El Salvador: Suspects arrested for leftist mayor's murder

Below is an abridged April 30 Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) article. Visit http://cispes.org.

El Salvador's National Civilian Police (PNC) arrested Isabel Cortes and Marvin Antonio Rodriguez on April 14 and charged them with January's double murder of Algeria mayor Wilber Funes and municipal employee Zulma Rivera.

Cortes is a member of the Alegria city council who, like Funes, was elected in 2006 on the ticket of the left-wing Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN).

After three months of silence regarding the investigation into the assassinations, the attorney-general's office and the PNC put forward their explanation of the crimes, attributing the murders to personal differences between the mayor and Cortes.

However, FMLN spokesperson Sigfrido Reyes insisted that "in no way are we going permit [these arrests] to become a smokescreen that serves as cover for the true perpetrators of this deed".

The FMLN has demanded a thorough investigation. CISPES has also expressed concern about lack of government investigation into possible political violence in recent years.

From GLW issue 750