Memorial of massacre site at El Mozote, Morazan, El Salvador. Public Domain.
In September 2016, after 35 years of relentless struggle, human rights defenders in El Salvador seized a new hope for truth and justice with the reopening of the El Mozote case by the Second Court of San Francisco de Gotera. The judicial investigation had been closed in 1993, shortly after the General Amnesty Law was approved by the national parliament. It was not until last year, in July 2016, that the Constitutional Court in El Salvador declared the General Amnesty Law unconstitutional, opening the door for pursuing justice for war crimes committed in the country. El Mozote is the first case to be reopened involving crimes against humanity committed during the Salvadoran civil war (1979 - 1992).
The civil war in El Salvador pitted the military government against a leftist insurgency for more than 12 years, and resulted in an estimated 75,000 dead and 8,000 disappeared. The brutal massacre in El Mozote is widely considered the worst atrocity committed during the war. On 10, 11 and 12 December 1981, the Salvadorian Army attacked a number of villages in the northeast of the country. Soldiers detained all the inhabitants, tortured and raped hundreds, and murdered between 900 and 1,200 civilians, mostly women and children. The case is emblematic of the brutal attacks the civilian population faced at the hands of the military during the war.
