Eliot Engel, a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives, said this morning that the victims of the Mozote massacre deserve much more from his government.
These statements, given by the leader of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the lower house of the US Congress, are given a day after Nayib Bukele arrived in Mozote and in front of the victims he downplayed the abuses of the armed conflict and the importance of the Peace Accords, which put an end to the war and the politicization of the country’s security forces.
Engel’s words added to the message of fellow congressman Jim McGovern, who condemned Bukele’s attack on David Morales, a human rights defender and the victim of the worst massacre in the armed conflict, which in December of 1981 claimed the lives of about 1,000 people.
SEE ALSO: Mozote case judge will ask prosecution to investigate Bukele and Merino Monroy for obstructing inspection of military files
“If Nayib Bukele really wants to prove that he is with the victims and with justice, he should give access to the military files to Judge Guzmán, as required by a court order. That would be a significant act,” McGovern added.
At the time, Bukele offered to open the military archives of the “A to Z” armed conflict. The reality, however, has been diametrically different.
The president who “promised to turn the page on the armed conflict” has consented to the Ministry of Defense blocking an inspection of the military archives.
SEE: “The war was a farce. Like the Peace Accords.” Bukele visits the Mozote, the village he denies the massacre
This inspection by Judge Sant Francesc Gotera Jordi Guzmán, protected by a court order, was prevented by the military on numerous occasions this year, and President Bukele endorsed and justified this act of contempt and disobedience.
Both Engel and McGovern join multiple local voices, mostly human rights defenders, calling on President Bukele to downplay the victims, the right to the truth, and to use the Mozote conjuncture to proselytize and to continue to speak ill of his political rivals.
SEE ALSO: Regional Commission on Human Rights condemns blocking Mozote files