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US coming around on El Mozote
Recently disclosed documents from the US State Department show that the US Embassy in El Salvador is closely following the case of the massacre of children and others at El Mozote as well as other human rights cases from the civil war period. The documents in question were released in response to open records requests from the University of Washington Center for Human Rights (UWCHR).One of the most interesting documents is a June 29, 2017 cable from US Ambassador to El Salvador Jean Manes. The document describes the embassy's assessment of the proceedings surrounding the El Mozote massacre case. The UWCHR explains the significance of the cable:
[The] cable drafted by Ambassador Manes, dated June 29, 2017, “El Mozote Massacre Trial: Test Case for Civil War Accountability”, is significant for its recognition that a massacre took place at the hands of the Atlacatl Battalion during “Operation Rescate”. The confirmation from the U.S. embassy that it was in fact a massacre of civilian non-combatants, and not an armed confrontation, is critical because it counters the narrative that has historically been employed by the Salvadoran government and armed forces (and communicated in some prior U.S. diplomatic and intelligence documents) to protect the perpetrators of the crime and discredit the accounts of survivors. The claim of armed confrontation’ serves as the defendants’ central argument in the trial of El Mozote, in which they are charged with “a range of crimes, including murder, aggravated rape, aggravated abduction, breaking and entering, robbery, aggravated abduction, acts of terrorism, and conspiracy”.
The Ambassador’s cable foregrounds positive assessments of the El Mozote trial, including one source’s view that “sufficient evidence exists to demonstrate the culpability of crimes against humanity and war crimes at El Mozote”. Ambassador Manes does not communicate complete confidence regarding prospects for justice: her comments highlight concerns about legal and forensic capacity, political will, and popular support for justice for crimes of the past. Despite this, however, these concerns are not used to further arguments against justice—indeed, the document’s title, “El Mozote Massacre Trial: Test Case for Civil War Accountability”, highlights the importance of the case despite these obstacles.The tone of this cable from 2017 is much different from the reports of the US Embassy during the civil war years. As is now widely known and accepted today by the US, the massacre at El Mozote was carried out by the Atlacatl Battalion of the Salvadoran armed forces. It was an elite unit, and the US was proud of having played a role in creating it. An Americas Watch report wrote in 1992:
The history of U.S. human rights policy in El Salvador is not only one of downplaying or denying the war crimes of the Salvadoran military. U.S. officials often went one step further, asserting that the behavior of the U.S.-trained Atlacatl Battalion, in particular, was "commendable" and "professional" in its relations with the civilian population. The Atlacatl Battalion, which carried out the massacre at El Mozote, was created in early 1981 and trained by U.S. advisers drawn primarily from the Special Forces in a first effort to reorganize the Salvadoran military to wage a full-scale counterinsurgency war. By mid-1981, 1200 soldiers had begun operating as a "rapid reaction" battalion in conflictive zones, spearheading majormilitary operations in the departments of Chalatenango, CabaÒas, and Morazan.
U.S. officials have long been extremely proud of the Atlacatl Battalion's performance and have praised it throughout the history of the war. In the February 8, 1982, Senate hearings on the presidential certification on El Salvador, Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights Elliott Abrams lavished praise on the Atlacatl Battalion, saying that "the battalion to which you refer [regarding the massacre at El Mozote] has been complimented at various times in the past over its professionalism and over the command structure and the close control in which the troops are held when they go into battle."
In congressional testimony a few months later, a senior U.S. Defense Department official went one step further, saying that the Atlacatl had "achieved a commendable combat record not only for its tactical capability in fighting the guerrillas but also for its humane treatment of the people."Such statements at the time portrayed an intentional blindness to the activities of the Atlacatl forces at best, and at worst a conscious attempt to mislead the American public. The Atlacatl troops would later murder the Jesuits in 1989.
But given the role of the US in funding the forces who committed many of the civil war atrocities, much more is owed by the US government than simply an acknowledgment of well-established facts. The government could start by searching for and declassifying all of its records related to El Mozote and other massacres and sharing them with appropriate authorities and human rights groups in El Salvador.
The cable from Ambassador Manes also notes:
The[government of El Salvador] and legislators are exploring a replacement of the Amnesty Law which could impact the ability to prosecute the El Mozote case and others.El Faro uses that sentence to headline an article about the Manes cable. Nelson Rauda at El Faro explains more about the significance of that sentence. The National Assembly in 2017 created an ad hoc commission to look at the development of a new law of national reconciliation. Human rights and other groups called foul when the commission was made up of members who have been alleged to have involvement in various human rights violations:
- Antonio Almendáriz (PCN) was identified in the UN Truth Commission Report as being in the command structure of units which committed atrocities and was the last commander of the Atlacatl Battalion;
- Rodolfo Parker (PDC) while a lawyer for the armed forces was alleged by the UN to have covered up evidence related to the Jesuit massacre;
- Nidia Díaz (FMLN) has been accused in El Salvador of command involvement with the Zona Rosa massacre of US Marines; and
- Mauricio Vargas (Arena) has also been accused by US authorities of involvement in human rights abuses.
Pretty clearly this group of commission members has a conflict of interest in determining whether El Salvador should be seeking justice for crimes against humanity from the civil war. Human rights groups and others who care about the impunity to date for those involved in war crimes will be watching closely, and hopefully so will the US Embassy.
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| Dip. Nidia Diaz -- Amb. Jean Manes |
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