Rufina Amaya
Rufina Amaya | |
|---|---|
Rufina Amaya at the door of the San Francisco Gotera court, Morazán, after the presentation of the judicial complaint against the leaders of the Atlacatal Battalion. October 1990 | |
| Born | 1943 |
| Died | March 6, 2007 (aged 63–64) San Salvador, El Salvador |
| Occupation | Lay minister |
| Known for | Sole survivor of the El Mozote massacre |
| Spouses | Domingo Claros (died 1981)José Natividad (div. 1987) |
| Children | 9 |
Rufina Amaya (1943 – March 6, 2007) was one of the few survivors of the El Mozote massacre on December 11 and 12, 1981, in the Salvadoran department of Morazán during the Salvadoran Civil War. Her testimony of the attacks, reported shortly afterward by two American reporters[1] but called into question by the U.S. journalism community as well as by the U.S. and Salvadoran governments,[2] was instrumental in the eventual investigation by the United Nations Commission on the Truth for El Salvador after the end of the war. The investigation led to the November 1992 exhumation of bodies buried at the site and the commission's conclusion that Amaya's testimony had accurately represented the events.[3][4][5]
Hidden in a tree to which she had run while soldiers were distracted,[6] Amaya watched and listened as government soldiers raped women and children, then killed men, women, and children by machine-gunning them, then burning their bodies.[7] While hiding, she prayed to God that if he let her live, she would tell the world what took place there.[8] She kept her promise. Amaya lost not only her neighbors, but also her husband, Domingo Claros, whose decapitation she saw; her 9-year-old son, Cristino, who cried out to her, "Mama, they're killing me. They've killed my sister. They're going to kill me."; and her daughters María Dolores, María Lilian, and María Isabel, ages 5 years, 3 years, and 8 months old.[9] The only one of her children with Claros who was not killed in the massacre was their daughter Fidelia, who was not in the village at the time.[9]
Following the massacre, Amaya became a refugee for a time in the neighboring country of Honduras, where in 1985 she married fellow refugee José Natividad, with whom she had four children,[10] divorcing within two years after the marriage.[9] She returned to El Salvador in 1990 and became a lay minister for the Roman Catholic Church.[9] By March 2000, Amaya was living near the Morazán village of Segundo Montes, Morazán,[10][11] established by fellow repatriated exiles in memory of Segundo Montes, a Jesuit priest and scholar killed during the war in a mass assassination of priests by government forces at the Universidad Centroamericana "José Simeón Cañas" (UCA).
Amaya died of a stroke in a San Salvador hospital aged 64, on March 6, 2007, following a long illness.[9][11]
References
- ^ Bonner, Raymond (January 27, 1982). "Massacre of Hundreds Reported In Salvador Village". New York Times. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved May 5, 2008.
- ^ Hoyt, Mike (January–February 1993). "The Mozote Massacre: It was the reporters' word against the government's". Columbia Journalism Review. Archived from the original on April 28, 2007.
- ^ "The UN Truth Commission report on El Mozote". Archived from the original on April 5, 2005. (excerpts)
- ^ Golden, Tim (October 22, 1992). "Salvador Skeletons Confirm Reports of Massacre in 1981". New York Times. Archived from the original on December 4, 2008. Retrieved May 5, 2008 – via Newslinx.org.
- ^ Danner, Mark (December 6, 1993). "The Truth of El Mozote". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on November 15, 2012. Retrieved May 4, 2008 – via markdanner.com.
- ^ Amaya, Rufina; Danner, Mark; Consalvi, Carlos Enríquez (1998). Luciérnagas en El Mozote [Fireflies in El Mozote]. San Salvador, El Salvador: Ediciones de Museo de la Palabra y la Imágen. OCLC 35227789.
- ^ "Chapter Three ("Massacres of peasants by the armed forces")". From Madness to Hope: The 12-Year War in El Salvador, Part Four ("Cases and patterns of violence") (Report). El Salvador Truth Commission Report. United States Institute of Peace. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved May 4, 2008.
- ^ Danner, Mark (April 1994). The Massacre at El Mozote. Vintage Books. ISBN 0-679-75525-X.
- ^ a b c d e Martin, Douglas (March 9, 2007). "Rufina Amaya, 64, dies; Salvador survivor". New York Times. Archived from the original on January 3, 2012. Retrieved May 4, 2008.
- ^ a b Guevara, Christian (December 13, 2004). "'Aún no puedo dormir por las noches'" ['Even now I cannot sleep at night']. El Faro (in Spanish). Archived from the original on January 7, 2009. Retrieved May 4, 2008.
- ^ a b Wright, Scott (March 2007). "At the foot of the cross: Rufina Amaya -- Presente!" (PDF). Voices on the Border.
Further reading
- Guillermoprieto, Alma (March 14, 2007). "Shedding light on humanity's dark side: the outspoken survivor of slaughter". The Washington Post. p. C01. Retrieved May 4, 2008. (obituary of Amaya by one of the two original El Mozote reporters)
- Simon, Scott (March 17, 2007). "New York Times reporter Raymond Bonner remembers Rufina Amaya". National Public Radio.
External links
- The El Mozote Massacre Archived June 13, 2006, at the Wayback Machine (various articles)
- Testimony of Rufina Amaya: Sole survivor of the massacre (in Spanish)
- Photo gallery of Rufina Amaya, Walls of Hope School of Art and Open Studio, Perquín, El Salvador. Retrieved May 6, 2008.