El Mozote Masacre Essay, Research Paper

El Salvador 1981: An Overview

Peasants in El Salvador did non hold a good life. They were violently oppressed by their authorities, and their lives were practically dictated to them. They lived in a so called democracy but they couldn & # 8217 ; t ballot for whom they wanted, and they couldn & # 8217 ; t openly oppose their authorities without the most terrible of all penalties. You would be shot dead where you stood if a national guard found you go throughing out political cusps that opposed the authorities ( Forch 15 ) . If you decided to vote against the authorities you would be taken off from your place in the dark and your household would ne’er happen you. The people were oppressed and most of them were excessively scared to strike back. The frightened 1s would either run to refugee cantonments in Honduras or travel about their lives and pray nil would go on to them or their households. The 1s who were non afraid joined ranks with any figure of Rebel reserves.

There was a civil war being fought in 1981, the combat had first began two old ages earlier. Communist Rebel reserves openly opposed the authorities in an attempt to see it crumble to the land. The El Salvadorian forces were really afraid of the Rebels, so afraid of them in fact that they viewed every provincial as being in commitment with them. On the streets the national guard would randomly force people face down on the land and look into for their designation ( Forch 56 ) . If they didn & # 8217 ; Ts have their designation on them they would either be killed where they lay, or arrested, interrogated, and so killed. So state you forgot you ID at place, you were so assumed to be a Rebel, and you would be killed without a just test. This is one of the many grounds why many guiltless civilians were killed. However, the chief ground why most guiltless civilians were killed was the authorities of El Salvador wanted to maintain the populace afraid so that it could remain in power ( Forch 104 ) .

The United States & # 8217 ; Hypocrisy

The United States has ne’er been wholly fond of communist states, and even less fond of the 1s that were about touching their boundary lines ( Gettleman et Al. 9 ) . The United States & # 8217 ; authorities didn & # 8217 ; t want the Rebels to take control of El Salvador, because the Rebels were thought to be communist. So The United States supported the El Salvadorian authorities in the civil war, because after all El Salvador was a democracy, wasn & # 8217 ; t it? However, El Salvador was non a democracy. It was a premier illustration of an autocratic government which kept its power through force, but The United States turned it & # 8217 ; s back against this force. The U.S. authorities didn & # 8217 ; t care every bit long as the Communist insurgency was being eradicated, and the U.S. Populus didn & # 8217 ; t care every bit long as they didn & # 8217 ; t cognize what was go oning to civilians in El Salvador.

So how precisely was the United States assisting El Salvador fight its war? In most every manner except really directing in military personnels to contend the Rebels. The U.S. trained El Salvadorian military personnels, gave highly high sums of fiscal assistance to El Salvador, and helped cover up the atrocious human rights misdemeanors caused by the El Salvadorian ground forces. The United States invariably sent El Salvador exigency money for arms, machinery, and military personnels ( Forch 111 ) .

One consequence of the United States intercession was the Atlacatl Battalion, who were trained by U.S. Particular Forces ( Danner 51 ) . The Atlacatl Battalion was responsible for the deceases of over 600 civilians in one twenty-four hours at the town of El Mozote. The United States indirectly supported this race murder, which makes it obvious that The United States & # 8217 ; policy on race murder has less to make with human rights and more to make humor

h its political docket.

The Massacre

On Thursday, December 10, 1981 the Atlacatl Battalion entered the town of El Mozote. They rapidly gathered the townspeople into the street and had them put face down on the land. Next, hours of questions went by as the soldiers barked inquiries at the provincials, inquiring them where the guerillas were, where their arms were, where their base was, and many other inquiries of this kind. After that was over the work forces and adult females were separated, and consistently killed. Of class the word & # 8220 ; kill & # 8221 ; would be glazing the events excessively much. Some verbs that would more accurately depict what happened to these victims would be, & # 8220 ; mutilate, & # 8221 ; & # 8220 ; dismember, & # 8221 ; & # 8220 ; colza, & # 8221 ; & # 8220 ; behead, & # 8221 ; and & # 8220 ; impale. & # 8221 ; But so of class the existent atrociousnesss were how these verbs were enacted. Machetes and bayonets were used to dismember the weaponries and legs of the victims. Females ( regardless of age ) would be raped over and over once more. Possibly the victim would be shot a twosome times. Finally he/she would hold his/her caput separated from his/her cervix by a machete blade, or a slug would carve its manner through the individual & # 8217 ; s encephalon. Babies of the town died an every bit grusome decease. The soldiers would throw a babe into the air and seek to transfix the kid upon their bayonets as it fell back down. When the full population of the town was brought down to zero the ground forces moved out of the country, because they knew there were no Rebels in the country, in fact it was known that El Mozote leaned more towards the authorities & # 8217 ; s side in the civil war ( Danner 62-84 ) . Why so did the soldiers slaughter the town? Because they may hold had household members in the Rebel forces. If this narrative sounds at all upseting maintain in head that the U.S. authorities indirectly supported it by developing their military personnels and covering up what happened at El Mozote so the U.S. public wouldn & # 8217 ; t acquire disquieted.

Denounce the Genocide

It & # 8217 ; s clear, from this one drastic illustration, that the United States authorities will back up mass slaying if it fits what it wants to carry through, in this instance the devastation of communist forces in El Salvador. The people of America hardly heard about this slaughter. What small knowledge some people did derive through certain media was pushed aside by authorities functionaries stating that it was all leftist propaganda to back up the Communists ( Gettleman et Al. 16 ) .

If the United States populus widely knew about the slaughter, and they openly opposed the authorities policy, so fiscal assistance would hold been cut off to El Salvador. In-turn the Rebels would hold made short work of the poorly trained, ill-spirited, El Salvadorian ground forcess. Therefore stoping the slaying of guiltless civilians ten old ages before. If an event similar to the El Mozote slaughter happens once more, the U.S. populace should cognize what their authorities is making. However, the authorities can conceal the facts from the media. Peoples need to seek out independent beginnings of media ( i.e. through the cyberspace ) to cut down on governmental docket puting. With an accurate thought of what their authorities is making they can denounce the race murder themselves and openly oppose the U.S. authorities. A simple solution to forestall another El Mozote: ( a ) avoid mass media, ( B ) seek out independent signifiers of media, and ( degree Celsius ) speak out against unfairnesss caused by the authorities.

Danner, Mark. The Massacre at El Mozote. New York: Vintage Books, 1994.

Forch, Carolyn, and Cynthia Arnson. El Salvador. Eds. Harry Mattison, Susan Meiselas, and Fae Ruben Stein. New York: Writers and Readers, 1983.

Gettleman, Marvin E. , et Al, explosive detection systems. El Salvador: Central America in the New Cold War. New York: Grove Press, 1981.