ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the different approaches to sexual violence taken by the United Nation investigatory commissions in El Salvador and Guatemala. In the last few decades many countries have adopted investigative truth commissions to examine and document past abuses in attempts to deal with a painful past. At a theological level, recognizing the unspeakable violence of crucifixion ensures that theology is honest to reality. The political tradeoffs that are often involved in establishing Truth Commissions can undermine the sense of acknowledgement that survivors and victims families might feel. Nonetheless, the two Truth Commissions have generally been seen as constructive parts of the process and welcomed as important new landmarks of progress in human rights work in Latin America. Neither the Salvadoran nor the Guatemalan Commission had the word reconciliation as part of their official titles. Traditional church teaching has often reinforced rather than challenged the patriarchal foundations on which sexual violence is based.
