These are my reactions to The Truth of El Mozote. There are topics I chose to concentrate on prior to reading, as well as reactions I realized in the course of the article. One of the first things that stuck out tome was the writing style of this article. Danner writes repetitively, leaving out certain details which are later filled in. This changed the context of how I read the article, as my perception of the occurring events changed every time they are repeated. Piece by piece, the story of what happened at El Mozote is revealed by Danner, in much the same way evidence gradually reveals context to a forensic anthropology investigation.
While reading the article, I chose to focus my notes on the issues a forensic anthropologist may run into with the El Mozote investigation. For example, much of the perimortem trauma was done by gunshot or machete. Both of these tools have a distinct pattern of damage. For example, a gunshot wound to the skull may exhibit a starburst pattern, due to elastic splitting of the bone (Burns 202). A machete wound on the other hand, would leave clean, sharp cuts (Burns 207).
Something that may be of difficulty for the forensic anthropologist is whether or not a rape occurred. Rufina Amaya Márquez accounts that several of the girls in the village were raped; however this is something that does not show up on the bones. Karen Burns provides a case example of the Guatemalan village of Rio Negro, where a witness had reported rape occurring during a civil war massacre. The woman had been found without their skirts and perimortem fractures consistent with defense. This trace evidence (or lack of in the case of the skirts); along with skeletal evidence and witness accounts could support an inference of rape occurring (Burns 206).
I think the biggest issue a forensic anthropologist would experience with this investigation is that of identification. First, the minimum number of individuals is difficult to determine in a mass grave situation, where many of the bones are disarticulated due to severing, or carnivores and scavenger activity. There is also the possibility of human bones mixing with animal bones, for example in La Joya, a village near El Mozote, where another massacre had occurred (Danner 24).
As for my personal reaction to the article, it was a little disorienting. I felt as though this massacre was an unfortunate event, but I feel that I have been exposed to so many similar stories through the media, whether depictions of real events or fiction. The issue for me, is that they always occur so far away; either across the ocean, or in the long gone past. It is one of those events that you know are terrible, and I believe it would feel awful to have occurred closer to home, but there is no possible way to even get close to imagining that devastation without experiencing it close up. I have been desensitized, but I am sympathetic. I can try to imagine losing my family in a similar manner, and I can imagine the emotion, but I do not really feel it.
Intellectually, this article made me think about the concept of jus in bello, otherwise known as “just war theory”. This is the idea that a war can be conducted in a humane manner, and facilitates many rules for the conduct of soldiers in bello. The purpose of these guidelines is to put an end unnecessary violence and destruction. There is a guideline that specifically states people and property that are not involved in the war should be protected (Orend 118-119), which the Atlacatl battalion failed to follow when they consciously murdered innocent civilians, and burned their village to the ground. I think the concept to maintain certain “moral standards” in times of conflict is a nice notion; however it is difficult to put into practice.
This article, although minutely arduous due to its length, was also stimulating to both thought and emotion. I was unsure of what to expect at first, as it seemed very repetitive, but once I realized the pattern and purpose to the style choice, it became an interesting investigation of my own.
Sources:
Burns, Karen Ramey. Forensic Anthropology Training Manual. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2013.
Danner, Mark. "The Truth of El Mozote." In The New Yorker December 6, 1993: p50, 69pp.
Orend, Brian. The Morality of War. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview, 2006.
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