El Mozote

This weekend we headed to the North East Part of the country to Morazán to the site of the massacre of El Mozote. The massacre took place on December 11, 191.  Almost 800 people were killed, 146 of them children, some as young as a few days old. There was only one survivor of the massacre, Rufina Amaya, who unfortunately died in 2007. Her daughter survives to tell her story but she too is very sick. Despite the fact that the massacre at El Mozote was the largest in Central America, many people even in El Salvador do not know about it and there is a chance that the story will soon die. Museums have been built but there is still a fear that the story will cease to be told and history will repeat itself.

The massacre occurred during El Salvador’s war. It was a brutal and carefully planned attack carried out by the Atlacatl Battalion against the campesinos who simply wanted food to eat and enough money to survive. Visiting the museums, it is hard to ignore the massive bombs on display given to the National Army by the United States Government.  It is also hard to ignore that this could happen again. Many people continue to fight for their human rights and the US continues to provide aid to those often denying these rights.

Propaganda Signs in the Museum

Memorial to the Children Killed at El Mozote

Planes Used During the War

Sometimes it’s hard to sit in a room of gringos and Salvadorans as we talk of the terrible things the US has done to this country. It’s frustrating to be a part of this group of people. However, we were accompanied by some of the Salvadoran scholarship students on our trip to El Mozote and this provided a whole new perspective of the US-Salvadoran relationship. On Saturday night we had a reflection with all of the students and I realized the past has happened; I cannot change what happened during the war but I can keep the story alive, working to prevent something like the massacre at El Mozote from ever happening again. I also realized how lucky I am. We are here in El Salvador learning not only about the history but the people and the culture. We are learning what it means to love, and to have faith and hope and courage to seguir adelante, keep moving forward.

I heard that the trip to El Mozote was very sad and somber. It definitely was at times especially at we heard Rufina’s daughter tell her mom’s story in front of the memorial to all those killed or as we passed through the garden dedicated to all of the children killed during the massacre. However, our weekend trip was also incredibly fun because we got to hang out with the becarrios. So many times I felt like I was back home hanging out with all of my friends.

We played pickup soccer on a concrete basketball court with a 25 cent ball. We put mattresses on the floor and cuddled up singing songs and playing the guitar. We lay on the ground trying to count the hundreds of stars in the sky. We climbed on top of Be Real, our microbus, to get a better look at the stars only to realize it was very wet and nearly impossible to get down. And on Sunday we went to the river to swim but more importantly to jump off the rocks into the freezing cold water. We were only at the river for an hour but it was some of the most fun I’ve had in awhile.

                                 

                                

One thing I’ve learned from this country is that it’s not easy to be happy all of the time but there is absolutely no reason to always be sad. After being here for over three months I am definitely able to feel the pain and suffering of the Salvadorans but with less than a month left I’m trying my best to live life to the fullest, having no fears, and embracing every opportunity I have.

“Todavía cantamos, todavía pedimos, todavía soñamos, todavía esperamos”