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This place belonged to Santos Chica.

Could you describe for what we’re looking at in this moment?

Here we are looking at his remains; the remains of Santos Chica. Those are his pants that we see there, the pants of Santos Chica, the owner of this house. The remains over there are those of his daughter. His daughter must have been 20 or 22.

Under what conditions did these people die?

When the enemy penetrated here through the east side, they didn’t give--they didn’t let them leave.

How many people did they kill here?

They killed four people here. They killed two women and two strong men.

Do you know how many children they killed here in this zone?

Maybe around 40 children. Yes, it’s a lot. You can’t get a precise count because it’s unknown how many, but the dead are a lot.

We repeat, the scenes that we are seeing at this moment show us the genocidal character of the high military command. Here in El Junquillo, we see the footprint of the beast of what it means for El Salvador to have a dictatorship that has lost all sense of humanity, that desperately assassinates peasants, women, and children, whether they’re organized or not.

Compañero, where did they find the body of the young woman?

Now we are the second burnt house here in El Junquillo. This is where Napoleon Medina Garay ordered the assassination of a barely two-day-old baby. Everything is destroyed, absolutely everything--beds, chairs. Nothing is whole here, nothing is in its perfect state.

What happened here is that they killed the lady on the grate. She was around 80 years old. They killed her daughter-in-law who had given birth two days prior. They killed her and her baby.

Was it here where they found a two-day-old baby with a machete run through him?

Yes.

In that house over there they killed a family of seven; they killed the mother, too. In this house over here, they killed nine. In that other house over there, they killed six, five, four children.

At this moment, Radio Venceremos has found a few female comrades, survivors of the killing at El Junquillo. With us now is comrade Marlene.

Marlene, could you tell us for Radio Venceremos what family you lost here in the El Junquillo Massacre?

Yes, I lost my mother, Francisca Díaz, who was 44 years old, my sister Juanita Diaz who was 22, and Santa Diaz, who was 20, Priscilla del Carmen Chica, who was six, Jose Dolores Diaz, who was three-years-old, Jose Arnoldo Pereira who was four months old, Tomasa Hayde, who was two months old, Simona Diaz Pereira, who was nine years old, Magdalena Pereira, who was three, Isnever Moises Pereira, who was two years old, and some of my uncles, too, Jose Eulalio Chica, who was 30 years old, Petronila Claro, who was 39 years old, and also--what was the name of those children?--Delfina Diaz, who was ten years old, and Anibal Diaz, who was two years old.

Tell us how everything happened.

What’s your name?

Juan Tito Díaz.

Tell us, did you, too, lose your family in El Junquillo?

I lost seven.

Seven from your family?

Yes. Guillermina Díaz y mi hermana María Santos Díaz, Margarito Díaz, José Antonio Savaldía Díaz, Isabel Díaz, Carlos Otilio Díaz, and Juan Ernesto Díaz.

Who was responsible?

Spies from Cacaopera.

¿From Cacaopera? ¿Along with Medina Garay?

Yes.

In that same massacre they killed José Santos Chica, Tomasa Romero, Felipa, Chica, Chabela Chica, Antolin Chica.

Eugenia Romero and a boy named Chepe Romero and Bernardino Romero, Leopoldo Chica, Agencia Romero. I only remember the ones I remember. A lot of people that I didn’t even know died, so I’m not counting them. Everyone they found in the houses were terminated, without leaving any family or anything.

Over there, in that little house they found Vajina and María, and Ivan Santos, and further down, behind there, they killed Filomena, and even further down, they killed another lady, Tránsito. They were all old. They were elderly.

In this house that we’re passing, they also killed there. How many people?

Now we’re crossing the El Chupadero river. We continue to move across the El Junquillo village and see the desolate landscape, the burnt houses, the human remains.

In this opportunity we’ve found a peasant from this area, and his name is Filadelfo. In these moments we’re arriving at a house were his wife and children lived. It’s a return to a painful memory that Filadelfo has wanted to make so he could show the world all the horror and the entire genocidal nature of what happened in this area of El Junquillo. Comrade, tell us how many people lived in this house.

Here they really killed ten. They killed them there, see.

Your wife died. Who else?

Yes, my wife and another lady, the mother of a friend. Another sister, too, and her daughter. They kill them both here.

¿How many of your children did they kill?

They kill three of my children.

What ages were your children?

Well, one of them was nine years old, another was four, and there was the two-month-old boy.

A two-month baby?

Yes.

With us is another comrade survivor of the massacre of El Junquillo. Comrade, tell us how everything happened.

Well, comrade, the soldiers descended and attacked them without giving them time to leave.

And that the 12th of March?

Yes, that was the 12th of March. Without being able to run. We men fled, but for the women and children it was impossible because, as you well know, children can’t run.

Why did many of the people not run when the soldiers arrived?

Now we are here with a girl survivor also of the El Junquillo Massacre. What’s your name?

Tell us, Victoria. How did all of this happen in El Junquillo?

How many people in your family did Medina Garay assassinate?

And you were able to flee before the soldiers arrived?

I’m sorry, your maicillo is burning. What do you want for El Salvador?

How old are you?

Yes.

What does a liberated country mean for you?

En estos momentos, los micrófonos de Radio Venceremos están penetrando en la primera casa que encontramos en El Junquillo, donde el carnicero de El Junquillo, el capitán Napoleón Medina Garay, realizó una de las masacres más espantosas que recuerde la historia del departamento de Morazán. En estos momentos estamos entrando a la casa totalmente destruida, sin techo, todas las tejas quebradas en el suelo. Todo quemado. Hay rastros de ropa de niños. Acá hay un compañero que nos va a explicar un poco, nos va a describir un poco qué es lo que estamos viendo acá. Realmente esta es una de las escenas más macabras que hemos visto en nuestra vida. Hay restos humanos, esqueletos. Compañero, cuéntenos a quién pertenecía esta casa.

Aquí pertenecía a Santos Chica.

Aquí estamos viendo los restos de él, ¿va? Los de Santos Chica. Ese es el pantalón que hay, que mira allí, el pantalón de él ve, el de Santos Chica, el dueño de esta casa. Aquellos restos de allá son de la hija. La hija podía tener como unos 20 años o 22.

Cuando aquí el enemigo penetró aquí el lado del oriente, ellos no les dieron-- Dejarlos salirse.

Aquí mataron cuatro personas. Mataron dos señoras y dos señores ya macizos.

Quizás como unos 40 niños. Sí. Son bastantes. No se puede sacar la cuenta porque no sé cuántos, pero son bastantes los que han muerto.

Aquí lo que pasó fue que mataron a la señora en la reja. Estaba como unos 80 años de edad. Mataron la nuera, como que tenía dos días de haberse alumbrado, con todo y niño la mataron.

Sí.

En aquella casa mataron siete de familia con todo y mamá. En esta de aquí mataron como fueron nueve. La otra casa de allá, nos mataron seis, cinco, mataron cuatro de familia.

Sí. Yo perdí a mi mamá, Francisca Díaz de 44 años. Mi hermana Juanita Díaz de 22 y Santana Díaz de 20, Priscila del Carmen Chica de seis años, José Dolores Díaz de tres años, José Arnoldo Pereira de cuatro meses, Tomasa Haydé de dos meses, Simona Díaz Pereira de nueve años, Magdalena Pereira de tres años, Isnever Moisés Pereira de dos años y los otros son mis tíos también, José Eulalio Chica de 30 años, Petronila Claro de 39 años, también ¿cómo se llamaban los niños? Delfina Díaz de 10 años y Aníbal Díaz de dos años.

Toda esa gente fue violada primero y allí la mataron solo a cuchilladas, degolladas los hicieron a toda esa gente, dicen allí. Aquí todos esos norteamericanos que andaban con ese Napoleón Medina Garay. Sí. Y así es que mataron todos esos niños tiernitos, y también una niña de dos días. Se llamaba Dominga Díaz.

And this was in what month?

So, in Villa El Rosario the army assassinated nineteen people, and then they made it seem as if they were--

Do you remember any of the names of the dead?

But you saw the bodies?

What was his name?

Grande García.

So, you're saying there's a contradiction in the army itself. There's officers and soldiers that are conscious of the massacres.