UW Libraries El Salvador FOIA Collection

The University of Washington Libraries hosts a collection of declassified United States government documents obtained by the Unfinished Sentences project through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

Torture in El Salvador: Ex-Political Prisoners Challenge Impunity

The investigation of Rafael Segura’s legal case represents progress for survivors of torture and arbitrary detention during the civil war in El Salvador.

“El Desembarco” in Arcatao: Thirty Years Later, Survivor Accounts & FOIA Tell of Abuses

Survivor testimonies and declassified US government documents tell the story of a brutal 1986 military operation in the town of Arcatao, Chalatenango.

Remembering Río Lempa: FOIA Documents Released to Mark 35th Anniversary of Massacre

Newly declassified US government cables reveal that State Department officials were aware of the massacre of civilians by the Salvadoran military on the banks of the River Lempa in March 1981.

La Quesera Massacre: Declassified documents open window into US awareness of wartime atrocities

Recently declassified US government documents released to the UW Center for Human Rights by the US Department of State permit a glimpse into behind the scenes discussions of atrocities at a key moment in the Salvadoran armed conflict.

God Alone was with Us: The Santa Cruz Massacre

Research documents gross violations of human rights in 1981 military operation in Cabañas department, including the indiscriminate killing of civilians by forces commanded by retired Coronel Sigifredo Ochoa Pérez.

The Yellow Book

A secret document from the civil war era catalogued the Salvadoran military’s “enemies,” many of whom were killed or disappeared.