The Massacre at El MozoteA masterpiece of scrupulous investigative journalism that is also a testament to the forgotten victims of a neglected theater of the Cold War. "Once in a rare while a writer reexamines a debated episode of recent history with such thoroughness and integrity that the truth can no longer be in doubt. Mark Danner [has done] just that." —The New York Times In December 1981 soldiers of the Salvadoran Army's select, American-trained Atlacatl Battalion entered the village of El Mozote, where they murdered hundreds of men, women, and children, often by decapitation. Although reports of the massacre—and photographs of its victims—appeared in the United States, the Reagan administration quickly dismissed them as propaganda. In the end, El Mozote was forgotten. The war in El Salvador continued, with American funding. When Mark Danner's reconstruction of these events first appeared in The New Yorker, it sent shock waves through the news media and the American foreign-policy establishment. Now Danner has expanded his report into a brilliant book, adding new material as well as sources. |
Contents
The Exhumation | 3 |
Surviving in the Red Zone | 11 |
Monterrosas Mission | 21 |
Copyright | |
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Agustina Alma Guillermoprieto Ambassador Hinton American Arambala Argueta Argueta Márquez armed forces Atlacatl Battalion began black road bone remains bullet fragments cable canton certification Chavarría CHILD civilians Claros Colonel commander companion Congress daughter of María day laborer deaths December Defense Domingo El Mozote massacre El Salvador Embassy Enders evidence exhumation fighting fire FMLN Forensic government forces Greentree grid squares Guacamaya guerrillas Guevara Guillermoprieto hamlet happened helicopter Honduran human rights hundred insurgents interview investigation January JOCOAITIQUE José Joya killed López maguey maguey spinner Marcos Díaz María Márquez Márquez victim Martínez massacre McKay Mejía military Monterrosa Morazán MORAZAN DEPARTMENT Mozote murder OPERATION RESCATE peasants Pereira Perquín political propaganda Radio Venceremos refugees Rodríguez Romero Rufina Amaya Rufina says Salvadoran Army San Francisco Gotera San Salvador Sánchez Santos Saturnina skeletons skulls SOLARZ soldiers story told took Torola town troops Truth Commission United Vigil village Washington women zone