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 civilians, including two children, walk down a dirt road as they flee in search of refuge to avoid the fighting in the countryside near Usulután. Two women walking on the left each hold a basket over their heads with fruit and personal belongings. On the right of the image in the background, several soldiers walk in the opposite direction as they begin a counter-insurgency operation. They are all members of the Salvadoran Army's Atlacatl Battalion and carry M16A1 assault rifles chambered to fire 5.56x45mm NATO ammunition and designed, manufactured, and supplied to the Salvadoran government by the United States. 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. Un grupo de civiles, incluyendo a dos niños, caminan sobre un sendero mientras huyen en busca de refugio para evadir el conflicto en el campo cerca de Usulután. Dos mujeres se observan sobre la izquierda cargando dos canastas sobre sus cabezas llenas de fruta y objetos personales. Sobre la derecha de la imagen al fondo se observa a varios soldados caminando en dirección contraria mientras comienzan una operación de contrainsurgencia. Todos son miembros del Batallón Atlacatl del ejército salvadoreño y portan fusiles M16A1 de calibre 5.56x45mm OTAN, diseñado, fabricado y suministrado al gobierno salvadoreño por los Estados Unidos. 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
Refugees El Salvador. Ejército--Infantry Soldiers M-16 rifle Military maneuvers--El Salvador--Usulután (Department) El Salvador--History--1979-1992 Civil war
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