El Salvador:  Blogging for Justice in a Little Girl’s Murder · Global Voices
Tim Muth

Bloggers in El Salvador have taken up the cause of justice in the nine year old murder case of Katya Miranda.    This young girl was murdered in 1999 in a crime of shocking depravity.
The facts of the case are recounted in a video interview of Katya's mother and available on YouTube.   Katya's mother left her two daughters at the home of her paternal grandfather along El Salvador's coast with a promise to pick them up in the morning.   Yet when morning came, nine-year-old Katya was dead — raped, beaten and murdered.  Despite the presence of members of her father's family and their employees at the home, nobody claimed to have seen or heard anything.  The father, grandfather and other male relatives are high-ranking officials in El Salvador's military and the National Civilian Police.
Many believe that the investigation of the crime was haphazard and incomplete, but eventually Katya's father, grandfather and two employees were charged with the crime in 2000.   However all the charges against them were subsequently dismissed in legal proceedings widely criticized by human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and the Human Rights Institute at the University of Central America in San Salvador.  The current attorney general has indicated no interest in reopening the case.
With the ninth anniversary of Katya's murder, Salvadoran bloggers are raising a call for justice to be done in this case.  The symbol of their campaign is the logo at the top of this post.
Carlos Abrego at Cosas Tan Pasajeras [es] urged readers  to participate in the organized campaign which includes signing an online petition, to take a photo of the campaign logo at locations across the world which will be added to a photo CD to be delivered to the attorney general, and to participate in a “Day of Roses” march to commemorate the little girl.
The blog Salvadoreños en el Mundo [es] carried a letter to Katya written by her mother to commemorate this anniversary.   Ixquic* [es], a single mother and human rights lawyer who has written about Katya's case many times, displayed a tiny angel made of seashells found on the beach where Katya's small body was found.
Ernesto Rivas-Gallont urged readers to sign the petition and expressed  the outrage of many [es], when he wrote:
¡Qué espanto! ¿Qué se puede decir de una sociedad donde existan individuos capaces de perpetrar crímenes de esta magnitud? El caso de Katya ha tomado relevancia por el cinismo de los asesinos y por su prominencia y por la prominencia de la institución a la cual pertenecen. Pero monstruos como ellos abundan en este país.
No es raro leer en nuestra prensa o escuchar en los noticieros, de padres que violan a sus hijas y, aunque no con la misma frecuencia, de padres que asesinan a sus hijos.
¿Cómo nos verán desde afuera? ¿Qué informarán los embajadores de países amigos a sus cancillerías?
What horror!   What can one say about a society where individuals exist capable of perpetrating crimes of this magnitude?  The case of Katya has taken relevance for the cynicism of the murderers and their prominence and for the prominence of the institution to which they belong.   But monsters like them abound in this country.
It is not rare to read in our press or to hear in the news, of fathers who rape their daughters and, although not with the same frequency, of fathers who murder their children.
How will they see us from outside?   What will the ambassadors of friendly countries report to their ministries?
Victor at Alta Hora de la Noche [es] wrote on his blog a personal reflection of his own fortune having a father and family who protected him during the years of El Salvador's civil war.  Katya's violation at the hands of male relatives demands justice:
Que se pida que se haga justicia va mas allá de cualquier discursito barato de que lo social va a ser prioritario de acá en adelante…. Antes de pensar en esas supuestas reformas hay que limpiar lo sucio que hay en los rincones de nuestra patria. Y que se omita hacer justicia en el caso de una niña violada y asesinada, asi como se omite hacer justicia con muchos otros casos de niñas y niños violentados física y sexualmente es una enorme mancha que va a seguir empañando nuestra sociedad y en especial a quienes hemos delegado la facultad de hacer valer la justicia.
To ask for justice is done goes beyond any cheap little talk that the social good will be a priority from here onwards… Before one thinks of reforms, one must clean up the filth in the corners of our country. And failing to do justice in the case of a girl raped and murdered, as there has been a failure of justice in many other cases of children physically and sexually abused is a huge stain that will continue tarnishing our society and especially those to whom we have delegated the authority to enforce justice.
The time for justice in Katya's case is fast expiring as the ten year statue of limitations expires in 2009.  To remind readers of the urgency, Salvadoran blogger Hunnapuh [es]added a countdown timer which counts down the time within which new legal proceedings must be taken.