Herbert Ernesto Anaya Sanabria (1954 – October 26, 1987) was the president of the NGO Human Rights Commission of El Salvador (CDHES).

On May 26, 1986, he was arrested, along with Reynaldo Blanco (future president of the CDHES) by members of the Treasury Police jailed in the La Esperanza prison for nine months where he was interrogated and tortured.

[1] In jail Anaya worked on a human rights record which included testimonies of 430 of the 432 inmates describing methods of torture applied to them.

[1] After his release, Anaya began to denounce human rights violations and asserted that the death squads were directly under the orders of the military.

UN secretary general Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Americas Watch, Amnesty International and other human rights groups also protested against this crime.

[1] In protest against Anaya's assassination, the FMLN and the Revolutionary Democratic Front (FDR) also suspended negotiations with the Duarte government on October 29, 1987.

[1] The same day, Reni Roldán resigned from the Commission of National Reconciliation, stating that "The murder of Anaya, the disappearance of university labour leader Salvador Ubau, and other events do not seem to be isolated incidents.

Arévalo initially stated that he was involved in the plot as the look-out, a statement he later retracted saying that he was put under psychological pressure and sleep deprivation.