Family files complaint against ex-rebels in 1975 killing of Salvadoran poet

Complaint filed in 1975 killing of Salvadoran poet

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — Relatives of poet and novelist Roque Dalton petitioned prosecutors Friday to file homicide charges against two ex-rebel commanders who they claim participated in the decision to kill the leftist writer in 1975.

The complaint names former Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front rebel leader Joaquin Villalobos as well as Jorge Melendez, who serves in the current Salvadoran government as head of the civil defense office.

Prosecutors will decide whether charges are warranted in the case. El Salvador’s 1980-1992 civil war caused more than 75,000 deaths.

Henry Fino, a lawyer for Dalton’s relatives, said the family cited two witnesses.

Dalton, a top rebel organizer in the early years of the leftist movement, was killed by a rebel firing squad after his colleagues accused him treason and being a CIA agent. He was 39.

In a 1993 interview published by a Mexican newspaper, Villalobos acknowledged that seven rebel leaders ordered the killing, but called it “a grave error.”

But Melendez denied the accusation.

“I have already said: one, I did not kill Dalton; two, these people are defaming my reputation, my honor, my dignity,” Melendez said.

“I do not know if they are confused or if they are simply bereaved,” he told The 1Associated Press.

The rebel movement fought U.S.-backed right-wing governments for 12 years, then laid arms in 1992 and became a political party.

President Mauricio Funes ran on the FMLN ticket in winning last year’s election.