Justice Denied: Impunity During and After the Salvadoran Civil War is an examination of three infamous atrocities of the Salvadoran civil war and attempts to bring the those responsible to justice. The Salvadoran civil war lasted twelve years, from 1980-1992, and resulted in the deaths of approximately 75,000 civilians. The first case is the March 1980 assassination of Archbishop Romero, a highly revered and outspoken critic of the Salvadoran government. The second case is the December 1980 rape and murder by a government death squad of four American churchwomen. The final case discussed is the November 1989 murder by Salvadoran military personnel of six Jesuit priests/professors and their two domestic servants on the University of Central America campus where they taught. The Salvadoran justice system, the international justice system vis-vis a United Nations Truth Commission, and the United States civil courts attempted to hold those responsible for the human rights atrocities accountable for their crimes. The Salvadoran justice system, however, tried only to accountable hold those individuals who actually committed murders, not the military officials who ordered the killings. I argue that ultimately justice was never served due to four factors: corruption within the government of El Salvador, a lack of power given to the United Nations Truth Commission, United States Cold War politics, and the inability of the United States civil courts to create meaningful accountability for former members of the Salvadoran military responsible for human rights violations. In addition to secondary research, this paper is based on first-hand accounts from the memoirs of Robert White, who was United States Ambassador to El Salvador during the time the atrocities were committed, and James Burgenthal, who was a member of the United Nations Truth Commission for El Salvador.

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