarke (January 13, 1931 – December 2, 1980), was an American Catholic Maryknoll sister who served as a missionary in Nicaragua and El Salvador. She worked with the poor and refugees in Central America from 1959 until her murder in 1980 ...

and

Ita Ford Sister Ita Ford, M.M. (April 23, 1940 – December 2, 1980) was an American Catholic Maryknoll Sister who served as a missionary in Bolivia, Chile and El Salvador. She worked with the poor and war refugees. On December 2, 1980, she was beaten, r ...

, Ursuline

Dorothy Kazel Dorothy Kazel (June 30, 1939 – December 2, 1980), was an American Ursuline religious sister and missionary to El Salvador. On December 2, 1980, she was beaten, raped, and murdered along with three fellow missionaries – Maryknoll Sister ...

, and

lay Lay may refer to: Places *Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada *Lay, Loire, a French commune *Lay (river), France *Lay, Iran, a village *Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community People * Lay (surname) * ...

missionary

Jean Donovan Jean Marie Donovan (April 10, 1953 – December 2, 1980) was an American lay missionary who was beaten, raped, and murdered along with three fellow missionaries—Ita Ford, Maura Clarke and Dorothy Kazel—by members of the military of El Sal ...

Historical background

The

Salvadoran Civil War The Salvadoran Civil War ( es, guerra civil de El Salvador) was a twelve year period of civil war in El Salvador that was fought between the government of El Salvador and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition or ...

began after a 1979 military coup brought the

Revolutionary Government Junta , national_anthem = '' Himno Nacional de El Salvador'' , image_map = LocationElSalvador.svg , capital = San Salvador , common_languages = Spanish , religion = , demonym = Sal ...

to power. Catholic activists protested against the junta's oppression of impoverished citizens.

Óscar Romero Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (15 August 1917 – 24 March 1980) was a prelate of the Catholic Church in El Salvador. He served as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of San Salvador, the Titular Bishop of Tambeae, as Bishop of Santiago d ...

, the

Archbishop of San Salvador The Archdiocese of San Salvador is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in El Salvador. Its archepiscopal see is the Salvadoran capital, San Salvador, and the surrounding region. The current Archbishop ...

, was assassinated on March 24, 1980, while performing Mass. The four murdered Americans were involved in an international humanitarian aid mission which was accused by the régime of fomenting political opposition.

Murders

Kazel and Donovan, who were based in La Libertad, drove to

El Salvador International Airport El Salvador International Airport Saint Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional de El Salvador San Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez), , previously known as Comalapa International Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional d ...

on the afternoon of December 2 to pick up two Maryknoll Sisters returning from a Maryknoll conference in

Managua ) , settlement_type = Capital city , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Nicara ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

. Kazel and Donovan were under surveillance by a National Guardsman at the time, who phoned his commander. Acting on orders from the commander, five National Guardsmen changed out of uniform and continued to stake out the airport. Donovan and Kazel returned to pick up Clarke and Ford, who were returning from the same conference, on a flight due at 7:00 pm, which landed at 9:11 pm.Judith Noone, ''The Same Fate as the Poor'', Orbis Books (1995) pp. 1-2. () The five Guardsmen stopped the four women's vehicle after they left the airport. They were taken to a relatively isolated spot where they were beaten, raped and murdered by the soldiers. Peasants living nearby had seen the women's white van drive to an isolated spot at about 10 p.m. on December 2 and then heard

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

fire followed by single shots, three hours after the flight was due. They saw five men flee the scene in the white van, with the lights on and the radio blaring. The van would be found later that night on fire at the side of the airport road. Later, the women's bodies were found knifed in a ditch. Early the next morning, December 3, they found the bodies of the four women and were told by local authorities — a judge, three members of the National Guard, and two commanders — to bury them in a common grave in a nearby field. The peasants did so, but informed their

parish priest A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

, Fr. Paul Schindler, and the news reached Óscar Romero's successor

Arturo Rivera y Damas Arturo Rivera y Damas (September 30, 1923 – November 26, 1994) was the ninth Bishop and fifth Archbishop of San Salvador, El Salvador. Msgr. Rivera's term as archbishop (1983–1994) coincided with the Salvadoran Civil War. He was the immediate ...

and the

United States Ambassador to El Salvador The following is a list of United States ambassadors, or other chiefs of mission, to El Salvador. The title given by the United States State Department to this position is currently ''Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary.'' Chie ...

, Robert White. Their shallow grave was exhumed the next day, December 4, in front of 15 reporters, Sisters Alexander and Dorsey and several missionaries, and Ambassador White. Donovan's body was the first exhumed; then Kazel's; then Clarke's; and last, that of Ita Ford. On December 5, a Mass of the Resurrection was said by Bishop

; and on December 6, the bodies of Jean Donovan and Dorothy Kazel were flown out for burial. Donovan's body was returned to her parents in

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sout ...

, while Kazel's was taken back to her hometown of Cleveland, where she was buried in All Souls Cemetery in

Chardon, Ohio Chardon is a city in and the county seat of Geauga County, Ohio, United States. The population was 5,242 at the 2020 census.Chalatenango, El Salvador, in keeping with Maryknoll practice.

Subsequent history

As news of the murders was made public in the United States, public outrage forced the U.S. government to pressure the Salvadoran regime to investigate. U.S. President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

suspended aid to El Salvador. The earliest investigations were condemned as

whitewash Whitewash, or calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, or lime paint is a type of paint made from slaked lime ( calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) or chalk calcium carbonate, (CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various other additives are sometimes used ...

attempts by the later ones, and in time, a

Commission on the Truth for El Salvador The Truth Commission for El Salvador ( es, Comisión de la Verdad para El Salvador) was a restorative justice truth commission approved by the United Nations to investigate the grave wrongdoings that occurred throughout the country's twelve year ...

was appointed by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

to investigate who gave the orders, who knew about it, and who covered it up. Several low-level guardsman were convicted, and two generals were

sued - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil acti ...

by the women's families in the

U.S. federal courts The federal judiciary of the United States is one of the three branches of the federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government. The U.S. federal judiciary consists primari ...

for their

command responsibility Command responsibility (superior responsibility, the Yamashita standard, and the Medina standard) is the legal doctrine of hierarchical accountability for war crimes.

for the incident. Unlike President Carter, succeeding U.S. President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

favored the Salvadoran military regime; he authorized increased military aid and sent more U.S.

military adviser Military advisors, or combat advisors, advise on military matters. Some are soldiers sent to foreign countries to aid such countries with their military training, organization, and other various military tasks. The Foreign powers or organizations ...

s to the country to aid the government in quelling the civil/guerrilla war. His foreign policy advisor Jean Kirkpatrick declared her 'unequivocal' belief that the Salvadorean army was not responsible, adding that "the nuns were not just nuns. They were political activists. We ought to be a little more clear about this than we actually are." After the release of declassified documents in the 1990s, New Jersey congressman Robert Torricelli stated that it was "now clear that while the Reagan Administration was certifying human rights progress in El Salvador they knew the terrible truth that the Salvadoran military was engaged in a widespread campaign of terror and torture". In ''El Salvador's Decade of Terror: Human Rights Since the Assassination of Archbishop Romero'',

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

reports: In 1984, four national guardsmen—Daniel Canales Ramirez, Carlos Joaquin Contreras Palacios, Francisco Orlando Contreras Recinos and Jose Roberto Moreno Canjura—were convicted of murdering the four women and were sentenced to 30 years in prison. Their superior, sub-sergeant Luis Antonio Colindres Aleman, was also convicted for the murders. According to the

Maryknoll Maryknoll is a name shared by a number of related Catholic organizations, including the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers (also known as the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America or the Maryknoll Society), the Maryknoll Sisters, and the Mary ...

Sisters:

The
993 Year 993 ( CMXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – The 12-year-old King Otto III gives the Sword of Saints Cosmas and Damian ...
/nowiki> U.N.-sponsored Report of the Commission on the Truth for El Salvador concluded that the abductions were planned in advance and the men responsible had carried out the murders on orders from above. It further stated that the head of the National Guard and two officers assigned to investigate the case had concealed the facts to harm the judicial process. The murder of the women, along with attempts by the Salvadoran military and some American officials to cover it up, generated a grass-roots opposition in the U.S., as well as ignited intense debate over the Administration's policy in El Salvador. In 1984, the defendants were found guilty and sentenced to 30 years in prison. The Truth Commission noted that this was the first time in Salvadoran history that a judge had found a member of the military guilty of assassination. In 1998, three of the soldiers were released for good behavior. Two of the men remain in prison and have petitioned the Salvadoran government for pardons.

The head of the National Guard, General

Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova (born 1937) is the former head of the Salvadoran national guard between the years 1979 and 1983 and later served as the nation's Minister of Defense between 1983 and 1989. In 1984, four national guardsmen who had o ...

, went on to become Salvadoran Minister of Defense in the government of

José Napoleón Duarte José Napoleón Duarte Fuentes (23 November 1925 – 23 February 1990) was a Salvadoran politician who served as President of El Salvador from 1 June 1984 to 1 June 1989. He was mayor of San Salvador before running for president in 1972. He los ...

.Biography
InterReligious Task Force of Cleveland; accessed October 7, 2005. In 1998, the four assassins confessed to abducting, raping and murdering the four churchwomen and claimed that they did so because Aleman had informed them that they had to act on orders from high-level military officers. Some were then released from prison after detailing how Vides and his cousin Col. Oscar Edgardo Casanova Vejar, the local military commander in Zacatecoluca, had planned and orchestrated the executions of the churchwomen. A 16-year legal battle to deport Vides Casanova soon commenced. Ita Ford's brother, attorney William P. Ford, spent more than 25 years using the U.S. court system to try to obtain justice for his sister and the other three murdered women. He worked closely with

Human Rights First Human Rights First (formerly known as the Lawyers Committee for International Human Rights) is a nonpartisan, 501(c)(3), international human rights organization based in New York City and Washington, D.C. In 2004, Human Rights First started its " ...

(formerly the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights) on federal lawsuits to try to bring Salvadoran generals to answer for the murder of the women, and, in other cases, for the torture and murder of members of the Salvadoran poor. biography of William P. Ford, accessed online December 11, 2006. After their emigration to the U.S. state of Florida, Vides Casanova and his fellow general,

José Guillermo García José Guillermo García (born 25 June 1933) is a former general of the military of El Salvador and was minister of defense of the Revolutionary Government Junta of El Salvador between the years 1979 and 1983. Emigration to United States He e ...

, were sued by the families of the four women in federal civil court. The case is styled ''Ford v. Garcia''. The defense won the case. On February 24, 2012, however, a Federal immigration judge cleared the way for the deportation of Vides Casanova after the General was held liable for various war crimes which occurred under his command. On March 11, 2015, the

Board of Immigration Appeals The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) is an administrative appellate body within the Executive Office for Immigration Review of the United States Department of Justice responsible for reviewing decisions of the U.S. immigration courts and certa ...

dismissed General Vides Casanova's appeal. Vides Casanova was then deported back to El Salvador on April 8, 2015.

Cultural depictions

''Roses in December'' is a 1982 documentary about the murders, focusing on Jean Donovan."Roses in December" details
at

American Friends Service Committee The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Religious Society of Friends (''Quaker'') founded organization working for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world. AFSC was founded in 1917 as a combined effort by Am ...

lending library; accessed online December 9, 2006. This documentary won the Interfilm Award at the 1982 International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg. The dramatization ''

Choices of the Heart ''Choices of the Heart'' is an American television film, made-for-television drama (film and television), drama film based on the lives of the American Roman Catholic missionaries Jean Donovan, Dorothy Kazel, Maura Clarke, and Ita Ford, all of who ...

'' won the 1984

Humanitas Prize The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing, and is given to writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced and meaningful way. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser—also the founder of Paulist P ...

in the 90-minute

television movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

category, although it was criticized for lacking clarity about the political context of the women's killings. Clarke, Ford, Kazel and Donovan were played by

Mary McCusker Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

Mari Gorman Mari Gorman is an American actress perhaps best known for her work in television, particularly as a frequent guest star on the 1970s and 1980s sitcom ''Barney Miller'', but she is also known for her theater acting. She has won several acting awar ...

Pamela Bellwood Pamela Bellwood (born Pamela King) is an American actress known for her role as Claudia Blaisdel Carrington Claudia Blaisdel Carrington is a fictional character from the ABC prime time soap opera ''Dynasty'', created by Richard and Esther Shapiro ...

, and

Melissa Gilbert Melissa Ellen Gilbert (born May 8, 1963) is an American actress, television director, producer, politician, and former president of the Screen Actors Guild. Gilbert began her career as a child actress in the late 1960s, appearing in numerous co ...

respectively.

Helen Hunt Helen Elizabeth Hunt (born June 15, 1963) is an American actress and director. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, four Primetime Emmy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. Hunt rose to fame portraying Jam ...

Martin Sheen Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. He first became known for his roles in the films ''The Subject Was Roses'' (1968) and ''Badlands'' (1973), and later achieved wid ...

, and

Mike Farrell Michael Joseph Farrell Jr. (born February 6, 1939) is an American actor, best known for his role as List of M*A*S*H characters#B.J. Hunnicutt, Captain B.J. Hunnicutt on the television series ''M*A*S*H (TV series), M*A*S*H'' (1975–83). Farrell ...

co-starred. The murders were also depicted in ''

Salvador Salvador, meaning "salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to: * Salvador (name) Arts, entertainment, and media Music *Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music ** ''Salvador'' ( ...

'',

Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Stone won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as writer of '' Midnight Express'' (1978), and wrote the gangster film remake '' Sc ...

's 1986 film about an American reporter trying to cover the overall conflict. In this film, actress

Cynthia Gibb Cynthia Gibb (born December 14, 1963) is an American actress and former model who has starred in film and on television. She began her career as a cast member on the musical television drama '' Fame'', based on the movie of the same name. She ...

portrayed Cathy Moore, a character based on Jean Donovan. Moore is shown in several scenes interacting with the main character. ''Points of Arrival: a Jean Donovan journey'' is a 1996 play written by Paul Amandes, developed by and starring Lisa Wagner and her Still Point Theater Collective, supported by

Call to Action Call to Action (CTA) is an American organization that advocates a variety of changes in the Catholic Church. Call To Action's goals are to change church teachings in such areas as mandatory celibacy for priests, the male-only priesthood, the selec ...

.; ;

References

External links

supporting material for documentary first aired on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

. Accessed October 7, 2005.
Martyrdom in El Salvador
on Maryknoll Sisters website. Accessed October 7, 2005.

Memorial program in El Salvador in honor of the four churchwomen, accessed online December 8, 2006.

(1993) accessed online December 9, 2006.
Not Just Nuns
''

Jacobin , logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg , logo_size = 180px , logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794) , motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir) , successor = Pa ...

''. May 15, 2017. {{Authority control Assassinated American activists Catholic martyrs of El Salvador U.S. missionaries in El Salvador Massacres of women Roman Catholic missionaries in El Salvador American Roman Catholic missionaries Female Roman Catholic missionaries American people murdered abroad People murdered in El Salvador People of the Salvadoran Civil War Rape in El Salvador 20th-century Roman Catholic martyrs Deaths by firearm in El Salvador Wartime sexual violence Women in war in Central America Women in warfare post-1945 History of women in El Salvador

Historical background

Murders

Subsequent history

Cultural depictions

References

Further reading

External links