By Gigi Gruenke
Rufina Amaya, the only survivor of the Massacre of El Mozote entered Eternal Life at 12:40 p.m. on Tuesday, March 6, 2007. At last she is with her God, her children and husband, victims of the massacre, and all of the almost 1,000 El Mozote massacre victims for whom she worked tirelessly these past 25 years.
The death of Rufina came as a surprise. Though not in good health, she was busy meeting with visitors, working in her parish and caring for her family up to the day of her death. She arrived at the hospital in San Miguel just 10 hours prior to her death, caused by a series of strokes and a final heart attack. Rufina’s oldest daughter, Fidelia, and her youngest, Maria, were with her. Fidelia escaped death because she wasn’t in El Mozote that terrible December 11, 1981. Maria was born some four years after the massacre.
To manage to survive this brutal massacre was extremely dangerous and difficult. In her testimony Rufina talks about this.
“ When we (the group of women herded by the soldiers) arrived at the house of Israel Márquez, I could see the mountain of bodies of people shot to death. The other women began to hold onto each other screaming and crying. I knelt down, thinking of my four children. In that very moment I turned halfway around and threw myself behind a bush. With my foot I pulled a branch over me so that my feet would be hidden from the soldiers standing close-by.
Rufina asked God for enlightenment as to how she might stay alive as a witness: how she might escape. After hours of lying still and barely breathing, listening to her children cry out, to the women being killed, while the soldiers took a break in the middle of the night she began her escape. At one point she was seen and shot at and pursued by the soldiers. Much later Rufina reached a patch of tall grass close to the river. She remained there 8 days until she was discovered by her friend Matilde and her family. Together they cried and cried for their massacred loved ones.
Fifteen days following the massacre some international journalists (including writers from the New York Times and Washington Post) arrived and interviewed Rufina. She forced herself to speak clearly about the unimaginable massacre of the almost 1,000 children, women and men, all civilians, on the 11th and 12th of December. Then, with the journalists she returned to El Mozote. She hoped to find the remains of her 4 children, aged 9 years to 8 months, and her husband. Because their bodies were burned, she couldn’t identify their remains.
Rufina Amaya never ceased to speak the truth about this horrendous massacre…to her government, to the Truth Commission established by the Peace Accords ending the Salvadoran civil war, to human rights groups, to the U.S. Congress, to her people, to all who cared to listen.
Thanks to Tutela Legal, the Archdiocesan Human Rights Office, and particularly to Dr. Maria Julia Hernández, the director, the armed forces and government of El Salvador will hopefully not continue to enjoy the denial and impunity (legal protection) they’ve experienced these past 25 years. The Inter-American Court on Human Rights has heard the El Mozote case and will soon present a verdict to the government of El Salvador. The case was argued by Tutela Legal on the basis that it was a “crime against humanity” and as such was outlawed by the Geneva Conventions which El Salvador has endorsed.
Hundreds of people from the villages surrounding Quebrachos in Morazán, where Rufina lived, from the town of Segundo Montes, El Mozote and from all over Morazán came to say good-bye to her on March 7,8 and 9th. The funeral mass took place on Friday March 9 in front of the church in the center of El Mozote, the place of the massacre 25 years earlier. The two parish priests serving Quebrachos, Frs. Juan José Cruz and John Spain, Maryknoll, joined Fr. Rogelio Ponselle as presiders.
During the homily, filled with conviction and emotion, Fr. Rogelio, her friend during these 25 years, spoke of Rufina as a women of truth. She never ceased to speak the truth, even when lies seemed to overwhelm the truth in quantity and strength. He spoke of how Rufina dedicated her life to stop state level impunity, insisting that responsibility for evil must be recognized by the perpetrators before there can be forgiveness. The truth must be recognized; then we can pardon. Father Rogelio spoke of impunity as one of the greatest sicknesses in the world. It permits horrors to be repeated.
Father Rogelio spoke of the strength and courage of Rufina. She proclaimed the truth up to the last day of her life. She once said “ I am a fearful women. It is God who has given me the strength to speak.” Finally, comparing Rufina with Mary of the Magnificat, the priest pointed out the as Mary, Rufina was a poor woman without pretentions. She accepted her mission from God, as did Mary. She never strayed from telling the truth and seeking accountability. As Mary, she knew that God takes down the powerful from their thrones and exhalts the humble. At the end of the mass Santiago, the director of the Museum of the Word and a long time friend, pointed out that “Rufina Amaya demonstrated that history can be written by the poor, by the people at the bottom.”
The body of Rufina Amaya is resting in the cemetery at El Mozote beside the remains of the victims of the massacre, including her children and husband. The plaque in front of the cemetery now includes Rufina in its message:
THEY HAVE NOT DIED.
THEY ARE WITH US
AND WITH YOU
AND WITH ALL OF HUMANITY.
May we remain faithful to the truth, to justice and to God’s call in each of us to act faithfully and courageously throughout our life’s journey.
Gigi Gruenke is a Maryknoll Lay Missioner in El Salvador.
