Impunidad en El Salvador y Guatemala: «de la locura a la esperanza: ¿nunca más?»

Abstract

The issue of transition to democracy has been approached mainly from political elite perspective. Researchers have found that fights amongst elite groups determine what measures are taken during the first steps of policial transitions –including trials to repressors. However, judiciary branch, civil society and changes in Government can influence the process– bringing about changes in justice policies further later. This issue, which has been studied in Latin American Southern Cone, is less studied in Central America, where the emphasis was placed on search of truth, and on the efforts made to prosecute past human rights violations –with little initial results at a national level. That is why this work is aimed to explore the development and current status of the mechanisms of transitional justice in Guatemala and El Salvador, focused on the prosecution of crimes committed during the conflict, and its evolution and the played role by national and international actors.