The once Dean of the UCA, Ignacio Ellacuría, together with Ignacio Martín Bavó, Segundo Montes, Armando López, Juan Ramón Moreno, Joaquín López, the staff member Elba Julia Ramos and her fifteen year old daughter Celina, were murdered in the dawn of November, 16, 1989.

It was not until 1991 when a group of 14 military was blamed for the crime. Only two of them were condemned and later set free with no charges. In 2000, the Jesuits of the UCA filed suit against the President Alfredo Cristiani and the authors of the murders but with no success.

On November 13, 2008, the Spanish Association for Human Rights (APDHE) and the Centre for Justice and Responsibility (CJA) filed suit in the Spanish National Audience in order to re initiate the investigations. Judge Eloy Velasco, accepted it a few months later. On the other hand the Jesuit Provincial of Castilla, Juan Antonio Guerrero, after discussing it with his companions from El Salvador, declared that the Jesuits did not agree with decision to lead the case in Spain. "We have not participated in opening the case in Spain. If the families wish to do so and if they ask us for data, technical opinions, experiences, we will give them gladly. But our decision is to work only with legal instruments and dialogue in El Salvador.. [...] We don´t want to interfere or weaken what our colleagues should do in El Salvador. Although if the families wish to do so, we respect and support them".

Commemoration Acts of the 20th Anniversary

The Central America University (UCA), of El Salvador, will carry out from November 3 to November 28 a series of activities under the title "All the martyrs and the victims live today and call us to liberation".
Also in País Vasco (birth place of Ignacio Ellacuría) several events will be held such as conferences, concerts and the documentary "Ignacio Ellacuría: life and commitment".