(7 Jul 1998) Spanish/Nat
Survivors of a massacre in a Salvadorean settlement have started moving back sixteen years after its population was massacred by armed forces.
Thousands of people accused of being rebel sympathizers were killed when troops stormed El Mozote during the country's civil war.
The town is situated two-hundred kilometres northeast of the capital, San Salvador.
On December 27, 1981, soldiers from one of the best trained units in the Salvadorean army marched into the town of El Mozote.
They accused the population of being collaborators with rebel guerrilla forces.
Within a day they had killed all but two of the inhabitants of the village - men, women and children.
The death toll rose to nearly one-thousand people as inhabitants from surrounding communities were also killed.
Families are being drawn back to the town with financial aid packages provided by the Fondo Nacional de Vivienda Popular (FONAVIPO) - National Housing Fund.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"There's more people, there are more homes. When I lived here there were very few houses. I think there were just three homes."
SUPER CAPTION: Maria Magdalena, El Mozote resident
Monuments erected in memory of the dead are in full view around the village, a constant reminder of the atrocities committed here.
Anthropologists have unearthed mass graves throughout the town, including under the ruins of the local church.
Shell casings and weapons still litter what became a killing field.
Men and women were separated into two groups and the children were taken into the church's sacristy and killed last.
Five years after a peace treaty was signed between the government and the Salvadorean rebels, people have began to live in El Mozote once again.
New housing projects have been set up to welcome the returnees along with new arrivals.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"It was left unpopulated due to the conflict and the massacre in 1980. But people are coming back - the few who survived - and it's becoming more populated due to the projects being carried out in the municipality."
SUPER CAPTION: Francisco Pereira, Mayor of Mozaran
Until recently the only people who visited El Mozote were tourists who saw the town as a symbol of the countries bloody history.
But now families intent on building a new life in the town have started returning.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"Compared to what we found then, this is a new Mozote with more optimism."
SUPER CAPTION: Jose Maria Guevara, president of neighbours committee
One of the two survivors of the massacre has also returned
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"For me it's good in a way that it becomes more populated, but personally I don't feel like living here because I feel that even though my children are there, dead, but I remember a lot and the pain hasn't gone away."
SUPER CAPTION: Rufina Amaya, massacre survivor
Today over 60 families have made this town their home, and are responsible for a small but growing community.
Together they hope to put their history behind them, and look to a brighter future.
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