In January 1981, a U.S.-armed and trained military battalion massacred close to 1,000 unarmed civilians in El Salvador. At the time, the Reagan administration denied the U.S.-backed troops were responsible. That was a lie.
“Thirty-nine years later,” the Washington Post reports, “the suspected killers are on trial, and the judge is seeking a crucial piece of evidence: U.S. government records related to the 1981 El Mozote massacre.”
“There is no doubt that we would find incredibly strong and relevant information related to this case if the U.S. opened up its archives,” said Kate Doyle, a senior analyst at the National Security Archive in Washington. “The CIA and defense attaches had a direct line to senior Salvadoran military structures, with direct access to army commanders on the field,” Doyle said. “They had detailed information about what the regime was doing in its counterinsurgency campaign.” The CIA declined to comment.
From the New Yorker, “The Truth about El Mozote.”
