Human Rights Abuses During El Salvador Civil War

On Tuesday, April 2, 2019, the University of Washington Center for Human Rights celebrated the success of a hearing in federal district court regarding its ongoing Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM). At the hearing, SOUTHCOM agreed to release relevant portions of two previously unseen collections of intelligence documentation on the armed conflict in El Salvador. Since then, the Defense Intelligence Agency also identified dozens of boxes of responsive records from the early years of El Salvador's civil war. These developments represent an important step toward transparency involving the nation's activities during El Salvador's civil war. The center is represented by Thomas R. Burke and Jordan Clark.