Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Image courtesy LAC Press

An ex-Salvadoran colonel accused of helping plot the murder of Jesuit priests during the country’s civil conflict in 1989 will spend the next 21 months in a U.S. federal prison, followed by a year of supervised release, for immigration-related convictions. Inocente Orlando Montano, now 70, pled guilty to three counts of immigration fraud and three counts of perjury and was sentenced on Aug. 27 by U.S. District Judge Douglas Woodlock. Twenty years ago a United Nations commission said Montano participated in a meeting that planned the assassination of a priest accused of supporting rebels and that this led to the killing of six Jesuits, their housekeeper and her daughter. In 2001 Spanish authorities indicted Montano, the former vice minister of public security, for his alleged role in the killings. The United States has not yet responded to the extradition request from Spain. Carolyn Patty Blum of the Center for Justice and Accountability, which is involved in seeking his prosecution in Spain, said the sentence represented “a huge step forward to be incarcerating him for anything.” Montano has denied any involvement in killing priests. He expressed sorrow for the death of the Jesuits, adding: “Those individuals, in spite of their liberal mentality, were helping a lot in the peace process.”

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

Many have questioned how so many Latinos could support a candidate like DonaldTrump, who promised restrictive immigration policies. “And the answer is that, of course, Latinos are complicated people.”
J.D. Long GarcíaNovember 21, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris delivers her concession speech for the 2024 presidential election on Nov. 6, 2024, on the campus of Howard University in Washington. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Catholic voters were a crucial part of Donald J. Trump’s re-election as president. But did misogyny and a resistance to women in power cause Catholic voters to disregard the common good?
Kathleen BonnetteNovember 21, 2024
In 1984, then-associate editor Thomas J. Reese, S.J., explained in depth how bishops are selected—from the initial vetting process to final confirmation by the pope and the bishop himself.
Thomas J. ReeseNovember 21, 2024
In this week’s episode of “Inside the Vatican,” Colleen Dulle and Gerard O’Connell discuss a new book being released this week in which Pope Francis calls for the investigation of allegations of genocide in Gaza.
Inside the VaticanNovember 21, 2024