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 young soldier of the Salvadoran Army and member of the Atlacatl Battalion sits on a sidewalk as he rests after having participated in a counter-insurgency operation near Usulután. He holds his Heckler & Koch (H&K) G3 battle rifle on his lap. The rifle has a retractable stock and shoots 7.62x51mm NATO ammunition and was designed in Germany, though its origin is unknown. He wears a crucifix around his neck. 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 jóven soldado del del ejército salvadoreño y miembro del Batallón Atlacatl, yace sentado sobre una banqueta despúes de haber participado en una operación de contra-insurgencia cerca de Usulután. Su fusil de combate Heckler & Koch (H&K) G3 yace sobre su regazo. El fusil tiene la culata retractil y dispara municiones de calibre 7.62x51mm OTAN y fue diseñado en Alemania aunque su origen se desconoce. El soldado lleva un crucifijo sobre su cuello. 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, el gobierno estadounidense negó los hechos y la masacre recibio poca cobertura periodística hasta la década de los noventa. Richard Cross tomó esta fotografía en 1982 durante su estadía en El Salvador cubriendo las elecciones y la guerra de liberación.
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