March 24, 1980: Óscar Romero, the Archbishop of San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, is assassinated at the conclusion of a sermon denouncing the country’s right-wing government. He was 62 years old.
Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez was born on August 15, 1917 in Ciudad Barrios San Miguel, El Salvador. He was ordained as a priest in 1942, and was appointed Archbishop in 1977. Initially seen as a social conservative at the time of his appointment as archbishop, he was deeply affected by the murder of his friend and fellow priest Rutilio Grande, and thereafter became an outspoken critic of the military government that had governed the country since 1931.
The military regime ended on October 15, 1979, when young military officers overthrew President Carlos Humberto Romero, and established the Revolutionary Government Junta, a joint civilian-military government. This marked the beginning of the twelve-year-long Salvadoran Civil War, which lasted until 1992.
On March 23, 1980, Romero delivered a sermon in which he called on Salvadoran soldiers, as Christians, to obey God's higher order and to stop carrying out the government's repression and violations of basic human rights. The next day, he delivered a sermon at a hospital chapel, and just as he finished, a man walked into the chapel, and shot Romero in the heart. The shooter ran back to his car, and his driver sped away.
Things got worse: During Romero's funeral, smoke bombs exploded on the streets near the cathedral and subsequently, there were rifle shots that came from surrounding buildings, including the National Palace. Many people were killed by gunfire and in the stampede of people running away from the explosions and gunfire. Official sources reported 31 overall casualties, while journalists claimed that between 30 and 50 died.
Roberto D'Aubuisson, a politician known as "Blowtorch Bob," gave the order to assassinate Romero. He died in 1992 at 49, not by execution, as he was never arrested, but from cancer, which means that he suffered prolonged pain, while Romero died instantly.
Romero, like fellow victims of assassination Martin Luther King and Anwar Sadat, knew it was possible, but he wasn't going to let it stop him from doing what he thought he must. He was played by Raúl Juliá in the 1989 film Romero. He was canonized as a Saint in 2018.
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March 24, 1980 was a Monday. The NCAA men's basketball Tournament Final was held at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. The University of Louisville beat UCLA, 59-54. I have a separate entry for this event.
Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. The NBA scheduled no games for the day. There were 2 games in the NHL. The St. Louis Blues beat the Hartford Whalers, 7-5 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena). And the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Washington Capitals, 6-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
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