Rufina Amaya (1943 – March 6, 2007) was one of the few survivors of the

El Mozote massacre The El Mozote massacre took place both in and around the village of El Mozote, in the Morazán Department, El Salvador, on December 11 and 12, 1981, when the Salvadoran Army killed more than 811 civilians during the Salvadoran Civil War. T ...

on December 11 and December 12, 1981, in the

Salvadoran Salvadorans (), also known as Salvadorians, are citizens of El Salvador, a country in Central America. Most Salvadorans live in El Salvador, although there is also a significant Salvadoran diaspora, particularly in the United States, with smalle ...

department of Morazán 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 ...

. Her testimony of the attacks, reported shortly afterward by two

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

reporters but called into question by the U.S. journalism community as well as by the U.S. and Salvadoran governments,Mike Hoyt
"The Mozote Massacre: It was the reporters' word against the government's,"
''Columbia Journalism Review'', January/February 1993. was instrumental in the eventual investigation by the United Nations

Commission on the Truth for El Salvador The Truth Commission for El Salvador () was a restorative justice truth commission approved by the United Nations to investigate the grave wrongdoings that occurred throughout the country's twelve year civil war. It is estimated that 1.4 percent o ...

after the end of the war. The investigation led to the November 1992

exhumation Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and object ...

of bodies buried at the site and the commission's conclusion that Amaya's testimony had accurately represented the events.The UN Truth Commission report on El Mozote
(excerpts)Mark Danner
"The Truth of El Mozote,"
''The New Yorker'', 6 December 1993. Retrieved 2008-05-04. Hidden in a tree to which she had run while soldiers were distracted, Amaya watched and listened as government soldiers raped women and children, then killed men, women, and children by machine-gunning them, then burning their bodies.
, El Salvador Truth Commission Report, from the United States Institute of Peace. Retrieved 2008-05-04. While hiding, she prayed to God that if he let her live, she would tell the world what took place there. She kept her promise. Amaya lost not only her neighbors, but also her husband, Domingo Claros, whose decapitation she saw; her 9-year-old son, Cristino, who cried out to her, "Mama, they're killing me. They've killed my sister. They're going to kill me."; and her daughters María Dolores, María Lilian, and María Isabel, ages 5 years, 3 years, and 8 months old.Douglas Martin

March 9, 2007. Retrieved 2008-05-04. The only one of her children with Claros who was not killed in the massacre was their daughter Fidelia, who was not in the village at the time. Following the massacre, Amaya became a

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

for a time in the neighboring country of

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

, where in 1985 she married fellow refugee José Natividad, with whom she had four children,Christian Guevara
"'Aún no puedo dormir por las noches'" ("'Even now I cannot sleep at night'")
, ''El Faro'', December 13, 2004 (in Spanish). Retrieved 2008-05-04. divorcing within two years after the marriage. She returned to El Salvador in 1990 and became a lay minister for the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. By March 2000, Amaya was living near the Morazán village of Segundo Montes, Morazán,Scott Wright
"At the foot of the cross: Rufina Amaya -- Presente!"
Voices on the Border, March 2007. established by fellow repatriated exiles in memory of a Jesuit priest and scholar killed during the war in a mass assassination of priests by government forces at the

Universidad Centroamericana "José Simeón Cañas" José Simeón Cañas Central American University (), also known as UCA El Salvador, is a private Catholic university with nonprofit purposes in Antiguo Cuscatlán, El Salvador. It is operated by the Society of Jesus. UCA was founded on Septembe ...

(UCA). Amaya died of a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

in a

San Salvador San Salvador () is the Capital city, capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its San Salvador Department, eponymous department. It is the country's largest agglomeration, serving as the country's political, cultural, educational and fin ...

hospital aged 64, on March 6, 2007, following a long illness.

Notes

References

* *

External links

The El Mozote Massacre
(various articles)

* Alma Guillermoprieto

(obituary of Amaya by one of the two original El Mozote reporters), ''The Washington Post'', March 14, 2007, Page C01. Retrieved 2008-05-04. * Scott Simon
''New York Times'' reporter Raymond Bonner remembers Rufina Amaya
National Public Radio, March 17, 2007.
Photo gallery of Rufina Amaya
Walls of Hope School of Art and Open Studio, Perquín, El Salvador. Retrieved 2008-05-06. {{DEFAULTSORT:Amaya, Rufina People of the Salvadoran Civil War 1943 births 2007 deaths People from Morazán Department 20th-century Salvadoran women Refugees Sole survivors 21st-century Salvadoran women Women in the Salvadoran Civil War