On the morning of 16 February, dozens of police officers arrived at San Francisco Ángulo, a rural community south of San Salvador, to escort heavy machinery for construction of a landfill on a site residents consider sacred. The community has lost a series of legal appeals against court rulings authorising the work.
Massacre site beneath the surface
What makes this more than a land dispute is what lies beneath the ground: a 2018 ruling by El Salvador's human rights ombudsman documented two military operations at the site 45 years ago. On 19 June 1981, women were interrogated, raped and murdered by soldiers. On 25 July, about 25 armed men killed about 45 civilians, mostly women and children. Their remains are still being exhumed.
“The number of remains is very difficult to determine precisely, but it is large,” said Rafael Paz Narváez, a sociology professor at the University of El Salvador. “There are remains in many places.”
Disturbance of remains
Construction work has already disturbed some remains. An excavator operator who asked not to be identified said he found six grave sites and at least three bodies. “The smell was like a cemetery,” he said. He worked around the graves but was ordered to remove and rebury the remains. When ordered to move them a second time, he refused, left the site and said he was threatened with a theft accusation. He said project representatives later offered him money and a job on condition that he declare he had never seen bodies.
Félix Laínez, president of the community association, brought the allegation before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 2018, stating concern about removal of civil war-era remains.
Ombudsman ruling ignored
The ombudsman's office issued an interim ruling requesting halt of all construction, but it cannot enforce its rulings. Construction proceeded anyway. The landfill, promoted by the Asociación de Municipios Los Nonualcos, will receive more than 265 tonnes of solid waste a day. A technical assessment found the site lies above a critical water-catchment area with highly permeable volcanic soils, which would accelerate pollution leaching underground, contaminating water sources for about 1,750 families across 24 communities.
“Human life, biodiversity and the environment will be sacrificed here,” said Paz Narváez, noting that the region is becoming a “sacrifice zone” for environmental exploitation.
No community consultation
The community was never formally consulted, violating environmental law. Laínez said municipal authorities produced documents claiming agreement, but added: “Here, no one has signed anything, no one has agreed.” The community filed complaints and a constitutional appeal. Cyeemsal, the Mexican-owned company, said it does not consider itself directly responsible. A former machine operator said he was contracted by El Salvador's national solid waste authority Andres.
In March, Laínez presented the case before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. On 18 May, a lower court dismissed a deforestation case against the company in a seven-minute hearing. Community members were notified by WhatsApp. “We were not even given the opportunity to present our case,” said René Alfaro, a community member. César Cañas of the Movement for the Defence of Land and Natural Resources of Tecoluca called it a mockery.
Community's lament
Laínez regrets the impact. “We were happy here. We lacked for nothing – water, firewood, fish. Today we have none of that,” he said. “I am over 50, and I have already lived. But look at the children in this community. If we do not stop this, there is nothing good waiting for them here.”
