List of massacres in El Salvador explained

The following are lists of massacres that have occurred in El Salvador (numbers may be approximate). There were some 27 separate documented civilian massacres^{[1] [2] [3]} in the Salvadoran Civil War era alone (1979–1989), in total the war directly claimed 70,000 to 80,000 lives. Additional ongoing violence related to the massacres and their obfuscation has claimed numerous activists, religious leaders, university professors, mayors, and foreigners in the decades following the civil war until the present day.

Pre-civil war

Name	Date	Location	Deaths	Notes
La Matanza	22 January 1932 – 11 July 1932	Western El Salvador	10,000^[4] to 40,000	Led to decline of native Pipil (Nahuat) language and lack of linguistic self-identification due to induced climate of fear
Student massacre of 1975	30 July 1975	National Hospital Rosales, San Salvador	unknown (over 100)^[5]
Cathedral Slope massacre	8 May 1979	San Salvador Cathedral, San Salvador	24^[6]	Civil War followed

Salvadoran Civil War era

Name	Date	Location	Deaths	Notes
Sumpul River massacre	14 May 1980	Sumpul River near Las Aradas, Chalatenango	300 to 600^[7]
Santa Cruz massacre	11–19 November 1981	Victoria, Cabañas	Unknown	^[8]
El Mozote massacre	11 December 1981	El Mozote, Morazán	up to 900^[9]	Carried out by Atlácatl Battalion of the Salvadoran Army
Santa Rita massacre	17 March 1982	Santa Rita, Chalatenango	8^[10]	Carried out by Atonal Battalion of the Salvadoran Army, 4 Dutch journalists among those killed
El Calabozo massacre	21–22 August 1982	El Calabozo, San Vicente	more than 200^[11]	Carried out by Atlácatl Battalion of the Salvadoran Army
	28 February–1 March 1983	Suchitoto, Cuscatlán	250 mostly women and children^[12] ^[13]	Carried out by Salvadoran Army
1985 Zona Rosa attacks	19 June 1985	Zona Rosa, San Salvador	12-13	Left-wing guerrillas opened fire on the Zona Rosa nightclub, killing 12-13 people including six Americans.^[14]

Post-civil war

Name	Date	Location	Deaths	Notes
San Miguelito massacre	4 November 1996	San Miguelito, Nahulingo, Sonsonate	8	Murder of Vázquez family by unidentified armed men^[15]
Mejicanos massacre	20 June 2010	Mejicanos, San Salvador	19	Committed by members of the 18th Street gang in retaliation for the killing of one of its members by MS-13 the day prior^[16]

Notes and References

1. Informe de la Comisión de la Verdad para El Salvador: “De la locura a la esperanza”, Naciones Unidas, San Salvador – Nueva York 1992-1993.
2. Book "Condoning the killing : ten years of massacres in El Salvador" con introducción del senador Brock Adams.
3. https://web.archive.org/web/20120203155935/http://archive.laprensa.com.sv/20061104/enfoques/635106.asp La muerte de los que no combatían en la guerra Revista Enfocus
4. Book: To Rise in Darkness: Revolution, Repression, and Memory in El Salvador . Jeffery L. Gould and Aldo A. Lauria-Santiago . 2008 . Duke University Press . 978-0822342281 . 234.
5. El Universitario, Época XIII, No 14, 2010
6. News: 1979: El Salvador cathedral bloodbath. 9 May 1979.
7. Web site: La masacre del Sumpul (1980). The massacre of the Sumpul (1980). ChalatenangoSV. 16 November 2015. es.
8. Web site: God Alone was with Us: The Santa Cruz Massacre – Unfinished Sentences. 23 February 2015. 23 July 2024. unfinishedsentences.org.
9. Book: Massacres and Morality: Mass Atrocities in an Age of Civilian Immunity . Alex J. Bellamy . 2012 . Oxford University Press . 978-0199288427 . 214 . November 4, 2012.
10. Web site: Report of the UN Truth Commission on El Salvador. Derechos Human Rights. 29 March 1993. 16 September 2020. 69–75.
11. Book: Thinking Clearly: Cases in Journalistic Decision-Making . Tom Rosenstiel and Amy S. Mitchell . 2003 . Columbia University Press . 0-231-12589-5 . 145 . November 4, 2012.
12. Web site: Demandan del fiscal general apertura de archivos militares por masacre de Tenango y Guadalupe. 3 November 2017. Spanish.
13. Web site: El copinol de Guadalupe, 41 años después. 28 February 2024. 29 June 2024. hispanicla.com. Lindo. Róger. Spanish.
14. Web site: La noche que la guerrilla desató un infierno en la Zona Rosa - Diario El Mundo. 18 June 2023. 20 August 2024. El Mundo. es.
15. Web site: Asesinados a puñaladas ocho miembros de una familia salvadoreña, entre ellos cinco niños - Internacional - EL PAÍS. 4 November 1996. 15 July 2024. El País. Spanish.
16. Web site: Cómo fue la Masacre del Microbús en Mejicanos, el Ataque Más Sangriento de las Maras de El Salvador en el que 17 Pasajeros Murieron Carbonizados. What Was the Microbus Massacre Like in Mejicanos, the Bloodiest Attack by the Gangs of El Salvador in Which 17 Passengers Burned to Death. es. 20 June 2020. 20 June 2024. BBC Mundo. Marcos. González Díaz.