Cástulo describes a massacre at Las Aradas on the Sumpul River in 1980 and shares some general reflections on the destructiveness of war.
- Chapter:
- Chapter 3: The Years of "Guindas"
- Interviewee:
- Cástulo
Transcription
…that was in 1982. I was going to talk about the massacre at Las Aradas in 1980, two years earlier.
[Were you present during the massacre at Las Aradas?]
No, I was at Chichilco, we went to clear brush on the hill. We were going to start a settlement. Only four of us went. We left in the afternoon. The massacre happened at night. When we came back the next day at 8AM, there were a bunch of helicopters. They brought troops from Honduras to contain the people. The army came through the hills, from Las Flores. They advanced until they got to a place called Las Aradas, where they backed the people into the river. The river was very deep, it was rising. Some of the people drowned. Others crossed the river and the Honduran forces pushed them back, and the Salvadoran forces were there to kill them on the banks of the river. More than 600 people died there. That’s just the adults, plus all the children that were left behind. We went by 8 days later and saw a cloud of vultures circling. That’s why I think no country could ever desire war. I hope that no other country ever has another war, because the truth is, it is the worst form of destruction.