VZCZCXYZ0007
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSN #0712/01 2111505
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 301505Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1445
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SAN SALVADOR 000712 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KJUS ES
SUBJECT: COMMUNITY ACTIVIST MURDERED: POLITICS OR RANDOM 
CRIME? 
 
¶1. Summary: Community activist Gustavo Marcelo Rivera Moreno 
disappeared on June 18; police discovered his body in a well 
June 30.  The initial police investigation has led to the 
arrest of seven purported gang members.  The police have made 
public statements that Rivera was likely murdered as a result 
of an argument that arose while the group was drinking in an 
abandoned building.  Family, friends, and various civil 
society groups have denounced the investigation claiming that 
the body showed signs of torture and that Rivera was killed 
as a result of his political activities.  The Embassy has 
reached out to the Attorney General,s Office, the National 
Civilian Police, and the Ombudsman for Human Rights to urge 
the GOES to conduct a full investigation and to bring the 
perpetrators to justice.  Journalists reporting on the Rivera 
murder have alleged receiving death threats relating to the 
case.  End Summary. 
 
------------ 
WHAT WE KNOW 
------------ 
 
¶2.  Gustavo Marcelo Rivera Moreno was the director of Casa de 
Cultura, a cultural center located in San Isidro, and was a 
member of the Friends of San Isidro Association, an 
anti-mining organization affiliated with the National Working 
Group Against Mining in El Salvador.  Rivera actively 
campaigned against the Pacific Rim Mining Company claiming 
that it would damage El Salvador's watershed. 
 
¶3.  Rivera was also an FMLN activist who served as an FMLN 
representative during the January 18 election and publicly 
denounced San Isidro mayor Ignacio Bautista for allegedly 
busing in Honduran citizens and paying them to vote in the 
legislative and municipal elections January 18.  As a result 
of numerous allegations of election irregularities in San 
Isidro, the January 18 voting was shut down and rescheduled 
for a week later; Bautista still won the mayoral race. 
 
¶4.  Rivera was last seen on the afternoon of June 18 in 
Ilobasco and his family and friends began searching for him 
early June 20.  A visiting delegation from the SHARE 
Foundation discussed Rivera's disappearance with Charge on 
June 23.  A body was recovered from a well June 30; on July 8 
DNA analysis confirmed the body was Rivera's. 
 
¶5.  The National Civilian Police (PNC) arrested six 
individuals - Wilber Antonio Baires Amaya, Delfino Gerberth 
Lara Arteaga, Jose Darwin Herrera Ayala (a minor), Edin 
Eliseo Herrera Valladares, Jose Manuel Lara Nunez, and Santos 
Vladimir Aviles -  in connection with the case on July 7; a 
fifth suspect, Jose Luis Herrera,  was charged while in jail 
for an unrelated crime.  According to media reports, the 
police believe that Rivera was drinking with the five 
suspects, all alleged gang members, in an abandoned house the 
evening of June 18.  According to the PNC's theory, in the 
early morning hours of June 19, a dispute turned violent and 
Rivera was killed. 
 
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THE FAMILY 
---------- 
 
¶6.  Family members of Rivera believe that his murder was 
politically motivated, and filed a report with the Ombudsman 
for Human Rights on June 21 alleging that the PNC and Office 
of the Attorney General (AG) were not properly investigating 
Rivera's disappearance.  The family claims that Rivera 
received numerous threats after the January election and that 
someone tried to run him over with a car. 
 
¶7.  After the corpse was discovered, Rivera's brother told 
the media that the body showed signs of torture and that 
Rivera had been kept alive and tortured for nine days before 
he was killed. (Note: His interpretation of events, like that 
of the PNC, is loosely based on the medical examiner's 
report, but is not supported by it.  End note.) 
 
---------------------------------- 
POSSIBLE THREATS AGAINST THE MEDIA 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  On July 27, media reported that three reporters from the 
Radio Victoria radio station in Cabanas had received death 
threats by phone for their coverage of the Rivera murder. 
Ombudsman for Human Rights Oscar Luna is investigating the 
threats and has called for police protection of the reporters. 
 
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COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶9.  Charge and Embassy staff have urged the GOES to conduct a 
 
thorough investigation; the PNC Chief and Attorney General 
have promised to do just that, and take the case wherever the 
evidence leads.  We do not rule out a political motive, but 
would find it hard to believe that there was a national-level 
conspiracy to eliminate Rivera because of his opposition to 
mining.  President Saca decided to deny permission to Pacific 
Rim for mining in San Isidro before the end of his term. 
Saca did not want to incur the wrath of the Church, which is 
strongly anti-mining.  The FMLN is anti-mining.  When you 
consider that the acting Attorney General was appointed by 
Saca, and the current PNC Chief by the FMLN; the idea that 
they would be colluding in a cover-up is similarly hard to 
believe.  Our next step will be to have Embassy law 
enforcement review the evidence with their GOES counterparts. 
BLAU