Virginia remembers the 1986 “Desembarco” invasion in Arcatao, in which seven men were killed by the military, and explains how events were changed by the reports of foreign journalists who were arrested during the operation.
- Interviewee:
- Virginia
Transcription
…they killed seven men, they took them away, and in fact, my son who died in an accident right after the Peace Accords, they took him away to kill him, they let him go up near Candelaria when… because they had detained some gringos, they denounced what was happening and the order came back to stop, not to kill any more people. I came home after they had said it was over, I came home and found everything in disorder, they hadn’t even left a blanket, everything was in pieces. My grinding stone was shattered, two grinders for milling they had, they had ruined them. There was nothing left for us, nothing to make food for the children, nothing. They wiped everything out. Everything, they had knocked over everything, the pans they found they smashed with stones. That invasion was so…I don’t even want to remember that invasion. So when it was over, I came and saw that, oh! I was inconsolable, I just sat outside, on a rock. What can I do here now, I said, for my children, I don’t have any way to feed them, they destroyed everything. They poured our corn out in a puddle, they poured out everything. They did it just because the famous commander was here, “You’re lucky we don’t kill you,” they told me, “because we just got the order not to kill you. But you are the owner of this house, we know where you live,” they said. I didn’t say anything back and I went there, I was carrying, they were still holding the men there in the corridors of the church and I came with a container of water and I say to one of the boys, I remember, I said, “Do you want a drink of water?” I said. “No ma’am,” he said, “They are going to kill me,” he said, “I don’t want water.” There were a lot of them there, no one wanted water because they were going to kill them. But thank God, the delegation went and denounced what was happening and that was the end. They didn’t go any further. But the invasion continued for 22 days. They bathed near where I lived, even though I didn’t give them permission. They came constantly to bathe. “Wherever the guerrilla go, we’re going to go,” they said, “And you’d better not say anything,” they said.