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Avenida Barcelona No. 1223

Barrio San Jacinto, San SalvadorEl Salvador

San Salvador, January 15th, 2007

Mr. Peter Mackay

Minister of Foreign Affairs Canada

C/O Ms. Stphanie Allard-Gmez

Canadian AmbassadorEdificio Centro Financiero Gigante

63 Avenida Sur y Alameda Roosevelt

Nivel Lobby 2, local 6

San Salvador, El Salvador

Dear Mr. Peter Mackay:

I am a Canadian citizen who arrived in Toronto from El Salvador as a refugee in

1984. I am currently conducting research on the post war situation in El Salvador,particularly assessing Salvadoran State institutions involvement in bringing to justice

those involved in crimes against disappeared people and their families. I am writing to

provide you with my testimony as El Salvador commemorates the 15 th Anniversary of thePeace Accords.

My mother, Juana Irma Cisneros Ticas, was disappeared by five heavily armedmen in plain clothes in El Salvador on September 12 th, 1982. She was a registered nurse

working at the Psychiatric Hospital in Cantn El Limn, Soyapango. In 1982, my family

requested an Habeas Corpus hoping that the Salvadoran Supreme Court wouldinvestigate my mothers whereabouts and/or inform me/us about the proceedings

undertaken. On August 30th, 2006, myself, along other six families of disappeared

persons, requested the Attorney General, Mr. Felix Garrid Safie, to investigate the

disappearances of our family members. We have not received any reply oracknowledgment of our request to this date.

According to declarations from government officials, the reconciliation process inour country is a success. In my opinion and based on my lived experiences, the

Salvadoran communities are far from enjoying any reconciliation as the full

implementation of the recommendations of the Truth Commission is still pending.Furthermore, the government of El Salvador has proven to be disrespectful to the

collective grieving process and reconciliation efforts of the Salvadoran society by passing

an Amnesty Law in 1993 aimed at protecting those, certainly involved in the

disappearance of more than 8000 civilians.

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Just to remind you, crimes such as massacres, tortures, and disappearances were

particularly highlighted for investigation in the Truth Commissions Report, but havebeen ignored to date by the Salvadoran government. The Truth Commission placed a

particular emphasis on the complicity and failures of Salvadoran State institutions

responsible of investigating human rights abuses. As you can see from my testimony,those institutions are still failing the Salvadoran and international community as they do

not act in accordance to international Conventions and Agreements, nor to the Peace

Accords spirit and the Salvadoran Constitution.

I want the Canadian government to acknowledge my sorrow and traumatic

experience in facing the Salvadoran justice system, as well as my disappointment on how

the Peace Accords have failed thousands of Salvadoran families whose relatives remaindisappeared and who have been denied justice. Those Salvadoran families living in El

Salvador, Canada or elsewhere in the planet are still being traumatized as El Salvador

commemorates the 15th Anniversary of the Peace Accords. More importantly, I want the

Canadian government to include my testimony and those of the human rights groups in ElSalvador and abroad in order to offer the national and international communities an

informed opinion on the achievements, failures and limitations of the Salvadoran postwarsituation.

Finally, I am also requesting you to inform me on the current state of affairs of the

Canadian government in terms of following up and evaluating the implementation of therecommendations of the Truth Commission by the Salvadoran government. Please

respond to my concerns in writing to my email merrum@yahoo.com.

Yours truly,

Ana CisnerosSIN 487-816-407