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Description
Sergeant Thunberg, a U.S. military advisor, trains a Salvadoran soldier on the use of a M67 recoilless rifle at Ilopango Military Base in San Salvador. The Salvadoran soldier looks through the M67's scope while holding the rifle on his right shoulder. He is holding an M16 assault rifle of U.S. origin on his right shoulder. Sergeant Thunberg prepares to load a carthridge into the rifle. U.S. advisors were providing training assistance to Salvadoran soldiers as part of the United States counterinsurgency training. 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 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 Military Base became the center of CIA operations in support of Nicaraguan Contras. El sargento Thunberg, asesor estadounidense, está entrenando a un soldado salvadoreño en el uso de un cañón sin retroceso M67 en la base aérea militar Ilopango en San Salvador. El soldado salvadoreño mira a través de la mira del M67 mientras sosteniene el rifle sobre su hombro derecho. El soldado tambien sostiene un fusil M16 de origen estadounidense sobre su hombro derecho. El sargento Thunberg se prepara para ensartar un cartucho dentro del rifle. Los asesores de los Estados Unidos brindaron asistencia de capacitación a los soldados salvadoreños como parte de una operación de contrainsurgencia de los Estados Unidos. La base militar, cuyos pilotos fueron entrenados principalmente en los Estados Unidos, fue dirigida por 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 la manos del batallón Atlacatl durante la “Operación Rescate” en diciembre de 1981. Más de la mitad de las víctimas fueron niños y adolescentes. A partir de la primavera de 1983, la base militar Ilopango fue convertida en el centro de operaciones de la CIA en apoyo a las contras nicaragüenses.
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