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men were found, U.S. military and economic aids were shortly suspended. In 1984 on May 25, five men former of the National Guard were convicted. This was the first time for members of security forces had been convicted of a crime. In 1981 there was, what seems to be, the most popular massacre at El Mozote.
El Mozote is in the country of Morazan. This was a battle in which American trained Atlacatl Battalion entered the village of El Mozote and murdered hundred of men women and mostly children. Their most infamous way of death was by decapitation. Commander Domingo Monterrosa commanded the soldiers of the Atlacatl Battalion. Domingo was known for his skills for survival and pure soldier abilities, and being a natural leader.
His group of soldiers were the nastiest group people had heard of. In some reports, people said that these soldiers would shoot at anything that moved. Whether it be animal or human. They would take the blood of animals and smear it all over their faces. They would cut open the bellies of animal and drink their blood.
To celebrate their graduation they collected dead animals from the sides of the roads, boiled them together into a bloody soup and chugged it all down. Then they stood at full attention and sang, full throated, the unit’s theme song: We are worriers! Warriors all! We are going forth to kill A mountain of terrorists! Slowly they make their way through the northern part of Morazan. They basically just kill everyone. This whole area was infected with guerillas so the only way to get rid of them all was to clear out the whole damn place. Five years after the massacre, many people come in to clean the place up and to sift their way through all the rubbage to see what they can find.
There were approximately one thousand lives lost. Up until about 1992, there were many deaths and what not that took place. In 1992 the FMLN and government signed an agreement to cease unnecessary deaths. As of today, I’m not sure what is going on with the country. I take it that there is not much terrorism anymore. I think that there needs to be more intervention from the U.S.
in order for El Salvador to get where it needs to be in terms of government and economy. There should be some kind of deal that businessmen can make. There are many products that we can use from them, so I think that there could be some kind of arrangement made. Other than that I don’t really know what to say. Now I’m going to present a dialogue between myself and Professor Rafael Carias.
Me: Hello Rafael, thank you for meeting with me today. How you doing? Him: Well I’m glad to be here, and actually I’m doing quite well, thank you for asking. Me: Well the purpose of my inviting you here is to find out a little about you life and what things were like in El Salvador during the 1970’s and 1980’s. So I’ll guess I’ll start out by asking when you were born how you were brought up and anything else you’d like to share? Him: I was born in 1957 in a small town outside of San Marcos. My family and I grew up in very poor living conditions.
We had to work very hard just to get enough money for food. Much of the time we went without shoes or most items that I now take for granted. It was a very hard life for anyone to live. Me: So how, if they did, did things change once you got a little older and went out on your own? Him: Well when I was in my late 20’s, I was able to take over the fields that my father had grown many crops in. So I took over on the farm.
Soon after that I went to school and then to college and finally I ended up being a professor at the University. This enabled me to make more money than I had ever had in my life, but there were actually some very hard times. They didn’t really have anything to do with money or anything like that. It was more of the problems with the government. Me: So what exactly was going on with the government at that time? Him: Well everyone feared for his or her life at every second. There were many groups of people that would just go around killing people or kidnapping and torturing people.
Me: ArAre you ok?? Him: Well yes, but I have a story that deals with my family and I one night. It’s something that I wish upon no one. Me: If you’re comfortable I’d certainly like to hear what happened, but only if you’re okay with it. Him: .Ok. Well it starts at around 11:00 p.m.
on Saturday February 21, 1981, around six henchmen in civilian dress and five in uniform entered the area where I Lived. They remained in the street, but when they banged on the door, all that I could think of was the life of my two-year-old son who was in his crib. When I opened the door the first thing they did was to hit me, throw me face down and tie my hands behind my back. They continued to kick me in the back and on the head. When my home was searched they removed my companion and the child.
They blindfolded her and me and put us in a vehicle, along with certain articles such as the television set. We were taken to the office of the mayor of San Marcos. There I was not mistreated. Two hours later we were taken to the el zapote headquarters.
There, at 7:00a.m, I was taken away to a room used for torture. When they removed the blindfold, there were four executioners facing me. They beat me over my entire body. When they had finished, they lay me face down on a wooden bench, handcuffed my wrists together underneath it and then bound up my entire body. They attached a wire to the toe of each foot. When the electricity was turned on and executioner put a towel over my face so that I could not breathe; if I said something they would disconnect it.
When that got them nowhere, the questions were accompanied by a blow to the stomach. This went on for more that two hours. They untied me and took me to a sink with my and hands tied. They forcibly put me under water so that I would lose oxygen.
For a few moments, I thought I was going to die, but I held fast to my convictions. This lasted another two hours. They removed me from the sink, put me face down, spread my legs apart and inserted a stick in my rectum. They laughed sarcastically during all of this. I was returned to the room used for torture and handcuffed to the same bench, the inserted tooth brush in my rectum and turned it around.
Since they didn’t get what they wanted form me, they left me alone for some five minutes. This gave me time to meditate and to hold to my promise to suffer stoically. When they returned, they had a bottle of acid and they told me that they would pour it ton me, which they demonstrated with a piece of clothe. They executioners insisted that I was a high-ranking member of the organization. When they found that I could mot be made to talk, they pouted acid on my back for the first time.
The pain was incredible. They continued to question me and when I did not reply, they used a ballpoint pen to mark my body and continued to put acid on me. Then they told me that they would pout acid in my eyes; one of them opened my left eye and when I saw that they were going to spill a small amount of liquid o me, I turned over to one side and struggled with them. They stopped pouting acid on me.
Then lieutenant came to interrogate me, but decided to take me to a cell. There in the cell I heard my small child cry and talk from time to time. That gave me strength because my young son, too, was experiencing the bestialities of the dictatorship, together with his mother. At 6:00 p.m.
they took me from the cell to the National Guard. There, the treatment I received was even more bestial, because upon learning that I was a professor, they tied me up like an object and kicked me in the chest, head, and back. The electric shocks I received here were as follows: The first was done by applying electric shocks to the feet intermittently and for as long as five minutes, and then to the head, with the same frequency. Electric shocks on a metal bed, where I was tied and handcuffed to the bed; first they removed all my clothing and wet my entire body. This made the pain worse.
All of these torture were accompanied by questions from a certain female commander, as to whether I knew the places where we met, who was my chief, where did I keep the propaganda, etc. the day the International Red Cross arrived they hid me. But the International Red Cross did not arrive in the morning, as the National Guard had expected, but in the afternoon instead, so it was that they found me. Me: Wow, I’m very sorry you had to experience that. It’s amazing that you lived to tell about it.
Him: well if the International Red Cross would’ve came in the morning I wouldn’t be here right now. I do consider myself very lucky. Me: I would say so. So how are things today? Him: things are much better since I’ve moved to the states.
I still have nightmares of the incident, but there’s nothing I can do about that. Me: Well I’m glad to hear that things are going better for you. Once again, I’d like to thank you for meeting with me, and I wish you luck in the future. Him: Thank you. Religion Essays.
