Claims and counter-claims regarding responsibility for the murders:

  1. DEV-MUC3-0757 (, Domestic Service)

    THE SALVADORAN ARMED FORCES HEREBY INFORM THE SALVADORAN PEOPLE AND INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC PUBLIC OPINION THAT THEY EMPHATICALLY CONDEMN THE TREACHEROUS MURDER COMMITTED BY FMLN [FARABUNDO MARTI NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT] GUERRILLAS AGAINST DR IGNACIO ELLACURIA, RECTOR OF THE CENTRAL AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, AS WELL AS OTHER UNIVERSITY OFFICIALS AT THIS CENTER OF HIGHER LEARNING. THE ARMED FORCES ALSO STRONGLY REJECT ANY REPORTS ON THIS MURDER THAT ATTEMPT TO INVOLVE THEM.

  2. DEV-MUC3-0762 (, Cadena Revolucionaria Nacional)

    THE MASSACRE OF THE JESUIT PRIESTS IGNACIO ELLACURIA, SEGUNDO MONTES, IGNACIO MARTIN BARO, JOAQUIN LOPEZ, AMANDO LOPEZ, AND JUAN RAMON MORENO, ALONG WITH MRS JULIA ELBA RAMOS AND HER DAUGHTER CELINA RAMOS, WAS PERPETRATED BY ARMED FORCES DEATH SQUADS AT DAWN TODAY.

  3. DEV-MUC3-0760 (, EFE)

    A COMMUNIQUE RELEASED TODAY BY A FARABUNDO MARTI NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT [FMLN] SPOKESMAN IN WASHINGTON BLAMED THE SALVADORAN ARMY FOR THE CRIME, AND ADDED THAT "ALL OF THE BODIES HAD BULLET WOUNDS IN THE HEAD, INDICATING THAT THEY WERE EXECUTED."

  4. DEV-MUC3-0760 (, EFE)

    SALVADORAN FOREIGN MINISTER JOSE MANUEL PACAS CASTRO TODAY CONDEMNED THE ASSASSINATION OF SIX JESUITS AND TWO WOMEN IN HIS COUNTRY, AND HE BLAMED THE ULTRALEFTIST GROUPS FOR IT, ALTHOUGH HE SAID HE HAD NO PROOF.

  5. DEV-MUC3-0766 (, ACAN-EFE)

    WHEN ANSWERING A QUESTION ON THE POSSIBILITY THAT THE SIX JESUITS AND TWO OTHER PERSONS COULD HAVE BEEN MURDERED BY THE MILITARY, SALVADORAN PRESIDENT ALFREDO CRISTIANI SAID TODAY THAT "IF THE ARMED FORCES PEOPLE DID IT, THE WEIGHT OF THE LAW WILL FALL ALSO ON THEM."

    CRISTIANI "STRONGLY CONDEMNED" THE MULTIPLE MURDER THAT TOOK PLACE EARLY THIS MORNING AND ATTRIBUTED IT TO "GROUPS OR MINDS THAT WANT TO HINDER THE PROCESS OF DEMOCRACY AND PEACE THAT HAS BEEN CARRIED OUT IN EL SALVADOR."

  6. DEV-MUC3-0766 (, ACAN-EFE)

    HE EMPHASIZED THAT IT IS TOO EARLY "TO GIVE ANY OPINION" ON WHO COULD HAVE COMMITTED THE MURDERS, POINTING OUT THAT THE FACT THE MEN WHO DID IT WERE WEARING UNIFORMS AND WERE MOVING AT NIGHT DURING THE STRICT CURFEW IN THE CITY "IS NOT CONCLUSIVE."

    CRISTIANI SAID THAT "THE ARMED FORCES AS WELL AS THE GUERRILLA GROUPS MOVE DURING THE CURFEW HOURS."

  7. DEV-MUC3-0766 (, ACAN-EFE)

    CRISTIANI DISAVOWED VERSIONS REPORTED DURING THE DAY BY THE GOVERNMENT RADIO NETWORK THAT CLAIM THE FARABUNDO MARTI NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT (FMLN) GUERRILLAS COMMITTED THE MURDER.

  8. DEV-MUC3-0865 (, ACAN-EFE)

    THE JESUITS, FIVE SPANIARDS AND ONE SALVADORAN, WERE MURDERED 9 DAYS AGO BY A GROUP OF MEN WEARING MILITARY UNIFORMS DURING A "CURFEW" DECREED BY THE GOVERNMENT AS A RESULT OF THE REBEL OFFENSIVE THAT BEGAN ON 11 NOVEMBER.

    LUCIA BARRERA, WHO TESTIFIED BEFORE COLORADO, A GOVERNMENT COMMISSION INVESTIGATING THE MURDERS, AND SEVERAL DIPLOMATS, AMONG THEM SPANISH AMBASSADOR FRANCISCO CADIZ, SAID THAT THE MURDERERS NUMBERED BETWEEN 30 AND 40 UNIDENTIFIED MEN WEARING MILITARY UNIFORMS. COLORADO SAID IN A NEWS CONFERENCE THAT "THERE ARE SEVERAL WITNESSES, NONE OF WHICH HAS SHED MUCH LIGHT ON THE CASE. THEIR DECLARATIONS ARE NOT CONCLUSIVE REGARDING THIS SAD AND REGRETTABLE EVENT." HE STRESSED "THAT IT WOULD BE RASH TO SAY THAT THE SALVADORAN ARMY DID IT.".

  9. DEV-MUC3-0865 (, ACAN-EFE)

    JESUIT SUPERIOR TOJEIRA AND ARTURO RIVERA Y DAMAS, ARCHBISHOP OF SAN SALVADOR, HAVE ASSERTED THAT THERE IS A STRONG BELIEF THAT THE MURDERERS OF THE JESUITS WERE EITHER MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES OR PERSONS CLOSELY LINKED TO THEM.

    WHEN ASKED ABOUT THIS BELIEF, THE ATTORNEY GENERAL REPLIED, "I DO NOT HAVE THAT INFORMATION. HOWEVER, IT WOULD BE RASH TO SAY THAT THE ARMY DID IT."