Avenida Barcelona No.

1223
Barrio San Jacinto, San Salvador
El Salvador

San Salvador, January 15th, 2007

Mr. Peter Mackay

Minister of Foreign Affairs Canada
C/O Ms. Stéphanie Allard-Gómez
Canadian Ambassador
Edificio Centro Financiero Gigante
63 Avenida Sur y Alameda Roosevelt
Nivel Lobby 2, local 6
San Salvador, El Salvador

Dear Mr. Peter Mackay:

I am a Canadian citizen who arrived in Toronto from El Salvador as a refugee in

1984. I am currently conducting research on the post war situation in El Salvador,
particularly assessing Salvadoran State institutions’ involvement in bringing to justice
those involved in crimes against disappeared people and their families. I am writing to
provide you with my testimony as El Salvador commemorates the 15th Anniversary of the
Peace Accords.

My mother, Juana Irma Cisneros Ticas, was disappeared by five heavily armed
men in plain clothes in El Salvador on September 12th, 1982. She was a registered nurse
working at the Psychiatric Hospital in Cantón El Limón, Soyapango. In 1982, my family
requested an Habeas Corpus hoping that the Salvadoran Supreme Court would
investigate my mother’s whereabouts and/or inform me/us about the proceedings
undertaken. On August 30th, 2006, myself, along other six families of disappeared
persons, requested the Attorney General, Mr. Felix Garrid Safie, to investigate the
disappearances of our family members. We have not received any reply or
acknowledgment of our request to this date.

According to declarations from government officials, the reconciliation process in

our country is a success. In my opinion and based on my lived experiences, the
Salvadoran communities are far from enjoying any reconciliation as the full
implementation of the recommendations of the Truth Commission is still pending.
Furthermore, the government of El Salvador has proven to be disrespectful to the
collective grieving process and reconciliation efforts of the Salvadoran society by passing
an Amnesty Law in 1993 aimed at protecting those, certainly involved in the
disappearance of more than 8000 civilians.
 Just to remind you, crimes such as massacres, tortures, and disappearances were
particularly highlighted for investigation in the Truth Commission’s Report, but have
been ignored to date by the Salvadoran government. The Truth Commission placed a
particular emphasis on the complicity and failures of Salvadoran State institutions
responsible of investigating human rights abuses. As you can see from my testimony,
those institutions are still failing the Salvadoran and international community as they do
not act in accordance to international Conventions and Agreements, nor to the Peace
Accords spirit and the Salvadoran Constitution.

I want the Canadian government to acknowledge my sorrow and traumatic

experience in facing the Salvadoran justice system, as well as my disappointment on how
the Peace Accords have failed thousands of Salvadoran families whose relatives remain
disappeared and who have been denied justice. Those Salvadoran families living in El
Salvador, Canada or elsewhere in the planet are still being traumatized as El Salvador
commemorates the 15th Anniversary of the Peace Accords. More importantly, I want the
Canadian government to include my testimony and those of the human rights groups in El
Salvador and abroad in order to offer the national and international communities an
informed opinion on the achievements, failures and limitations of the Salvadoran postwar
situation.

Finally, I am also requesting you to inform me on the current state of affairs of the
Canadian government in terms of following up and evaluating the implementation of the
recommendations of the Truth Commission by the Salvadoran government. Please
respond to my concerns in writing to my email merrum@yahoo.com.

Yours truly,

Ana Cisneros
SIN 487-816-407