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Image / U.S. advisor training Salvadoran soldiers, Ilopango, 1983

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Title
U.S. advisor training Salvadoran soldiers, Ilopango, 1983
Creator
Cross, Richard, 1950-1983
Date Created and/or Issued
1983-03
Publication Information
California State University, Northridge
Contributing Institution
California State University, Northridge
Collection
Richard Cross Photographs (Bradley Center)
Rights Information
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
U.S. advisor, sergeant Thunberg, training Salvadoran soldiers how to load ammunition into a M-90 recoilless rifle at the Ilopango military base, El Salvador. A year earlier, on January 27th, the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMNL) assaulted the Ilopango air base and destroyed seventy percent of the military air units. The air base, whose pilots were mostly trained in the United States, was run by Gen. Juan Rafael Bustillo (the general was charged in 2017 for the El Mozote massacre, when approximately 1,000 people were executed by the Salvadoran armed forces at the hands of the Atlacatl Battalion during "Operation Rescate" in December 1981. More than half of the victims were children and adolescents). Starting in Spring 1983, the Ilopango air base became the center of C.I.A. operations to supplying the Nicaraguan Contras.
El sargento Thunberg, asesor de los Estados Unidos, entrena a soldados salvadoreños sobre cómo usar el cañón sin retroceso M67 de origen estadounidense en la base militar de Ilopango, El Salvador. Un año antes, el 27 de enero, el Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) asaltó la base aérea de Ilopango y destruyó el setenta por ciento de las unidades aéreas militares. La base aérea, cuyos pilotos fueron entrenados principalmente en los Estados Unidos, fue dirigida por el general Juan Rafael Bustillo (el general fue acusado en 2017 por la masacre de El Mozote, cuando aproximadamente 1.000 personas fueron ejecutadas por las fuerzas armadas salvadoreñas en diciembre de 1981 . Más de la mitad de las víctimas eran niños y adolescentes). A partir de la primavera de 1983, la base aérea de Ilopango se convirtió en el centro de operaciones de la C.I.A. para abastecer a la contra nicaragüense.
Type
image
Format
Photographs
image/jpeg
black-and-white negatives
Extent
35 mm
Identifier
99.01.RCr.N35.B11.06.31.31
http://digital-collections.csun.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p17169coll1/id/2959
Subject
Civil War
El Salvador
Documentary photographs
Soldiers
El Salvador. Ejército
El Salvador--History--1979-1992
El Salvador--Politics and Government--1979-1992
Military uniforms
Air bases
Military assistance, American
Recoilless rifles
Military education
Military training camps
Place
Ilopango (El Salvador)
Relation
99.01.RCr.N35.B11.06.31.31.tif
Richard Cross Photographs
California State University Northridge. University Library. Special Collections & Archives. Tom & Ethel Bradley Center

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