Dec
Historical Memory, Human Rights
Nayib Bukele: “The war was a sham, like the Peace Accords”
LA PRENSA GRAFICA reports:
On December 17, the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, arrived at the El Mozote village in Morazán to announce various community works and, according to him, to speed up the process of reparation and vindication of the place, after 39 years of the crime against humanity better known as the El Mozote massacre.
In his speech to the locals, the president, emphatically, accused the previous governments – specifically 10 years of the FMLN – of profiting from the massacre that occurred in the place in 1981 during the armed conflict, where elements of the Armed Forces murdered approximately 1,000 people, mostly women and children.
“They spent a whole decade and after 10 years they say: ‘We did not have time’ … I am angry that the El Mozote massacre is used for political purposes, now they come and try to get the most out of it. El Mozote massacre” said Bukele.
Bukele’s incendiary phrases contrast with the events that occurred in recent months in the framework of the investigation and trial of the massacre, where one of the core aspects was access to military files, which would serve as evidence for it.
The government of Nayib Bukele blocked a judicial inspection of the secret files of the El Mozote massacre. The investigating judge of San Francisco Gotera, Jorge Guzmán, was denied on six occasions the entry to the archives of military compounds to search for documents related to the El Mozote massacre and nearby places.
In his speech to the residents of El Mozote, victims of repression by the Armed Forces during the civil war, Nayib Bukele questioned the benefits brought by the signing of the Peace Accords, which put an end to the armed conflict after 12 years of war between the Army and the guerrillas.
“The war was a farce, like the Peace Accords … Yes, I defile them because they were a farce, a farce, a negotiation between two leaders, or what benefit did the Peace Accords bring to the Salvadorans?”
Bukele also said:
“When the massacre was perpetrated I was four months old, so I am not here to ask for forgiveness, because I would not have to, in any case let the murderers who caused that massacre ask for forgiveness”.
El Mozote, an example for Latin America
The president announced several benefit projects for El Mozote, including the construction of the El Mozote square, the paving of all the streets of the village, the creation of a geriatric center and a new police post. He assured that the place will become a “tourist destination” where people can learn about the “history”.
He also promised the construction of an Urban Center for Well-being and Opportunities (CUBO), scholarships for all the youth of the place and free Wi-Fi both in squares and in the houses of the village. He revealed that El Mozote will enter into a national plan for the delivery of computers for all children.
“We are going to make this municipality an example not for the country, but for all of Latin America. And it will have what all previous governments denied it” he said.
Meanwhile, his words were not received well by several people, including Rep. Jim McGovern:
Salvadoran President @nayibbukele helicoptered today to El Mozote. Too bad he used nationally televised speech to attack human rights defender and lead counsel for the victims in the El Mozote Massacre case.
— Rep. Jim McGovern (@RepMcGovern) December 18, 2020
Hoy #ElMozote recibió un discurso falsario y de odio. Cargado de promesas demagógicas. Otra vez le mintieron sobre los archivos militares.
La sangre y el sufrimiento no tienen precio @nayibbukele; por el contrario, terminan siempre develando el cinismo y la complicidad. https://t.co/FgFvDEPe12
— David Morales (@davidemorDDHH) December 18, 2020
That’s why learning history matters.
Today marks 39 years since the El Mozote massacre by El Salvador’s US-backed soldiers.
If we claim to stand for human rights at home, we must stand for them everywhere. pic.twitter.com/uuDL9SBEYL
— Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) December 11, 2020
