The Massacre at El Mozote
On December 10, 1981 the people of a small Salvadoran town, El Mozote, were detained without resistance by the Atlacatl Battalion, which was a U.S trained army. On the following day, December 11, after spending the night locked in their homes, they were deliberately and systematically executed in groups. First, the men were tortured and executed, then the women were executed and, lastly, the children. This operation, known as operative de tierra arrasada, was a scorched-earth operation. Basically, "If the guerillas were fish swimming in a sea of people, then the army's job would be to drain the sea. As officers put it: it was to take away water from the fish" The civil war in El Salvador began in the 1970's due to discontent with social inequalities, a poor economy, and the repressive measures of dictatorship. The government was composed of the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) party, and leftist anti-government guerrilla units, were led by the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN). The U.S. supported the side of the right-wings, despite its scores of human rights violations. Early in 1981, advisers from the U.S. Army Special Forces were sent to perfect the military skills of the Salvadorans. The t
"The Massacre at El Mozote," written by Mark Danner, chronicles the events that occurred during the El Salvador civil war, focusing mainly on the killings that took place in El Mozote. Through his accounts at El Mozote, Mark Danner proves that the truth can no longer be denied about the massacre. El Salvador is a parable to the cold war in that a lesson can be learned from the tragedies of that fateful day at El Mozote. The government was impartial to what really happened because of the United States' support for the Atlacatl. Overall, the government was wrong and many innocent victims died because of their stupidity. The government should no longer support their allies when human rights are being violated. The massacre at El Mozote occurred due to the stupidity and ignorance of United States government and can no longer be denied. The next morning, December 11, the soldiers gathered the community in the square. The soldiers separated the men from the women and children and locked everyone up in different groups in the church, the convent and various houses. Throughout the morning, they proceeded to interrogate, torture and execute the men in various locations. Around noon, the army began taking the women in groups, separating them from their children and murdering them. Rufina Amaya was one of the only survivors of the massacre. As she hid in behind a tree, she heard the soldiers talking amongst themselves. "First they picked out the young girls and took them away to the hills, where they were raped before being killed," Amaya reported. "Then they picked out the old women and took them to Israel
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Approximate Word count = 1092
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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