UN Commission on the Truth for El Salvador, From Madness to Hope: The 12-Year War in El Salvador, Report, 15 March 1993, in UN Secretary General, Letter to the President of the Security Council (S/25500), Annex. (PDF link)
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SUMMARY OF THE CASE
On 3 March 1981, a military operation took place in the north of the Department of Morazán. Units under Captain Carlos Napoleón Medina Garay arrived at El Junquillo and stayed there for 8 to 12 days. On leaving, Captain Medina Garay ordered the execution of the civilian population in El Junquillo canton.
On 12 March 1981, soldiers and members of the Cacaopera civil defence unit attacked the population, consisting solely of women, young children and old people. They killed the inhabitants and raped a number of women and little girls under the age of 12. They set fire to houses, cornfields and barns.
The Commission finds that:
1. On 12 March 1981, units of the Military Detachment at Sonsonate and members of the civil defence unit at Cacaopera indiscriminately attacked and summarily executed men, women and children of El Junquillo canton in the district of Cacaopera, Department of Morazán.
2. Captain Carlos Napoleón Medina Garay ordered the execution of the inhabitants of El Junquillo canton.
3. Colonel Alejandro Cisneros, the military commander in charge of the operation carried out in March 1981 in northern Morazán, involving units from Military Detachment No. 6 at Sonsonate under the command of Captain Medina Garay, failed in his duty to investigate whether troops under his command had executed members of the civilian population of El Junquillo canton.
4. The Government and the judiciary of El Salvador failed to conduct investigations into the incident. The State thus failed in its duty under international human rights law to investigate, bring to trial and punish those responsible and to compensate the victims or their families.
5. The Minister of Defence and Public Security, General René Emilio Ponce, is responsible for failing to provide this Commission with information on the military operation carried out in the area of El Junquillo canton, thereby failing to honour the obligation to cooperate with the Commission on the Truth entered into by the Government when it signed the peace agreements, and thus for preventing the identification of other soldiers who took part in the massacre.
DESCRIPTION OF THE FACTS 167/
The massacre
On 3 March 1981, a military operation was launched in northern Morazán, with Colonel Alejandro Cisneros in charge. In the course of the operation, soldiers from the Military Detachment at Sonsonate, under the command of Captain Carlos Napoleón Medina Garay, went to El Junquillo.
The unit set up camp in the El Junquillo area, where it remained for 8 to 12 days. According to the testimony received, as the unit was preparing to withdraw to a different location, Captain Medina Garay ordered another officer to do the job they had agreed on before leaving the hamlet.
On the night of 11 March 1981, soldiers occupied the hills near El Junquillo canton. The next day, they shelled the canton for 15 minutes. After the shelling, soldiers entered the canton in large numbers and closed in on the houses.
According to the testimony, soldiers and civil defence members proceeded to kill the following persons: Francisca Díaz, her daughters Juana and Santana Díaz, and nine children all under the age of 10; Guillerma Díaz, her 13-year-old daughter María Santos Díaz, and five children under the age of 12; Doroteo Chicas Díaz, his wife and his one-day-old son, and seven children under the age of 10; Eulalio Chicas, his wife and his three sons; Rosa Ottilia Díaz, her daughter-in-law María Argentina Chicas Chicas, and the children who were present; Santos Majín Chicas, his wife and his daughters Lencha aged 12 and Gertrudis aged 9; Tránsito Chicas, aged 58, and Filomena Chicas, aged 68; Luciano Argueta, his wife Ufemia Sánchez, and two sons, under the age of seven; Leopoldo Chicas, an 80-year-old man, and Esteban and Vicente Argueta, both aged over 70; and Petronila and two of her sons, under the age of 11. Some of the victims were shot in the back of the head; some of the children’s bodies had knife wounds in the chest and bullet holes in the back of the head. In some cases, the bodies had been burned. According to testimony, some of the women and little girls had been raped.
The soldiers and civil defence members set fire to the houses in the hamlet and to cornfields and barns. They stole some of the corn which the farmers had stored and killed a number of animals.
The survivors fled. The next day, a peasant returned to see what had happened. In the house of Doroteo Chicas, he saw the dead bodies of the Chicas children. The soldiers noticed he was there and shot at him several times. He fled to the hills to hide. One survivor of the massacre returned to the canton to try to bury the victims. As the soldiers were still occupying the canton, he went back into hiding.
The survivors stayed in hiding in the hills for several days. One of them found the remains of a number of people. The survivors dug several mass graves where they buried the remains.
One survivor went to a guerrilla camp at La Guacamaya, where he recounted the episode to a priest, who took care of him.
Total absence of official investigations
When it heard about the survivors’ reports, FMLN condemned the massacre on Radio Venceremos and in various statements and press releases.
Despite these public complaints, the Government, the armed forces and the judiciary of El Salvador made no attempt to investigate the incident.
FINDINGS
The Commission finds that:
1. There is substantial evidence that on 12 March 1981, units of the Military Detachment at Sonsonate and members of the civil defence unit at Cacaopera indiscriminately attacked and summarily executed men, women and children of El Junquillo canton in the district of Cacaopera, Department of Morazán.
2. There is sufficient evidence to show that Captain Carlos Napoleón Medina Garay ordered the execution of the inhabitants of El Junquillo canton.
3. There is sufficient evidence to show that Colonel Alejandro Cisneros, the military commander in charge of the operation carried out in March 1981 in northern Morazán, involving units from Military Detachment No. 6 at Sonsonate under the command of Captain Medina Garay, failed in his duty to investigate whether troops under his command had executed members of the civilian population of El Junquillo canton.
4. There is full evidence that the Government, the armed forces and the judiciary of El Salvador failed to conduct investigations into the incident. The State thus failed in its duty under international human rights law to investigate, bring to trial and punish those responsible and to compensate the victims or their families.
5. The Minister of Defence and Public Security, General René Emilio Ponce, is responsible for failing to provide this Commission with information on the military operation carried out in the area of El Junquillo canton, thereby failing to honour the obligation to cooperate with the Commission on the Truth entered into by the Government when it signed the peace agreements, and thus far preventing the identification of other soldiers who took part in the massacre.
NOTES:
167/ In view of the total absence of investigations into the El Junquillo massacre, on 28 November 1992 the Commission on the Truth asked the Minister of Defence and Public Security, General René Emilio Ponce, to provide the Commission with the following information: details of the military units which took part in the military operation carried out between 10 and 12 March 1981 in the cantons of Agua Blanca and El Junquillo in the district of Cacaopera, Department of Morazán; the names of those responsible for ordering the operation and the orders they gave, together with the duties assigned to each military unit; the names of officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers and the duties assigned to them; a copy of the operations report received by the Armed Forces General Staff and/or the Ministry of Defence concerning the results of the operation, together with the information available to the Ministry of Defence on the events which occurred in El Junquillo canton and in the hamlet of Flor Muerto in Agua Blanca canton, district of Cacaopera, Department of Morazán, between 10 and 12 March 1981.
At the time of drafting of this report, no reply to this request had been received from the Minister of Defence and Public Security.
The Commission received testimony from persons who made statements concerning the events that took place in El Junquillo canton and from other persons from whom the witnesses had sought assistance. It also requested information from the Government of El Salvador and from Military Detachment No. 6 at Sonsonate, and summonsed an army officer. No reply was received to the request for information and the officer concerned failed to appear.
All the above factors were taken into consideration.