The El Calabozo massacre was an incident during the

Salvadoran Civil War The Salvadoran Civil War () was a twelve-year civil war in El Salvador that was fought between the government of El Salvador, backed by the United States, and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition of left-wing guer ...

on 21–22 August 1982, in which more than two hundred people, including children and elderly, were reportedly killed at El Calabozo by the Atlácatl Battalion of the

Salvadoran Army The Salvadoran Army (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Ejército Salvadoreño'') is the land branch and largest of the Armed Forces of El Salvador. History The Football War The Football War (also called The Soccer War or 100-hours War) was a ter ...

. In August 1982, the Salvadoran military attacked the

San Vicente Department San Vicente () is a department of El Salvador in the center of the country. The capital is San Vicente. On October 4, 1834, San Vicente City of Austria and Lorenzana (Ciudad de San Vicente de Austria y Lorenzana) was made the capital of State o ...

, an area where the rebel Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front was known to have bases. The department was bombed for several days before ground forces advanced, causing many civilians to flee. On the night of August 21, a group of

internally displaced people An internally displaced person (IDP) is someone who is forced to leave their home but who remains within their country's borders. They are often referred to as refugees, although they do not fall within the legal definitions of a refugee. I ...

was overtaken beside the Amatitán river by the Atlácatl Battalion, a US-trained counter-insurgency unit. The Atlácatl Battalion had previously been responsible for the El Mozote massacre, in which 811 captured civilians had been killed in the town of El Mozote At a spot called "El Calabozo" ("The Dungeon"), the battalion surrounded the IDPs and opened fire at close range. The soldiers threw some of the bodies into the river and reportedly threw acid on others, making an exact death toll impossible to confirm, but more than two hundred were reported missing after the incident by surviving family members. The dead included infants and elderly. The massacre was first publicly reported in

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

on September 8, 1982. Minister of Defense José Guillermo García stated that the government had investigated the incident and determined that no massacre had taken place. In 1992, survivors filed a complaint with authorities asking for an investigation. Though the Commission on the Truth for El Salvador documented the massacre's existence, the government closed the case in 1993 without charges. As of 2012, the Salvadoran government had not acknowledged the existence of the massacre or prosecuted those responsible.

References

{{coord missing, El Salvador 1982 in El Salvador Massacres in 1982 Massacres of the Salvadoran Civil War Military scandals San Vicente Department August 1982 in North America

See also

References