Summary Of Mark Danner's Book The Massacre At El Mozote

Mark Danner’s book, “The Massacre at El Mozote” is an investigative report recounting the events in which the Salvadorian Army killed hundreds of Salvadorian citizens amid the Civil War. Unfortunately, this massacre in El Salvador was not an independent event in Latin America in the 1900s. Danner is able to shed light on the tragic, injustice that Salvadorian civilians endured during the civil war in which the United States played a role. Danner’s book took a unique approach through a journalistic, narrative style to allow readers to feel like they were going through this historic event and developing opinions on the situation at hand while doing justice to the unrest that the people of El Mozote went through. Danner begins his book describing

This transparency juxtaposes the actions of the governments involved, discrediting any reports or perspectives coming from them. Danner includes details when necessary, but refuses to sugar coat any events to ensure readers understand the coldness presented to the victims of the massacre. Danner continues by describing the impact that the exhumation brought to the debate between political parties on the morality behind the massacre. While leftist parties and human rights advocates believe the findings to be highly indicative of wrongdoings by the military. However, the Salvadorian government presented the notion that the ruins of the children that the forensic team had found were guerillas and therefore armed due to the ongoing civil war. Varying perspectives and stories circulated through the neighboring towns of El Mozote. This leads to the introduction of accounts made by citizens of those neighboring towns, including Marcos Daz. Daz was a wealthy man who held much influence around El Mozote. During the war, and leading up to the massacre, Daz influenced many people to travel to El Mozote, as it was a neutral

interference in the matter. Within the context of history, the Massacre at El Mozote took place was the Cold War. The United States had a strong anti-communist stance and was willing to go to all extremes to prevent the spread of communism in the western hemisphere. With numerous Latin American countries in a volatile state, many fell under U.S. influence, as seen with El Salvador in the 1980s. For instance, in the 1960s Brazil was undergoing some political volatility with a divide between a left, socialist push and a right-wing, military dictatorship tactic. In the early 1960s, the left party was on the rise with the presidential election of Joo Goulart. Goulart’s actions, consisting of alienating Brazilian’s rights and military, resulted in accusations of him spreading communism to Brazil. Consequently, with the United States overpowering fear of communism the CIA felt obliged to interfere with Brazilian politics. Similarly to the United States’ actions in El Salvador, in 1965 U.S. financial and military aid was sent to help overthrow Goulart, going as far as utilizing propaganda by bribing Brazilian