Father Luis Quintanilla, who has a weekly program on Radio Victoria in Cabañas, received death threats this week. On Tuesday, February 8, after he finished airing a program at the Radio, Father Quintanilla received four text messages threatening him and others at Radio Victoria. Wednesday night, Radio staff reported two suspicious people circling the station. When the police arrived the two escaped on foot.
In one of the text messages, the authors claim to have people in the police that do favors for them, like killing people at the Radio.
These threats come less than a month since the last threats against Radio Victoria staff and Hector Berrios, a civil society leader in Cabañas.
Father Quintanilla was also a target during the summer of 2009. On two occasions armed, masked men tried to kidnap him at night as he was driving home from Radio Victoria. The first time he escaped by narrowly driving around the roadblock the assailants had set up for him. The second time the assailants were able to stop his car and pull him out, but he escaped by diving down an embankment.
In response to the January threats, members of the international community partnered with civil society in El Salvador to denounce the latest round of threats. It’s not too late to call or write and demand an end to the culture of impunity in Cabañas. If you’ve not done so already, click here to take action!
Voices on the Border 