UCA Professor killed

José Manuel González was murdered in El Salvador on Friday, December 5th. José Manuel was a profesor in the Departamento de Comunicaciones y Cultura de la Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas (UCA). His remains were found in cantón el Ranchador en Chalchuapa, Santa Ana.

Initially, authorities ran with the story that he was killed in a fight among friends. They did not believe that gangs were involved in the killing of José Manuel who appeared to have died from a single bullet wound to the head.

His family could not understand why he was in that area of the country as they did not believe that he had any friends there. After his death, I signed a petition along with a number of scholars focused on El Salvador calling for a thorough investigation.

Authorities arrested two young men and a woman for José Manuel's killing earlier this week. According to the limited "new" details in the case, José Manuel was killed while traveling with another man in the area. The other man survived and his testimony led to the arrests of the three individuals. The news stories do not say directly that the three were gang members, although they do report that the killing occurred in a zone "besieged" by the MS.

I'm not sure what the true facts of the case are but there's still a lot to uncover. From what I have been told, José Manuel would "sit[s] up late at night at his house reading Cervantes and Garcia Lorca. He's a "humanities" type and doesn't even drink." None of the details surrounding his death make sense.

The note he left Friday afternoon at the UCA said that he would meet up with some friends at 5pm. He never showed up. His remains were found after allegedly getting into some argument with friends in the middle of the night in Santa Ana. The police story seems to have changed a few time and as of right now is incomplete.

Rest in peace.