List of massacres in El Salvador

The following are lists of massacres that have occurred in El Salvador (numbers may be approximate). There were some 27 separate documented civilian massacres[1][2][3] in the Salvadoran Civil War era alone (1979–1989), in total the war directly claimed 70,000 to 80,000 lives. Additional ongoing violence related to the massacres and their obfuscation has claimed numerous activists, religious leaders, university professors, mayors, and foreigners in the decades following the civil war until the present day.

Pre-civil war

Name Date Location Deaths Notes
La Matanza 22 January 1932 – 11 July 1932 Western El Salvador 10,000[4] to 40,000 Led to decline of native Pipil (Nahuat) language and lack of linguistic self-identification due to induced climate of fear
Student massacre of 1975 30 July 1975 National Hospital Rosales, San Salvador unknown (over 100)[5]
Cathedral Slope massacre 8 May 1979 San Salvador Cathedral, San Salvador 24[6] Civil War followed

Salvadoran Civil War era

Name Date Location Deaths Notes
Sumpul River massacre 14 May 1980 Sumpul River near Las Aradas, Chalatenango 300 to 600[7]
Lempa River massacre 15-19 March 1981 Lempa River, Victoria, Cabañas department 200 Mass murder of civilians by Salvadoran and Honduran forces who attempted to flee to Honduras by crossing the Lempa River[8][9]
Santa Cruz massacre 11–19 November 1981 Victoria, Cabañas, Cabañas department Unknown The armed forced of El Salvador killed civilians as they deployed scorched earth tactics during an anti-guerrilla military action. [10]
El Mozote massacre 11 December 1981 El Mozote, Morazán up to 900[11] Carried out by Atlácatl Battalion of the Salvadoran Army
Santa Rita massacre 17 March 1982 Santa Rita, Chalatenango 8[12] Carried out by Atonal Battalion of the Salvadoran Army, 4 Dutch journalists among those killed
El Calabozo massacre 21–22 August 1982 El Calabozo, San Vicente more than 200[13] Carried out by Atlácatl Battalion of the Salvadoran Army
Tenango and Guadalupe massacre [es] 28 February–1 March 1983 Suchitoto, Cuscatlán 250 mostly women and children[14][15] Carried out by Salvadoran Army
1985 Zona Rosa attacks 19 June 1985 Zona Rosa, San Salvador 12-13 Left-wing guerrillas opened fire on the Zona Rosa nightclub, killing 12-13 people including six Americans.[16]

Post-civil war

Name Date Location Deaths Notes
San Miguelito massacre 4 November 1996 San Miguelito, Nahulingo, Sonsonate 8 Murder of Vázquez family by unidentified armed men[17]
Mejicanos massacre 20 June 2010 Mejicanos, San Salvador 19 Committed by members of the 18th Street gang in retaliation for the killing of one of its members by MS-13 the day prior[18]
Altavista massacre 14 July 2016 Altavista neighborhood, Ilopango, San Salvador department 7 [19][20]

References

  1. ^ Informe de la Comisión de la Verdad para El Salvador: “De la locura a la esperanza”, Naciones Unidas, San Salvador – Nueva York 1992-1993.
  2. ^ Book "Condoning the killing : ten years of massacres in El Salvador" con introducción del senador Brock Adams.
  3. ^ La muerte de los que no combatían en la guerra Revista Enfocus
  4. ^ Jeffery L. Gould and Aldo A. Lauria-Santiago (2008). To Rise in Darkness: Revolution, Repression, and Memory in El Salvador. Duke University Press. p. 234. ISBN 978-0822342281.
  5. ^ El Universitario, Época XIII, No 14, 2010
  6. ^ "1979: El Salvador cathedral bloodbath". 9 May 1979.
  7. ^ "La masacre del Sumpul (1980)" [The massacre of the Sumpul (1980)]. ChalatenangoSV (in Spanish). 16 November 2015.
  8. ^ "Remembering Río Lempa: FOIA Documents Released to Mark 35th Anniversary of Massacre – Unfinished Sentences". unfinishedsentences.org. 17 March 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
  9. ^ "A 43 años de la masacre del Río Lempa: El Salvador perpetúa la impunidad - Revista la Brújula". revistalabrujula.com (in Spanish). 19 March 2024. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
  10. ^ "God Alone was with Us: The Santa Cruz Massacre – Unfinished Sentences". unfinishedsentences.org. 23 February 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
  11. ^ Alex J. Bellamy (2012). Massacres and Morality: Mass Atrocities in an Age of Civilian Immunity. Oxford University Press. p. 214. ISBN 978-0199288427. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  12. ^ "Report of the UN Truth Commission on El Salvador". Derechos Human Rights. 29 March 1993. pp. 69–75. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  13. ^ Tom Rosenstiel and Amy S. Mitchell (2003). Thinking Clearly: Cases in Journalistic Decision-Making. Columbia University Press. p. 145. ISBN 0-231-12589-5. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  14. ^ "Demandan del fiscal general apertura de archivos militares por masacre de Tenango y Guadalupe" (in Spanish). 3 November 2017.
  15. ^ Lindo, Róger (28 February 2024). "El copinol de Guadalupe, 41 años después". hispanicla.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  16. ^ "La noche que la guerrilla desató un infierno en la Zona Rosa - Diario El Mundo". El Mundo (in Spanish). 18 June 2023. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  17. ^ "Asesinados a puñaladas ocho miembros de una familia salvadoreña, entre ellos cinco niños - Internacional - EL PAÍS". El País (in Spanish). 4 November 1996. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  18. ^ González Díaz, Marcos (20 June 2020). "Cómo fue la Masacre del Microbús en Mejicanos, el Ataque Más Sangriento de las Maras de El Salvador en el que 17 Pasajeros Murieron Carbonizados" [What Was the Microbus Massacre Like in Mejicanos, the Bloodiest Attack by the Gangs of El Salvador in Which 17 Passengers Burned to Death]. BBC Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  19. ^ "Escuadrón metió a la fuerza a jóvenes para acribillarlos en sala de juegos - elsalvador.com". El Diario de Hoy (in Spanish). 15 July 2016. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
  20. ^ "Atacantes usaron armas de guerra para matar a 7 en Alta Vista - La Prensa Gráfica". La Prensa Gráfica (in Spanish). 16 July 2016. Retrieved 21 September 2024.