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Image / Salvadoran soldiers practice parachuting at military air base, Ilopango, 1983

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Title
Salvadoran soldiers practice parachuting at military air base, Ilopango, 1983
Creator
Cross, Richard, 1950-1983
Date Created and/or Issued
1983-02
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
A group of Salvadoran cadets receive parachute training under the supervision of American military advisors at Ilopango Military Base in San Salvador. A year earlier, on January 27, the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMNL) assaulted Ilopango Military Base and destroyed seventy percent of the military air units. The base, whose pilots were mostly trained in the United States, was run by General Juan Rafael Bustillo. The general was charged in 2017 for the El Mozote Massacre, where approximately 1,000 people were executed by soldiers from the Atlacatl Battalion during “Operation Rescate” in December 1981. More than half of the victims were children and adolescents. Starting in Spring 1983, Ilopango Military Base became the center of CIA operations in support the Nicaraguan Contras.
Un grupo de cadetes salvadoreños recibe entrenamiento en paracaídas bajo la supervisión de asesores militares estadounidenses en la base militar Ilopango en San Salvador. Un año antes, el 27 de enero, el Frente Farabundo Martí de Liberación Nacional (FMNL) asaltó la base militar lopango y destruyó el setenta por ciento de las unidades aéreas militares. La base, cuyos pilotos fueron entrenados principalmente en los Estados Unidos, fue dirigida por el general Juan Rafael Bustillo. El general fue acusado en el 2017 de la Masacre de El Mozote, donde aproximadamente 1.000 personas fueron ejecutadas por el Batallón Atlacatl durante la “Operación Rescate” en diciembre de 1981. Más de la mitad de las víctimas eran niños y adolescentes. A partir de la primavera de 1983, la base militar Ilopango se convirtió en el centro de operaciones de la CIA estadounidense en apoyo a la contra nicaragüense.
Type
image
Format
Photographs
image/jpeg
Black-and-white prints (photographs)
Extent
8 x 11 inches
Identifier
99.01.RCr.P.B11.06.10
http://digital-collections.csun.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p17169coll1/id/3290
Subject
United States. Army
United States--Foreign relations--El Salvador
Parachute troops
Counterinsurgency
El Salvador--History--1979-1992
El Salvador. Ejército
Place
Ilopango (El Salvador)
Relation
99.01.RCr.P.B11.06.10.tif
Richard Cross Photographs
California State University Northridge. University Library. Special Collections & Archives. Tom & Ethel Bradley Center

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