FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         OIG
FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 1997                           (202) 514-2008
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888
                                 
     JUSTICE DEPARTMENT DECLASSIFIES INSPECTOR GENERAL REPORT
               ON 1985 EL SALVADOR TERRORIST ATTACK


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Justice Department today
declassified a report by its Inspector General on the
Department's investigation of the 1985 killings of four U.S.
Marines, two U.S. businessmen and six Latin Americans.

     The report, entitled "The Department of Justice's Response
to the Zona Rosa Murders," was the product of a six-month long
investigation conducted by investigators working under Inspector
General Michael R. Bromwich.

     At the request of the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence, the Justice Office of Inspector General examined
the Department's response to the l985 Zona Rosa murders in El
Salvador.  The review was conducted in coordination with the
Offices of the Inspector General at the Departments of Defense,
State and the Central Intelligence Agency, which reviewed the
conduct of their respective agencies in the Zona Rosa matter. In
September 1996, the reports of the four OIGs on the Zona Rosa
murders were provided to the Senate Select Committee.

     Today, at the Committee's request, the four reports were
declassified and provided to the Committee.

     Among the findings contained in the Justice OIG's report 
was that the Justice Department made substantial efforts to
assist the Salvadoran government's efforts to apprehend and
prosecute the perpetrators.

     In 1987, when events suggested the possibility that the
Salvadoran government might grant a general amnesty broad enough
to cover those involved in the attack, the State Department asked
the Justice Department to pursue a case against the perpetrators.
Ultimately Justice Department prosecutors, with the help of the
FBI, obtained an indictment against one of the gunmen involved in
the attack.

     With regard to Pedro Antonio Andrade Martinez, an alleged
planner of the attack, the OIG report notes that Justice
Department prosecutors concluded there was not sufficient
evidence to obtain a conviction.  However, they objected to
Andrade's proposed parole into the United States because the
prosecutors believed he was implicated in the attack.

     In 1990, at the request of officials at the U.S. Embassy in
San Salvador, Andrade was paroled into the United States. 
Although the FBI was sent an informational copy of the U.S.
Embassy's request, the decision to parole him into the United
States was made without any interagency discussion or notice to
the prosecutors, despite an agreement that required further
discussions before any such parole was granted.

     The Justice OIG's report recommended that the process for
coordination of parole requests needs improvement.  Therefore to
ensure appropriate high-level attention to sensitive cases, the
Justice Department has asked the INS to develop a mechanism for
better interagency coordination of parole requests in the future. 


     The FBI noted today it had already begun reviewing its
internal procedures.

     The INS has also begun proceedings to exclude Andrade from
the United States.  A hearing before a Federal immigration judge
is scheduled for February 10.  

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97-022