Use of images from the collections of the Tom & Ethel Bradley Center is strictly prohibited by law without prior written consent from the copyright holders. The responsibility for the use of these materials rests exclusively with the user. The Bradley Center may assist in obtaining copyright/licensing permission to use images from the Richard Cross collection. http://www.csun.edu/bradley-center/contact
Description
Three Salvadoran Army soldiers, all members of the Atlacatl Battalion, eat watermelon as they rest after having participated in a counter-insurgency operation near Usulután. They each hold a Heckler & Koch (H&K) G3 battle rifle chambered to fire 7.62x51mm NATO ammunition of German design, but unknown origin. Next to them leaning on the wall is an unidentified anti-tank weapon. The Atlacatl Battalion was the first rapid-reaction infantry unit in El Salvador to be trained and equipped by the United States. The Battalion massacred more than one thousand people in six hamlets located in the municipality of Meanguera, in northern Morazán Department, El Salvador between December 11 and 13, 1981. Forty to 50 percent of the victims were murdered in El Mozote on 11 December. In spite of early reports of the massacre by journalists Raymond Bonner of the New York Times, and Alma Guillermoprieto of the Washington Post, the U.S. government denied it happened and the massacre remained underreported until the 1990s. Richard Cross took this image in 1982 while covering the presidential election and War of Liberation in El Salvador. Tres soldados del ejército salvadoreño, todos miembros del Batallón Atlacatl, comen sandía mientras descansan despúes de haber participado en una operación de contra-insurgencia cerca de Usulután. Cada uno sostiene un fusil Heckler & Koch (H&K) G3 de calibre 7.62x51mm OTAN diseñado en Alemania pero de origen desconocido. Junto a ellos recargado sobre la pared se observa un arma antitanque no identificada. El Batallón Atlacatl fue la primera unidad de infanteria de reacción rápida en ser entrenada y suministrada por los Estados Unidos. El Batallón masacró a más de mil personas en seis aldeas ubicadas en el municipio de Meanguera, en la parte septentrional del departamento de Morazán en el Salvador entre el 11 y 13 de diciembre de 1981. Entre cuarenta y cincuenta por ciento de las víctimas fueron asesinadas durante el 11 de diciembre. A pesar de los reportes de la masacre por los periodistas Raymond Bonner del diario New York Times y de Alma Guillermoprieto del diario Washington Post, e
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