A New Medical Mission to El Salvador

El Salvador has a long history of human-rights abuses and a documented record of violations of medical neutrality and international humanitarian law. Four medical human-rights delegations have visited El Salvador since the outbreak of a civil war between the Salvadoran armed forces and a guerrilla opposition, the Farabundo Marti Liberacion Nacional (FMLN), in 1979. Each described in detail a pattern of harassment, torture, murder, and disappearance of doctors, dentists, nurses, other health workers, and medical school faculty members, and assaults on health care institutions.1 2 3 4 Their findings were consistent with those of international agencies monitoring human rights during the same period. . . .