El Mozote -- Rufina Amaya the survivor
Second of a series
When the Atlacatl Battalion of the Salvadoran army massacred the civilian population of El Mozote, they left only one survivor. Rufina Amaya's husband and children were all executed, but somehow she managed to escape. For the next 25 years, she would be the sole voice for those hundreds of victims. She was the one witness, the one to testify to what she had seen, to keep the world from forgetting what had happened in El Mozote.
The following two videos on YouTube contain one of the many times Rufina told the story of El Mozote:
Rufina Amaya passed away on March 6, 2007. The New York Times carried this obituary of Rufina. After her death Journalist blogger Jorge Avalos described her as:
la mujer más humilde que he conocido. Una mujer que venció con su palabra tantas mentiras y tanta inhumana brutalidad para recordarnos el poder de la memoria y de la verdad.
the most humble woman I have known. A woman who vanquished with her word such lies and such inhuman brutality in oredr to remind us of the power of memory and of truth.
Grave of Rufina Amaya at El Mozote
Comments
This was perhaps the single worst war crime committed by either side in the history of El Salvador's civil war. It was an act of God, I am sure, that protected Ms. Amaya so she could bear witness to the Truth.
May God watch over her always and may what happened at El Mozote never be forgotten.