Argentina, Accomplice to the El Mozote Massacre
<p>Possible documentary evidence of the El Mozote massacre can be found in official records in Argentina, demonstrating a degree of responsibility of the Argentine military dictatorship.</p>
Julieta Rostica Melisa Kovalskis Lucrecia Molinari Matías Oberlin Molina
El Faro published this article in Spanish in June 2020.
In December 1981, the Salvadoran Armed Forces carried out the El Mozote massacre, in which 989 people were killed, according to official figures. This case was brought to trial in El Salvador, but with serious difficulties in documenting what happened. Possible documentary evidence of this massacre can be found in official records: the Historical Archive of the Argentine Foreign Ministry, the Historical Archive of the Salvadoran Foreign Ministry, the General Archive of the Argentine Army, and reports requested from the Argentine Ministry of Defense, among others, demonstrating the degree of responsibility of the Argentine military dictatorship.
Diplomatic relations between El Salvador and Argentina deepened during 1979 and 1980 and reached their peak in 1981. The Argentine regime’s economic and military support for the Salvadoran government during those years was a key aid at a time when U.S. assistance was seen as totally insufficient on the military level. One incentive for the rapprochement between the two countries was possibly the critical months at the end of 1980 and beginning of 1981, which saw the final offensive by the guerrillas, the victory of Ronald Reagan, and the consolidation of the hard line in the Governing Junta of El Salvador.
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In addition to the diplomatic missions that strengthened ties between El Salvador and Argentina, documents show fluid and systematic communication during 1981 between the Argentine ambassador and the Salvadoran hardline military: the vice president and commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, Colonel Jaime Abdul Gutiérrez; the minister of defense, General José Guillermo García; the chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, General Rafael Flores Lima; and the Director General of the National Guard, Colonel Carlos Vides Casanova.
Through these intimate and confidential meetings, the Argentine embassy received specific information about the department of Morazán, an area where the guerrillas were based and which was considered “subversive.” This information ranged from the number of military personnel to the number of “guerrillas” who had been killed, and even the type of “operation” carried out. This interest was surely exacerbated upon notification of the international ramifications of the insurgents’ plan and the presence of Argentine guerrillas in the region.
The conflict between El Salvador and Honduras served as justification for Argentina to send OAS military observers to the border, who, rather than monitoring the border issue, reported on the “subversive” problem. Both the military observers and attachés reported to the Second Intelligence Directorate of the Army General Staff and the Second Intelligence Directorate of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, so their mission was related to intelligence in an area bordering the department of Morazán.
Despite all the information that Argentine personnel and the Foreign Ministry had about the maneuvers of the Salvadoran Armed and Security Forces in the department of Morazán and in the Zazalapa enclave, and despite having been notified of the final solution that the Salvadoran government wanted to implement, knowing full well the human rights violations that were being perpetrated, the Argentine government provided military support to the repressive forces of El Salvador. It not only assisted with intelligence courses provided by the State Intelligence Secretariat, but also through the sale of weapons, which was financed to the tune of $20 million.
It also provided financial support ranging from $65 to $85 million, almost on a par with the United States. For these reasons, we believe that the Argentine military dictatorship bore a certain degree of responsibility for the El Mozote massacre: instead of cutting ties with a repressive government accused of human rights violations, it chose not only to strengthen those ties, but also to support the government.
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This is an excerpt from the Spanish-language article, “The El Mozote massacre in El Salvador: an approximation of Argentine responsibility,” e-l@tina, Electronic Journal of Latin American Studies, vol. 18, no. 71, 2020. An interview with Julieta Rostica and Lucrecia Molinari puts the research in context. This work was carried out with the support of Argentina’s National Agency for Scientific and Technological Promotion.
Julieta Rostica, CONICET, Argentina; Melisa Kovalskis, University of Buenos Aires; Lucrecia Molinari, CONICET-UNTREF; and Matías Oberlin Molina, University of Buenos Aires. The authors belong to the Central American Studies Group (IEALC-UBA).
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