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Unfinished Sentences

Addressing human rights in the wake of human tragedy

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Chapter 3: The Years of "Guindas"

During the 1980s, thousands of people were displaced from their homes by violence in rural El Salvador. Through harsh experience, rural populations learned that the Salvadoran military employed “scorched earth” tactics, destroying all signs of life in operations intended to eliminate potential supporters of the guerrillas. With the first signs of an impending military operation, entire communities fled into the countryside with only the supplies they could carry, a process referred to in El Salvador as “guindas.” Though sometimes escorted by guerrillas, the majority of participants in the “guindas” were non-combatants, including pregnant women, infants and children, and elderly people. During the “guindas,” civilians were targeted by the military in close-quarters massacres and by indiscriminate aerial bombing. Others drowned while attempting to cross rivers; in the infamous “Las Aradas Massacre” in 1980, some 600 people died attempting to cross the Sumpul River while under fire from Salvadoran and Honduran troops. These ordeals often lasted many days; during the “May Guinda” in 1982, thousands of people from the area of Arcatao, Chalatenango, spent more than three weeks on the run, suffering from sickness and starvation. Anyone found by the Salvadoran military was killed or captured, including lost children, who survivors believe were taken by the military and passed into illegal adoption networks. This chapter includes accounts of these experiences by those who endured them, oftentimes repeatedly, during the early years of the war.

The “May Guinda”

Watch on YouTube The “May Guinda”

Hermelinda remembers losing her children and three other close relatives during the “May Guinda.”

The “May Guinda”

Watch on YouTube The “May Guinda”

Carlota remembers fleeing with her newborn during the “May Guinda” in 1982.

The May “Guinda”

Watch on YouTube The May “Guinda”

Rosa describes how the “May Guinda” of 1982 was the hardest guinda of all, and how during those 27 days her brother and other relatives died.

The Sumpul River massacre

Watch on YouTube The Sumpul River massacre

Rufino remembers the efforts people made to cross the Sumpul River during the “May Guinda.”

The “May Guinda”

Watch on YouTube The “May Guinda”

Rosa remembers the “May Guinda” in 1982 and how she and her family managed to survive.

The First “Guinda”

Watch on YouTube The First “Guinda”

Rufino describes the first time he was forced to leave home with his father in order to escape from the National Guard.

Disappeared children

Watch on YouTube Disappeared children

Hermelinda remembers losing her children during the “May Guinda,” and says she always wondered whether the military had taken them away.

Escape to Mesa Grande

Watch on YouTube Escape to Mesa Grande

Víctor describes how the population in Arcatao fled to Mesa Grande, a refugee camp in Honduras, as part of the “May Guinda” in 1982.

First Large-Scale Military Operations

Watch on YouTube First Large-Scale Military Operations

Carlota recalls the first large-scale military operations which drove the population to flee.

Trauma

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Celestino describes the symptoms of trauma faced during the war.

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  • Home
  • News
  • Reports
    • FENASTRAS bombing
    • Torture in El Salvador
    • “El Desembarco” in Arcatao
    • Remembering Río Lempa
    • The La Quesera Massacre
    • The Santa Cruz Massacre
    • The Yellow Book
  • History
  • FOIA Library
  • Testimony Archive
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
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