Recovery by increments: El Salvador's memorial marks how long it takes to heal from civil war

[Judi Lynn]

Recovery by increments
El Salvador's memorial marks how long it takes to heal from civil war.
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Aug. 4, 2008, 11:03PM

It's been described as an echo of our Vietnam memorial: a somber slate of polished granite, traced with names of the dead. But El Salvador's monument to civilian victims of its civil war is an unfinished document. Only 30,000 names appear so far, but tens of thousands more could be eligible.

Until it's done, the site will commemorate another fact of history: how long it takes to heal after a civil war.

The Salvadoran Monument to Memory and Truth was proposed 15 years ago, when guerrillas and government forces finally ended their 12-year civil war.

An estimated 75,000 Salvadorans perished in the conflict, a proxy for the U.S./ Soviet Cold War. It was characterized by death squads, torture and brutality toward civilians.

When the war finally ended, a U.N.-sponsored Truth Commission documented the worst of those abuses.

The vast majority had been committed by the military and right-wing supporters. Left-wing guerrillas, especially in the conflict's early years, also committed kidnappings, executions and atrocities.

More:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/5924154.html

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