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Remembering US-sponsored terrorist attacks in El Salvador | Human Rights

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Forty years ago, on December 11, 1981, the worst massacre in modern Latin American history began in El Salvador, in the central part of the country. village of El Mozote and its environs.

About 1,000 people, most of them women and children, were killed within days by the Salvadoran Atlacatl Battalion, which was killed. trained, currency, and equipment by the United States.

Jacobin Magazine Tax Magazine, published in the 35th anniversary of the genocide, recalls a traumatic event:

“Soldiers stormed the house, stabbing the children with machetes, smashing their skulls and shooting them to death. The youngest children were crammed into the church nun’s barracks, where the soldiers dropped their guns. ”

The massacre took place during the El Salvador civil war of 1980-92, which eventually killed more than 75,000 people – and the brutality with which the right-wing government took action in connection with weapons and assassinations.

Participating in solidarity, naturally, was the most powerful force in the Cold War in the north, US, which throughout its war-torn history of capitalism has been able to destroy countless lives.

Between 1980 and 1982 alone, US military assistance in El Salvador rose from $ 6m to $ 82m and could later rise to more than $ 1m a day.

The money laundering operation was largely due to the embarrassment that Ronald Reagan officials showed in concealing Salvadoran terrorists, including El Mozote.

The editors also launched a campaign to discredit a few journalists who wanted to reveal the truth, such as former New York Times journalist Raymond Bonner, author of Weakness and Deceit: America and El Salvador’s Dirty War.

In a recent novel entitled “Massacre in El Salvador”, Bonner and photographer Susan Meiselas reflect on all the horrors of El Mozote, where they came together in January 1982 to find “a ghost” and a heartbroken woman named Rufina Amaya, one of the only survivors.

Maya, whose blind husband and three daughters – five years, three years and eight months old – were killed in a massacre, recalling an interview from the Atlacatl Battalion:

“‘Lieutenant,’ someone here says they will not kill children, ‘said one soldier. ‘Who said’ the son of ab **** said this? ‘ The lieutenant replied. ‘I’ll kill him.’ ”

Earlier in the episode “Massacre in El Salvador”, a video clip featuring President Reagan – a former Hollywood actor – gives the following clear lines that fit the silver look rather than the real thing: “Easy, terrorists are trying. To force the people of El Salvador to be and the Marxist-Leninist dictatorship. ”

Do not forget that killing 1,000 civilians is not the only way to “save” them from the evils of communism – or the desperate attempt of terrorists to bring about equality and justice in a country that has been plagued by totalitarian regimes. a particularly cruel elect people.

In fact, the US has never had a problem with right wing violence – as long as profits flow according to US demand.

Now, 40 years after El Mozote and almost 30 years after the end of the civil war, the recent dictator of Salvador – President and Twitter star Nayib Bukele, who has been described as “the world’s most dictator” – is doing just that. good work to ensure that justice in this country is not found.

In addition to happily turning El Salvador into Bitcoin dystopia, Bukele has done some legitimate, well, dictator activities – such as the shooting of five Salvadoran Supreme Court judges and a senior lawyer earlier this year.

Interestingly, he also fired Judge Jorge Guzmán, who had been investigating the El Mozote case since 2016, when the post-war pardon was changed. The amnesty change opened the way for the killers to be held accountable for their crimes – and for people like Maria Rosario, who lost 24 of her family members in the same tragedy, to get the kind of protection that people want. to move on with their lives.

However the role of El Mozote extends to the people of the Atlacatl Battalion who were beaten and beheaded in the village and surrounding areas.

US too direct responsibility as a result of this and other governmental incidents in El Salvador and many other parts of the world.

Because of the privilege of the monarchy, history and answer are missing at the same time – except, of course, things like 9/11 happen, and then people all over the world are commanded to “do not forget”.

The well-known Elliott Abrams, who was appointed in 1981 as Reagan’s deputy secretary general for human rights and humanitarian affairs, enthusiastically promoted the US-based “human rights” movement by denying that El Mozote’s assassination had taken place. A few years later, he went on to say that Reagan authorities had “good deeds” in El Salvador.

But while 40 years of brutality may seem staggering, it is strange.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Al Jazeera.



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