Wednesday, April 04, 2007

The Loss of Another Important Human Rights Voice in Latin America

Like Argentina in December, El Salvador has lost one of its most important voices in the human rights struggle - María Julia Hernández has died at 68 years of age. Hernández had been one of the more important voices for human rights in El Salvador. She was one of the more important chroniclers of the murderous atrocities of death squads throughout the country. In addition, her quest for human rights did not stop with the peace accords in 1992, as she continued to advocate against the continued threat of (very real) police violence in El Salvador, well into this decade. As this generation of human rights activists dies off, we are losing some very important voices in this world. Let's hope the younger generations have paid attention, and continue in the footsteps that these amazing women and men have already set.