La Guinda de Mayo: Chronicle of a Massacre on the SumpulRiver
- Prensa APB
- Jun 16
- 2 min read
Updated: Jul 2
Between 1980 and 1992, El Salvadro experienced an armed conflict. During the early years, the Salvadoran state implemented a scorched–earth strategy, which aimed to eliminate any possible support or supplies to the insurgency. From May 27 to mid-June 1982, the Salvadoran Armed Forces carried out a large-scale military operation officially named “Operation Dominguez for Pacification and Cleansing”.
In the southwestern region of the Chalatenango department, the local population referred to this operation as the “Guinda de Mayo”. In addition to the killings of rural civilians, the army also carried out and promoted the disappearance of at least 55 children, as documented by the organization Pro-Busqueda.
One of the most emblematic cases is that of sisters Ernestina and Erlinda Serrano Cruz, aged seven and three, who were last seen in June 1982 getting off a military helicopter at the La Sierpe base. In March 2003, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights held the Salvadoran state responsible for the forced disappearance of both girls.
More than four decades have passed, and the wounds caused by the war remain open among the population in the affected areas of Chalatenango. To this day, those wounds have not healed.
"Guinda de mayo"
I see flowers floating in the river
As I laugh, perhaps out of irony or truly cry
I see the flowers stumbling over the stones
Looking for the bones they will one day find
I see flowers running down the river
Looking for a raft with children alongside
Their petals are running, seeking escape
They are looking for a way out or to reach the bottom of the sea
I see red flowers, yellow flowers, I see large flowers and small flowers that quickly disappear
They are looking for the bones! that one day they will find
They are running, over the dark water, without stopping
Looking for the hungry, barefoot child
The farmer and the mother who had just finished breastfeeding
I see flowers, I see flowers, beautiful waters of Sumpul, that I come to drop off.
Jaime Joel Rivera Miranda
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