Salvadorans Protest Against El Mozote Massacre Impunity

By teleSUR

06 March 21

In December 1981, the Salvadorean Army killed nearly 1,000 people in the largest massacre in recent Latin American history.

l Salvador's human rights defenders, survivors, and relatives of victims of the El Mozote massacre on Thursday protested in front of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (ICHR) headquarters to demand justice for the crime.

"Thirty-nine years have passed and there is still no justice for the victims. The government continues to hinder the investigation," said Oscar Claros, whose sister was one of the 1,000 people killed by the Army in the El Mozote in 1981.

The protest coincided with a virtual hearing convened by the ICHR to analyze the judicial process failure and the systematic blocking of military archives that would shed light on the events.

In this hearing, the victim's relative lawyer Camila Ormar denounced that the Armed Forces and President Nayib Bukele's administration continue to prevent the judge in charge of the case, Jorge Guzman, to investigate those files.

"Bukele and the officials are committing crimes of breach of duty, disobedience, and cover-ups of crimes," Guzman said and added that he will keep moving forward with the investigation despite the obstacles.

From December 10 to 13, 1981, the Salvadorean Army executed thousands of civilians in El Mozote and nearby communities in the Morazan Department, believing that guerrillas of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) were hiding there. Over 500 victims were children and babies.

In 2012, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights held the Salvadorean State responsible for the massacre and called for investigations into this crime, the largest massacre in recent Latin American history.