AAASNEWS

Medical Mission to El Salvador

Investigates Cases of "Disappeared"

Human rights violations directed atmedical personnel in El Salvador in 1982were much higher than reported previ-ously by human rights and scientific or-ganizations in the United States accord-ing to a human rights medical missionsent to El Salvador in January.The medical mission was sponsored

by the AAAS, the National Academy ofSciences, the Institute of Medicine of theNational Academy of Sciences, the NewYork Academy of Sciences, and the In-ternational League for Human Rights.Mission participants were Alfred Gell-horn, visiting professor at the HarvardSchool of Public Health and professor atCity College of New York School for

Biomedical Education; Robert Law-rence, director, Division of PrimaryCare, Harvard Medical School, and di-rector, Department of Medicine, Cam-bridge Hospital; Nina Shea, Internation-al League for Human Rights; and KathieMcCleskey, AAAS Clearinghouse onScience and Human Rights. The full mis-sion was in El Salvador from 11 to 16January.The purpose of the mission was to

investigate cases of medical personnelreported as "disappeared" by varioushuman rights organizations, to studythe treatment of prisoners and healthcare delivery in El Salvador's prisons,and, as time permitted, to examine

general health conditions in El Salvador.Prior to traveling to El Salvador, mis-

sion participants and their organizationscompiled a list of medical cases. The listincluded 16 cases of "disappeared"medical personnel and four cases of Sal-vadoran university professors whosecases were of interest to the scientificsponsors.To document the disappearances of

doctors and other health workers, mem-bers of the medical mission conferredwith many groups and individuals in SanSalvador. The International Committeeof the Red Cross agreed to check themission's list against their archives onpolitical detainees in El Salvador's pris-on systems. At the U.S. Embassy, hu-man rights personnel agreed to add some13 additional medical cases to their ac-tive files. The Socorro Juridico, an inde-pendent human rights monitoring group,and the Tutela Legal, the legal arm of thePeace and Justice Commission of theArchbishopric of San Salvador, provideddocumentation on 20 additional new cas-

Congressional Science and Engineering Fellows on the steps of the U.S. Capitol during their 2-week orientation last September. A list of currentFellows is available on request from AAAS.

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es of human rights violations directed atmedical personnel. (The majority ofthese cases involved medical personnelkilled during 1982.)

Determining who is to blame for theabductions of medical personnel is verycomplex. Families of "disappeared"doctors claim that several doctors areheld in government facilities outside ofSan Salvador. Government officials saythat some doctors have been kidnappedby guerrillas who are short of medicalpersonnel. Ministry of Defense officialshave reportedly said that many doctorshave been released by the governmentand later joined the guerrillas. Familiesof these doctors as well as church au-thorities, however, emphatically denythat the doctors have joined the guerril-las or been kidnapped by them.

In order to clarify the whereabouts ofsome medical cases, the mission partici-pants discussed the cases with the headsof two Salvadoran security forces, Colo-nel Francisco Moran, chief of the Trea-sury Police, and Colonel Reynaldo Lo-pez Niula, chief of the National Police.Some individuals are alleged to havebeen held in the Treasury Police head-quarters following their abductions,while the National Police is reported tobe holding some of the medical workersnamed on the mission's list. WhileMoran said that he knew nothing aboutthe cases, Nuila volunteered to providethe mission sponsors with any informa-tion he might have on the cases.

In addition to the 20 new cases ofmedical personnel reported by the Salva-doran human rights organizations, theMinistry of Public Health reported that40 of its personnel had been killed duringthe current hostilities.With the assistance of the Internation-

al Committee of the Red Cross and Sal-vadoran human rights organizations, themission was able to locate a few individ-uals on its original list of 20 "disap-peared." Two doctors detained in earlySeptember by the National Police havebeen released. Two medical students andone medical worker on the list remain indetention in Mariona prison. One profes-sor of chemistry named on the list wasreleased in September 1982, while twoother professors remain in indefinite de-tention in Mariona prison.A review of the information and docu-

mentation received during the visit bythe mission delegates allowed them tocompile an extensive picture of the hu-man rights violations directed at themedical community in El Salvador. Afinal report of the mission, with docu-mentation of the three principal areas ofinvestigation and recommendations forresponse by scientific and medical orga-nizations to the situation in El Salvador,will be available in March from theAAAS Clearinghouse on Science andHuman Rights, 1515 Massachusetts Ave-nue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20005; tele-phone 202-467-5237.

KATHIE MCCLESKEYClearinghouse on Science and

Human Rights

Guide to ResearchActivities AvailableThe 1983 Reporters' Guide to Key

Research Activities in Science and Engi-neering is now available. This Guide,which is prepared annually by the AAASOffice of Communications, includes de-scriptions of five major research projectscurrently under way at some 125 keyresearch institutions across the coun-try.

Copies are for sale at $5 each (prepaidonly) through the Office of Communica-tions at the AAAS address.

Plea for SovietScientists LodgedWilliam D. Carey, AAAS executive

officer, has written Yuri V. Andropov,Soviet secretary general, expressinggrave concern over the health of fourdistinguished Soviet scientists.

Physiologist Sergei Kovalev is in inter-nal exile and suffers from scurvy andhypertension. Cornell University has of-fered him a post as a visiting scholar inthe Department of Neurobiology and Be-havior. Yuri Orlov (nuclear physicist) isin a corrective labor camp where harshprison conditions and inadequate medi-cal facilities have aggravated his health.Andrei Sakharov (physicist) is in internalexile and suffers from a recurrent heart

ailment. Anatoly Shcharansky (comput-er scientist) has been hospitalized as aresult of a hunger strike.

In his letter of 20 December 1982,Carey requested that Kovalev be permit-ted to accept the position at CornellUniversity and urged that Orlov be givenproper medical care. He also requestedthat Shcharansky be permitted to emi-grate and that Sakharov be permitted toreturn to Moscow to resume his scien-tific research.

50-Year MembersAcknowledgedEach year the AAAS expresses its

appreciation to those members who havepaid dues for 50 years. Upon reachingthis anniversary, members receive a cer-tificate of recognition and are exemptfrom further payment of dues.AAAS members reaching the 50-year

mark in 1983 are Leonard J. Alexanderof Gainesville, Florida; Joseph G. Baierof Phoenix, Arizona; Robert W. Bates ofNogales, Arizona; Enrique Beltran ofMexico City, Mexico; Johan Bjorkstenof Madison, Wisconsin; Carlton E.Brown of Frederick, Maryland; L. S.Cressman of Eugene, Oregon; S. E.Kamerling of Brunswick, Maine; Marga-ret E. Long of New York, New York;John F. Lontz of Wilmington, Delaware;Richard P. McKeon of Chicago, Illinois;Joseph A. Miller of Rockville, Maryland;Oscar E. Monnig of Fort Worth, Texas;Harry E. Morton of Drexel Hill, Penn-sylvania; Jermain D. Porter of Honolulu,Hawaii; Leo Shapovalov of Sacramento,California; Robert D. Stiehler of Wash-ington, D. C.; Armor H. Taylor of Louis-ville, Kentucky; Clifford J. B. Thor ofSun City, Arizona; Edward M. Thorn-dike of Montrose, New York; and MarkW. Woods of Sun City, Arizona.

SCIENCE, VOL. 219

For more information about the activi-ties and publications described in"AAAS News," write to the appropri-ate office, AAAS, 1776 MassachusettsAvenue, NW, Washington, D.C.20036, unless otherwise indicated.

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Medical Mission to El Salvador Investigates Cases of "Disappeared"KATHIE McCLESKEY

DOI: 10.1126/science.219.4589.1209 (4589), 1209-1210.219Science 

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