El Mozote - Human Right Violations

Human Right Violations

The Civil War in El Salvador was a time of desperation and turmoil for the civilians of that small country. There were numerous complaints of human right violations but a countless number of people did not report the abuse for fear of the military’s retaliation. But it was the El Mozote Massacre that brought to light the many accusations of human right violations. The El Mozote case alone demonstrated almost all of the human right violations that were recorded during the civil war. Due to almost 1000 citizens being killed in a span of three days, the El Mozote Massacre came to be known as the most notorious case of human right violation in the history of El Salvador.

One of the human right violations determined by the massacre was the right to a fair trial and due process. The inhabitants of El Mozote were accused of being guerilla and without questioning they were executed. This was a violation of their rights according to the United Nations because the citizens were innocent without any link to the Guerilla but that still did not influence the military’s decision of killing every inhabitant. The citizens should have been questioned first about the Guerilla instead of just being executed. The citizens were also deprived of their safety and well being. According to the soldiers responsible for the killings, all of the inhabitants were protecting the guerilla thus the killings of the inhabitants was justified in their eyes for the well being of the country.

During the executions, the Atlactl Battalion procured to leave a mark behind with the victims along with letting the rest of the civilians in El Salvador know to not cross paths with them. The “Angels of Hell” tortured many of the men before murdering the victims. The military’s torture methods were brutal, “ Soldiers would dislocate body parts; apply electric shocks, acid burns, and severed limbs: tongues, ears, and gouged eyes.". These torture methods that were used violated the human right of self-defense according to the Truth Commission Report. Torture is defined as “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity”. The victims were tied down and left defenseless. Instilling unspoken pain to any human being is a violation to their rights because one is stripping that person of their identity and is inflicting unspoken pain into the victims. It is a violation especially if the victims are innocent and are being induced unnecessary pain. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that No One shall be subjected to torture or cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment. Before being murdered the victims were mentally stressed pushing them to want the soldiers to kill them. From that mental stress the victims were happy of being killed because they would not endure the pain any longer.

Overall the military violated the most important human right, “everyone has the right of life, liberty, and security of person”. The victims’ lives were abruptly taken without any resistance from the civilians. Their right to life and security were stripped without any plausible reason. The killing of defenseless children and babies made the case important for investigators. Babies were murdered ruthlessly at the hands of these men. Women and young girls were raped before being murdered and in the process of those actions the right to their security vanished. Now all that remained in the ghost town were dead bodies of men, women, young girls, boys and babies.