The Massacre At El Mozote

Imagine living in a country where you know you could die at any moment but don’t know how much longer till it happens. That was how much of the population of El Salvador used to feel when the government could not control the big coffee corporations. These out of control corporations, highly feared that the people would want to revolt against them so they hired murderers to kill innocent people to spread fear in the minds of the people of El Salvador. Fear, hate, and sorrow were the common feelings felt by the poor and innocent major population of El Salvador caused by the evil wrongdoings of the government during October 1979 – 16 January 1992. This is how the main character, Jose Luis, of the novel “Mother Tongue” by Demetria Martinez, felt before escaping his beautiful yet over constantly dangerous country, which depended on its cash crop, coffee beans to sell on a foreign market as the country’s main income. However, following the stock-market crash of 1929, a drop in coffee prices became apparent and affected everyone in El Salvador, but the poor especially. Making things worse, the glorious United States was funding the men whom were doing all the innocent killings with more weapons and money to increase their military power. So for Jose Luis the safe haven that he had escaped to was also blatantly funding the war that was killing so many innocent people he knew and had forced him to escape for his own safety. With nowhere else to go in order to find safety the United

The bodies of those innocent people and rioters were left out in the streets at night for the public to dispose of, the family members would find the lifeless bodies. Catholic Churches began to bring in people of that time, it was the only haven for the people of El Salvador. There at the churches is when they began to be influenced by Oscar Romero. He spoke against the Army and the horrific actions they were taking against innocent people, and their children. Before his tragic death, Romero would receive horrible letters with death threats from death squads. Unfortunately, March 24th the leader was shot and killed by someone in the audience of that day’s Mass. Another leader against the Army was FMLN, ( The Farabundo Marti National Liberation), this group fought for the rights of the people.This all caused the military to kill the people, anyone who looked guilty. This murder of almost 30,000 people was called La Matanza, Farabundo Marti was later on arrested and put on death sentence. Another horrible murder happen to be with other members of church and innocent people, the victims were Six Jesuit priests,

Given these circumstances, El Salvador’s economy was largely shaped by the Guatemalan elite. Although, Guatemala had size and power, El Salvador was able to resist takeovers but it left them tough and often violent, leaving the perfect atmosphere to foster El Salvador’s gangs. Likewise, El Salvador has also had a history of violence because of the Salvadoran Civil War that lasted from 1979 to 1992. This civil war took the lives of approximately 80,000 soldiers and civilians in El Salvador (Wood, 1). The Civil War separated families as some were granted temporary protection in the United States during the war, and while others lived as undocumented migrants. Once the war ended, many migrants were sent back to El Salvador where conditions were not good. With a government recovering from a war, gangs saw an opportunity to build and start battling for territory. There are an estimated 25,000 gang members at large in El Salvador, while roughly another 9,000 are in prison (Guillermoprieto, 2). The two major gangs that rule El Salvador are MS13, which stands for Mara Salvatrucha, and Barrio 18, which references “18th Street” in Los

The Massacre at El Mozote as told by Mark Danner takes place El Salvador. El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America. It shares borders with Guatemala and Honduras. El Salvador is divided into 14 departments and El Mozote is a village in one of the Departments called Morazan. According to the author, the Salvadoran Civil War 1979-1992 was a conflict waged by the Military led Government of El Salvador and coalition of left-leaning militias or guerillas called the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN).The FMLN was supported by peasants and indigenous Indian people. The United States supported the El Salvador Military government.

In 1980 El Salvador’s civil war officially began. Thousands of people were kidnapped and killed. Church workers were abducted, raped and killed, yet again the peace talks did not begin until 1984 and the Peace Accords of El Salvador was not signed until 1992. Between those twelve years 75,000 people died as a result of the civil war and most of these people were completely innocent.

About eleven years after the Massacre took place; a survivor named Rufina Amaya Márquez came forward and shared her story, an eye witness account of what happened at El Mozote (Danner 7). Much of the world, including the United States refused to believe her (Danner 8). The United States knew the Salvadoran government and the military were fighting left-wing rebels, who, they believed to be pro-communist, but when Rufina’s story appeared on the

For twelve years (1980-1992), El Salvador suffered this brutal civil war and saw some of the worst human rights abuses in Latin American history. The government refused to attend peace talks by the FMLN and the FMLN refused to participate in elections knowing it results would be rigged. The military tried to kill all suspected rebels and the FMLN damaged anything that supported the government’s economy. Throughout the war there was so much human rights violations such as subjecting civilians to torture, forced disappearance, extrajudicial killing, mutilation, mass rape, massacres, summary executions, landmines and indiscriminate bombing. As the result, by the end of the civil war about 75,000 people were killed, sadly most of which were civilians in the wrong place at the wrong time. The intensity of military repression and constant fear provoked massive northern migration to the United States. By the mid-1980s almost one-fifth of the Salvadoran population was living in the United

During the 1970’s and 80’s the El Salvadorian public experienced a brutal campaign of repression by the military government, which claimed thousands of lives. The leader of the church, Oscar Romero began to speak out on behalf of the victims and on the 23rd of March 1980, he made a

Models for post-revolutionary Latin American government are born of the complex economic and social realities of 17th and 18th century Europe. From the momentum of the Enlightenment came major political rebellions of the elite class against entrenched national monarchies and systems of power. Within this time period of elitist revolt and intensive political restructuring, the fundamental basis for both liberal and conservative ideology was driven deep into Latin American soil. However, as neither ideology sought to fulfill or even recognize the needs or rights of mestizo people under government rule, the initial liberal doctrine pervading Latin American nations perpetuated

As Charles Bergquist observes, "Crises in Colombia tend to generate cycles of violence instead of mutations in the political regime." The reason is simple: regime changes in Colombia tend to produce very little change in anything other than nominal rule. Since Colombia's independence from Spain in the early 19th century, Colombia has seen a series of civil wars and secessions (Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama the last coming rather conveniently at a time when the U.S. was prepared to pay millions for a canal through its nation preparation that later resulted in a multi-million dollar redress to Columbia). Colombia's political history, therefore, has been colored by outside influences pulling on the two dominant liberal and conservative parties, with violent exchanges, and long periods of instability being the consequences. While regime changes have occurred, they have not produced significant improvements. Rather, Colombia in the 20th century has become a nesting ground for paramilitary forces and drug traffickers, with U.S. Central Intelligence operatives contributing heavily to the violent conflict that has risen between regimes. This paper will examine the regime types that preceded the Rojas Pinilla regime in mid-20th century Colombia, analyze their similarities and differences, and discuss the extent to which Rojas Pinilla reached his goals and objectives.

El Salvador has been a part of countless wars, whether it be with other surrounding countries that continue to invade, or their most recent civil war that took over 12 years to resolve and their present war with gangs. My family was unfortunate to be personally affected by the 12-year civil war that took place during the late 1970’s. My mother explained to me how socially accepted it was to feed the countries soldiers who passed by, this became part of their culture to do so now as explained by Every Culture (2017). Some women stayed home to look after their children, sow, and cook. Other women chose to arm themselves and become militants as well. It became accepted to see both women and children join the troops during those chaotic times. In 1979 to 1981, an estimated 30,000 people were killed by death squads formed by the anti-government organization known as Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) as explained by Info Please (2017). The United States Army sent their Green Berets to help intervene and

The Reagan administration substantially increased both military and economic aid to El Salvador. The civil war raged on in El Salvador, fueled by U.S. aid to the Salvadoran military. The government harshly repressed dissent, and at least 70,000 people lost their lives in killings and bombing raids waged against civilians throughout the countryside. The country's infrastructure had crumbled, and the nation. The government military also start force recruitment to the children who are already twelve years old for becoming the child soldier. so does the geurillas.

Colombia is a Latin American country located in South America that has been ravaged by violence, starvation, and large-scale inequality between higher and lower classes. The chaos in Colombia has been between rebel forces and the government and has lasted for over fifty years. These rebel forces have fought to achieve their Liberalist lead goals of overthrowing the current democratic government of Colombia and replacing it with a communist government. La Violencia was the main contributor to the conflict between the resistance fighters of Colombia and the Colombian government that has brought on violence and terror from the violent actions between the Liberal and Conservative parties in the 1950’s. , which has directly brought on the violence and terror from the guerrilla groups.

I decided to write this research paper because we were assigned to find an issue or subject within Latin America to write about. One of the most widely known and influential revolutionary figure in the history of Latin America is Ché Guevara. Ché knew how to use his intelligence and judgment in all the circumstances he encountered taking advantage of each moment as if it was a highly intensive chess game he was sincerely

The author’s understanding of violence is extended beyond the text and into the political history of Latin America, full of neo-colonial repression, racial discrimination and struggles.