General

El Salvador apologizes for El Mozote massacre

President Mauricio Funes apologizes for the killing of 1000 civilians

Twenty years to the day after the declaration of peace ending years of civil war in El Salvador, the nation’s current president has formally apologized for the worst single atrocity of that war. The BBC reports President Mauricio Funes made an emotional apology on Monday for the 1981 El Mozote massacre, in which over 1000 civilians accused of collaborating with left-wing geurillas were slaughtered by Salvadorian troops. In the village of El Mozote near the Honduran border, President Funes said: “For this massacre, for the abhorrent violations of human rights and the abuses perpetrated in the name of the Salvadoran state, I ask forgiveness of the families of the victims.” The three-day slaughter was the bloodiest episode in a twelve-year civil war that saw 75,000 casualties. Funes’ party, Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) was founded by Marxist guerrillas who battled the U.S.-backed government during the civil war.

BBC

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