El Salvador judge gives new charges for El Mozote massacre

A Salvadoran judge has ruled that a group of former members of El Salvador’s military, including leaders of the armed forces, will face new charges related to the 1981 El Mozote massacre.

A judge in San Francisco Gotera, a town northeast of the capital, told 13 of the 17 ex-military officials on trial that they will also be tried for crimes of torture, forced disappearance and forced displacement that occurred during the war.

The massacre in which 989 farmers were killed marked a gruesome point in the Central American country’s civil war.

Among those facing additional charges are former Defense Minister José Guillermo García; former head of the Salvadoran armed forces, Gen. Rafael Flores Lima; and the former leader of the country’s air force, Gen. Juan Rafael Bustillo.