The Massacre at El Mozote

Throughout the book, Danner highlights Lieutenant Colonel Monterrosa as the central figure in the Salvadoran Army, setting him apart almost immediately upon his introduction and characterizing him as an island of competence amidst a sea of mismanagement and mediocrity. Danner’s descriptions of Monterrosa fluctuate from seeming admiration to necessarily critical. Monterrosa is seen as “a pure, one-hundred-percent soldier” (24). Intelligent and effective, he helms the most elite battalion in the Salvadoran Army: the Atlacatl. After the massacre at El Mozote, Monterrosa was smart enough to see that 1) his strategy had worked, and he had successfully driven out or killed almost all of the civilians, leaving essentially just guerrillas, and 2) the drawbacks of continued brutality had grown too cumbersome. Because of this, he switched tactics. He also has a tragic flaw that ends up being his downfall: his obsession with Radio Venceremos. A captured piece of radio equipment housing explosives ends up killing him.

Rufina is mentioned in almost every chapter. While she is initially alluded to in rather vague ways (“the most eloquent witness of what had happened at El Mozote” in Chapter 1, for instance [7]), her