El Salvador colonel faces jail time in US
Source: Aljazeera
El Salvador colonel faces jail time in US
Commander accused of war crimes in 1980s will be sentenced on anniversary of El Calabozo massacre.
Nina Lakhani Last Modified: 22 Aug 2013 11:00
For 31 years, Chunguita Realegeno has felt guilty about surviving. On August 22, 1982 her parents, two sisters, brother and sister-in-law were killed by soldiers from the Belloso and Altacatl Battalions, US-trained death squads in El Salvador.
More than three decades later, Realegeno is hopeful that justice may finally be served. A court in the US state of Massachusetts has arrested Colonel Inocente Orlando Montano, who led the Belloso Battalion, for committing fraud on his immigration forms when coming to the US.
During El Salvador's civil war, which lasted from 1979-92, the feared battalion conducted scorched-earth operations in the mountainous San Vincente region, where every man, woman and child was regarded as a guerrilla sympathiser. The soldiers, together with the equally notorious Atlactl Battalion, often systematically hunted down their unarmed enemies.
Between 200 and 300 of Realegeno's friends, relatives and neighbours were slaughtered on the banks of the El Calabozo River, where they had sought shelter overnight. The campesinos were fleeing a ground assault after several days and nights of aerial bombing. Survivors described how people were lined up and shot dead, one by one. The soldiers then reportedly threw chemicals over some bodies, while others were swept away by the powerful river.
Read more: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/08/2013820114839714158.html
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