Loss of a Comando

One of the greatest organizations in El Salvador is the Comandos de Salvamento and their brave emergency medical service volunteers. Earlier this week, the Comandos mourned the death of one of their leaders, Eduardo Rivera Mayén. From the Comandos website:

Dozens of EMS volunteers from Comandos de Salvamento were accompanied by members of the Red and Green Cross, the National Fire Dept, family members, friends, delegates from political parties and representatives from Civil Protection to say their last goodbyes to friend and colleague Eduardo Rivera Mayén. Commonly called, "Mayen" by close friends was the main Comandos de Salvamento spokesman for the Salvadoran press. During mass disasters, civil war firefights, street protests, mass casualty incidents, or violent crime, Mayen was always there, calm and professional under extreme circumstances to offer concrete information to Salvadoran journalists and comforting words to families of those affected. Mayen was transported from the Comandos Central Base through the streets of San Salvador followed by more than twenty ambulances from different EMS organizations. The burial ceremony took place at the CampoAmor cemetery in Cuscatancingo. Near the end of the ceremony, his family was given the infamous journalist vest that Mayen used for many years while working with Comandos de Salvamento.

From El Salvador Noticias:

His work in the Comandos began in the last years of the Salvadoran civil war, especially when the conflict became more dangerous in the capital, because of an increased number of insurgent military actions, aimed at San Salvador.

It was common to see the Comandos enter combat zones between the guerrillas of the FMLN and the Salvadoran army, protected by their yellow flags, and then leave carrying injured civilians in their arms, to carry them to medical facilities. Mayén Rivera was one of those comandos.

An article from La Pagina said "Eduardo Rivera Mayén formed part of the list of anonymous heroes of Comandos de Salvamento, dedicated for almost 26 years to their Salvadoran kin in the moments when they needed help, being part of the country's history."

Eduardo Rivera Mayén