Carlos Martn Bar believes that his brother Ignacio knew he was about to be killed. The night before his murder Nov. 16, 1989, the 46-year-old Jesuit priest called his parents in Spain from his home on the campus of the University of Central America in El Salvador. On the phone, he tried to calm his father’s concerns about his safety with a joke about being surrounded by the military and therefore well-protected. But, as it turns out, it was the Salvadoran military itself that was to fear. The following morning, they had allegedly massacred Ignacio Martn Baro, along with five other Jesuits, their housekeeper, and her daughter. “I think that call was my brother’s way of elegantly saying goodbye,” says Carlos today.
It has taken 22 years, but the men accused of that crime may soon stand trial, albeit far from home. Invoking universal jurisdiction in crimes so heinous that they justify prosecution without regard to territorial boundaries, the Spanish National Court on May 30 issued an international arrest warrant for 20 formerly high-ranking leaders of the Salvadoran military for their alleged role in the massacre. Now it only remains to be seen whether that warrant can be enforced.
