My View
Robert McAndrews
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For the second day, two forensic anthropologists from Argentina worked alongside local villagers in a remote northern region of El Salvador, near the border of Honduras, digging through the soil in search of the remains of persons buried in a mass grave in 1981.
Many here believe that at least 10 persons, including five children, were buried at this site following an El Salvadoran army assault on civilians in the early years of the war decades ago. An old villager spoke of the morning when army helicopters fired rockets down upon the villagers, causing many to flee their homes and the community.
The forensic specialists said that it will take many days to complete their work because the roots of the bamboo trees make their task very difficult.
This past March 22, President Obama visited the crypt of Archbishop Oscar Romero in the National Cathedral in San Salvador to pay homage to the slain spiritual leader. Obama was accompanied by President Mauricio Funes of El Salvador. All the Salvadoran newspapers displayed photos of Obama standing in silent reflection before Romero's crypt.
The powerful symbolism of this gesture by President Obama was welcomed by the Salvadoran people as they commemorated the 31st anniversary of the archbishop's assassination. Archbishop Romero has come to symbolize the soul of El Salvador and for millions of people around the world represents the noble ideal of the struggle for human rights and dignity for all people.
Human rights proponents, however, were hoping for a public acknowledgement from President Obama of the U.S. government's support of the El Salvadoran military throughout the war that raged here in the 1980s. The President of the El Salvadoran Human Rights Commission publicly expressed his disappointment that Obama did not meet with members of his group. Over 75,000 people were killed during the conflict and the United Nations Truth Commission found that the military was responsible for numerous massacres and forced disappearances.
President Funes has in recent months acknowledged the murderous conduct of the military during the war; and, on behalf of his government, asked for forgiveness from the families of the victims. Funes has also pledged his administration's cooperation with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which has held the military responsible for the forced disappearances of children during the war. And he has reached out to the El Salvadoran human rights organization, Pro-Busqueda, and offered his support in their investigations into the disappearances and for social-psychological programs for the families.
On March 29, Funes hosted a gathering of historic significance, inviting family members who have experienced the disappearance of their infants and children during the war to the presidential mansion. Also in attendance were many young adults who were the victims of forced disappearances by the El Salvadoran military and who, through the investigations of Pro-Busqueda, have been reunited with their birth families.
Three Salvadoran-Americans from the United States, including a young man from Massachusetts, who were taken during the war and later adopted by U.S. families unaware of the criminality, also met with President Funes.
"The wound is open," Funes told the families at the morning breakfast event commemorating the Day of the Disappeared Children, which including a minute of silence at noon throughout the schools of El Salvador.
Politically, these actions taken by Funes are remarkable. The issue of the disappearance of children during the war is a critically sensitive one, all the more so because the investigations by Pro-Busqueda are still ongoing. To date, Pro-Busqueda has documented 518 cases of disappeared children, most of whom were sold to corrupt officials in El Salvador; and the organization has successfully reunited 223 children — now young adults — with their birth families.
Not all the cases result in such positive outcomes. Pro-Busqueda has documented 48 cases of disappeared children who, after exhaustive investigation, were found to be dead.
The forensic specialists searching for the remains of persons in the mass grave were assisting staff members of Pro-Busqueda who have been investigating the case of a missing child. It is believed that the missing child was murdered during the army assault on the civilians in this village outside the city of Chaltenango.
The mother of the missing child sat quietly nearby, comforted by Ester Alvarenga, the director of Pro-Busqueda, as the villagers and forensic specialists carefully sifted through the rocky soil. After the remains are exhumed, DNA analysis will be necessary for identification. Only then will Josephina, the mother of the missing boy, know whether her son, Rafael, was buried in the mass grave or whether her search will continue.
Through the work of the human rights community and now through the cooperation of President Funes, El Salvador is beginning to heal the wounds of war. President Obama must lend his support to these efforts. His failure to do so will send a clear signal to powerful interests in El Salvador, most notably the military, that the United States will not stand with Funes and will not support the cause for justice and reparations for the disappeared children and their families.
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Robert McAndrews, Ph.D., J.D., of Marblehead, is a professor of social work at Salem State University. He has long been active in the search for children who went missing during the conflict in El Salvador, and has made several visits to that country.
