"Forbidden to forget" citizens shouted as they recalled thousands of people who were thrown into clandestine graves during the worst moments of the military repression.
On Sunday, thousands of people took to the streets of El Salvador to remember the 1992 Peace Accords, which were signed in Mexico and ended a civil war that left some 75,000 dead and nearly 8,000 missing.
RELATED:
During the marches and public events, former fighters of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), victims of the U.S.-backed dirty war, and members of social organizations vigorously protested against President Nayib Bukele.
Previously, the National Assembly repealed the official commemoration of the Peace Agreement signing and decided to make January 16 the "National Day of the Victims of the Armed Conflict." Bukele promoted this legal change arguing that the peace accords were a farce and a corrupt pact. He also holds that those who fought in the civil war should not be commemorated but their victims.
In reply to this interpretation, citizens denounced that the Salvadoran president wants to erase history, which is confirmed by his blocking of a judicial proceeding that allowed the declassification of files on the massacre of some 1,000 civilians in El Mozote in 1981.
#El16Marchamos Extracto del documental El Amor Más Común, filmado en la celebración de los Acuerdos de Paz el 16 de enero de 1992 en la Plaza Cívica. Importante de ver y reflexionar sobre El Salvador que se soñaba al inicio de este histórico proceso. pic.twitter.com/yAylctaFVf
— El Kolectivo San Jacinto (@elkolectivosj) January 16, 2022
The tweet reads, "Excerpt from 'The Most Common Love,' a documentary filmed in the CIvic Square at the celebration of the Peace Accords on Jan. 16, 1992. It is important to see and reflect on the El Salvador that was dreamed of at the beginning of this historic process."
"30 years after the Peace Accords, organized crime governs us" and "History is not erased by decree" read signs that citizens carried while walking through the streets.
"Forbidden to forget" the people shouted and recalled thousands of corpses that were thrown into clandestine graves during the worst moments of the military repression.
Through social networks, Salvadorans denounced that military and police checkpoints prevented the passage of people to the sites where the Peace commemoration was planned. "Those who are afraid are the corrupt and the dictators, who set up checkpoints and intercept communications," they said.
Latin America's priest of the poor was killed by US backed death squads in El Salvador. pic.twitter.com/2jFD4bgQWI
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) March 25, 2019