Otilia remembers soldiers storming in during a religious ceremony and killing her brother.
- Interviewee:
- Otilia
Transcription
We were celebrating mass when the Cerro Grande massacre happened. We were in Ms. Polita’s house. It was about 4 or 5 p.m. and we saw a couple of shapes in the bamboo bushes. So I said, “Look, I see some shapes over there.” They told me, “It’s the post,” which was our own security. After a little while, the mass began. There were some nuns from Arcatao with us. The priest was here, and suddenly, they began to surround the house. I saw the soldiers about two meters away, away so I darted towards a large fence. I was pretty young, about eleven years old. I started running down the street and they ran behind me. I didn't want to be trapped inside Ms. Pola’s house, and I don’t know what got into me but I took off and ran down the street. Those who fled towards the other side died. Almost all of them got killed. I ran into my brother and told him, “Don’t go, they’re coming after me!” I started going towards the house, I was going towards La Joya, which was on Cerro Grande. I was able to see my brother passing by, but he didn't continue, he was killed. My brother was Adrián Ábrego, and he died there. After that we went to Honduras for a few days. After that we came to La Cañada, we were in Los Filos, Chupamiel. Later we went to Patamera because there were troops in Arcatao. In Patamera, I got a really bad case of typhoid fever. Afterwards, they sent me to work on radio transmission in Las Flores, in a place called Cordoncillo. During the entire war I worked in communications.