Return to El Salvador

Whatever happened to the human rights hot-zone known as El Salvador? It’s still there. It’s the media that got distracted. Others - including Martin Sheen - refused to turn away. Well known for his activism in social justice, Sheen holds a particular interest in El Salvador and the Salvadoran civil war. He was present for the January 17, 1990 protests of U.S. policies in El Salvador at the Federal Building, where 234 demonstrators were arrested. He has worked on movies such as Choices of the Heart, which connected the murders of four U.S. Catholic women in El Salvador to America’s political and military involvement in that country. Return to El Salvador, narrated by Martin Sheen, is the latest documentary from director Jamie Moffett, who explores the reconstruction of El Salvador, post-civil war. The 12-year conflict (from 1980 to 1992) killed over 75,000 people and displaced nearly one-fifth of the population. The fighting, which took place between the Salvadoran Army and the leftist guerrilla organization, the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), resulted in a staggering number of civilian deaths as the Salvadoran Army bombed and raided villages thought to be sympathetic to the FMLN. Many of these Salvadoran Army soldiers were trained and supported by the United States military at its School of the Americas (now known as WHINSEC), located in Ft. Benning, Georgia.