Assassination of a Saint: The Plot to Murder Óscar Romero and the Quest to Bring His Killers to Justice
MATT EISENBRANDT
In the 37 years since Archbishop Óscar Romero was slain at his altar by a single bullet from a hired gun, no one has ever been arrested, charged or brought to justice for his murder. In March 1980, Romero was the most high-profile public figure in El Salvador, yet not a single policeman arrived to investigate or to protect the scene of the crime, nor attend his autopsy. Three days after the archbishop’s assassination, two men armed with machine guns attacked the home of the judge who had rushed to witness the examination of Romero’s body in the mortuary. Fearing for his life, the judge fled the country, not to return home for 10 years.
Twenty-four years after Romero’s murder, in a courtroom in Fresno, California, this same Salvadorean judge gave evidence in a civil case brought by a group of idealistic US-based lawyers. Their mission was to bring Romero’s killers to justice, and to discover the identity of those who had planned and financed the crime. This new book defies easy classification: part courtroom drama, part whodunnit, part historical record. Matt Eisenbrandt, a human-rights attorney and a member of the investigative team, just a child at the time of Romero’s death, has dedicated 10 years to writing this account of their quest.
Assassination of a Saint chronicles the painstaking research and dogged determination the international team of lawyers, private investigators and human-rights experts invested in following up leads and clues to track down the men believed to have been directly involved in the plot. In doing so, they sought to challenge the impunity which is still the scourge of El Salvador. At the same time, Eisenbrandt is motivated by a desire to atone in some way for the monstrous role played by the United States Government in bankrolling the Salvadorean military which gave free rein to death squads whose motto was “Be a patriot. Kill a priest”.
