In the village of Arambala which was also destroyed and deserted at the same time as the Mozote massacre. 1982
Region of Morazan, guerilla camp at El Mozote. 1982
Notes about El Mozote, date unknown
In the village of Arambala which was also destroyed and deserted at the same time as the Mozote massacre. 1982
There were bodies and parts of bodies. We saw about twenty-five houses destroyed around Arambala and Mozote. My strongest memory was this grouping of evangelicals, fourteen of them, who had come together thinking their faith would protect them. They were strewn across the earth next to this cornfield, and you could see on their faces the horror of what had happened to them.
- S.M.
El Mozote. 1982
El Mozote. 1982
Corpse killed during the El Mozote Massacre. 1982
El Mozote. The site of the massacre of Evangelicals, including house where they hid. 1982
NYT Article about El Mozote, ten years later, October 22, 1992
The main challenge that we faced was that there was nothing in the place that identified what happened. During one of the meetings in preparation for the commemoration we took the decision to build a monument to give significance to the events. This action was as important as a military action because it would guarantee that the civilian massacre was true.
The only material available was iron laminate, it was a simple way to delineate a simple family structure (a man, a woman and their two kids). During the night with the help of a team to solder it was welded together.
All this effort could not be completed if the monument did not get to its destination. The monument to the victims of Mozote was erected with a wooden stick, which stood as a witness for months.
"Footprint Memory" by Fatima Argueta, January 2017
The Memorial at El Mozote. the plaque reads, "They did not die, they are with us, with you and with all humanity." 1982
From this evidence and from a wealth of testimony, the Truth Commission would conclude that "more than 500 identified victims perished at El Mozote and in the other villages. Many other victims have not been identified." To identify them would likely require more exhumations — at other sites in El Mozote, as well as in La Joya and in the other hamlets where the killing took place. But the Truth Commission has finished its report, and, five days after the report was published, the Salvadoran legislature pushed through a blanket amnesty that would bar from prosecution those responsible for El Mozote and other atrocities of the civil war. In view of this, Judge Portillo, after allowing two American anthropologists to work in the hamlet for several weeks with inconclusive results, in effect closed down his investigation. The other victims of El Mozote will continue to lie undisturbed in the soil of Morazán.
- Mark Danner, "The Truth of El Mozote," The New Yorker, December 6, 1993
"The Truth of El Mozote," The New Yorker, December 6, 1993
Contact Strip, Rufina Amaya, 1982
What I was able to see when I was standing on the bench looking through the window was that they had everyone blindfolded and handcuffed. They took them out by groups, when they took out the group with the father of my children and brought him to this side, that was when I sat on the bench and cried… I was with my kids, I grabbed them and hugged them crying, but I didn't tell them anything, they stayed inside the house where we were… they took my children from my arms. I had a baby on my chest and 2 soldiers took them all...
I was afraid, and with fear and braveness also told the truth, I pushed myself because of my children. They died and I had to speak or say something, I couldn't do anything when they were dying. So I motivated myself and that is how I told the truth. I denounced and declared for my children and for all those children that cried out for their mothers. They did not deserve to die.
- Rufina Amaya, excerpts published by Museo de la Palabra y la Imagen, El Salvador on Jan 24, 2014, and EMA-RTV Agencia de Noticias Locales Y Ciudadanas de Andalucía on May 3, 2012
Letter from Congress, regarding usage of SM photos on Mozote, September 3, 1996