Court orders arrest of ex-El Salvador President Cristiani

By MARCOS ALEMÁN
Associated Press

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — A court in El Salvador has ordered the capture of former President Alfredo Cristiani in relation to the 1989 massacre of six Jesuit priests and two others by soldiers. Prosecutors allege that Cristiani knew of the military’s plan to eliminate the priests and did nothing to stop them. In a statement released by Cristiani’s daughter, the former leader denied the allegations. On Nov. 16, 1989, an elite commando unit killed the six priests — five Spaniards and one Salvadoran — along with their housekeeper and the housekeeper’s daughter in the priests’ residence. The killers tried to make the massacre appear as though it had been carried out by leftist guerrillas.