"""A tale told well that provides valuable insights into the motives and modus operandi of the death squads in El Salvador, and of the financiers who commissioned and facilitated such crimes. It also highlights the difficulties that face those who pursue such cases many years after the crimes have taken place.""—New York Review of Books On March 24, 1980, the assassination of El Salvador’s Archbishop Óscar Romero rocked that nation and the world. Despite the efforts of many in El Salvador and beyond, those responsible for Romero’s murder remained unpunished for their heinous crime. Assassination of a Saint is the thrilling story of an international team of lawyers, private investigators, and human-rights experts that fought to bring justice for the slain hero. Matt Eisenbrandt, a lawyer who was part of the investigative team, recounts in this gripping narrative how he and his colleagues interviewed eyewitnesses and former members of death squads while searching for evidence on those who financed them. As investigators worked toward the only court verdict ever reached for the murder of the martyred archbishop, they uncovered information with profound implications for El Salvador and the United States."
By:
Matt Eisenbrandt
Afterword by:
Benjamín Cuéllar
Imprint: University of California Press
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: 1
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 20mm
Weight: 476g
ISBN: 9780520286795
ISBN 10: 0520286790
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 24 January 2017
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Preface Introduction Photos Key Figures Maps 1 • “Informational Goulash”: Prior Investigations of the Romero Assassination 2 • “In Violation of the Law of Nations”: The Romero Assassination Comes to the United States 3 • “The Enemy Comes from Our People”: Coffee, Anti-Communism, and the Death Squads 4 • “The Door of History”: Archbishop Romero and the Catholic Church in El Salvador 5 • “A Bed to Drop Dead In”: The Search for Álvaro Saravia and the Death Squad Financiers 6 • “ARENA’s Achilles’ Heel”: Our First Trip to El Salvador 7 • Baby Robbers, Mad Bombers, and Other Assorted Criminals: Saravia’s Escape to Miami Brings U.S. Foreign Policy Full Circle 8 • “You’re Making a Lot of Noise”: Looking for Evidence on the Death Squad Financiers 9 • “You Know Better Than to Ask That”: The Search for the Getaway Driver 10 • “A Rabid Anti-Communist”: Meeting Witnesses from the ARENA Party 11 • “We Don’t Have a Clue What the Hell Is Going On”: The Continuing Hunt for Saravia and Insider Witnesses 12 • “God Forgive Me for What I’m Going to Do”: An Insider Goes on the Record 13 • “There Must Have Been a Thousand Romeros”: Final Interviews and Trial Preparation 14 • “Of a Magnitude That Is Hardly Describable”: The Romero Assassination Case Goes to Trial 15 • “The Fleas Always Stick to the Skinniest Dog”: The Verdict’s Impact on Saravia Epilogue Afterword, by Benjamín Cuéllar Acknowledgments Notes Selected Bibliography Index
Matt Eisenbrandt is a human-rights attorney who has devoted his career to finding legal means to prosecute war crimes. In the early 2000s, he served as the Center for Justice and Accountability's Legal Director and a member of the trial team against one of Oscar Romero's killers. He is an expert in the field of U.S. human-rights litigation and now works for the Canadian Centre for International Justice.
Reviews for Assassination of a Saint: The Plot to Murder Óscar Romero and the Quest to Bring His Killers to Justice
Our Favorite Books of 2016: Part detective story, part historical reminiscence, it shows the reader how hard it is to prosecute such cases, and why so many human rights violators go unpunished. The Progressive Fast paced, informative and dramatic... Imagine a report from Amnesty International written by Graham Greene and John LeCarre in tandem and you will have a sense of Eisenbrandt's exciting and well-written achievement. Vancouver Sun An intriguing story filled with tragic 'if-only's' and powerful -examples of courage. Library Journal
