The Massacre at El Mozote

Chapter 6 picks up directly in the aftermath of El Mozote, recounting how the guerrillas began to find out about the massacre and report it to their commanders, who at first did not believe them. Eventually, however, they find Rufina Amaya, and hear the whole story from her, and come to see the truth of the reports. They then broadcast the information about what had happened, prompting a flat denial from then-President José Napoleón Duarte.

The chapter then moves into a discussion of the US political environment, where, in order to continue providing foreign aid, they needed reassurance that the Salvadoran government was “achieving substantial control over all elements of its own armed forces, so as to bring to an end the indiscriminate torture and murder of Salvadoran citizens by these forces” (90). 

The reports of the massacre brought all of this into sharp focus, and the certification deadline drew steadily nearer. Meanwhile, those on the left, who opposed the aid given to the Salvadoran government, as well as human-rights groups, took this as an opportunity to try to discontinue aid. However, those on the right, who saw this aid as vital, argued that no matter what the human rights abuses of the government now might be, they would be a thousand times worse under a communist regime.