A USA advisor to the battalion that committed the massacre states:
"You try to dry those areas up. You know you're not going to be able to work with the civilian population up there, you're never going to get a permanent base there. So you just decide to kill everybody. That'll scare everybody else out of the zone. It's done more out of frustration than anything else."
Ricardo Castro, a soldier in the army who later defected and admitted his part in killings tells this story about Mozaran Province:
"They had two towns of about 300 people each, and they were interrogating them to see what they knew. Since I...knew something about interrogations, he said he might want me to help. The Major told me that after the interrogation, they were going to kill them all."
Castro was, however, reassigned and did not participate. Later, his pro-government mother told him:
"You know, son, these guerrillas, they invent the wildest lies. They say that in December, 600 civilians were killed in Morazan."
Carlos Antonio Gomez Montano, a paratrooper stationed at Ilopango Air Force Base sees 8 USA advisers (Green Berets) watching two "torture classes" during which a 17 year old boy and a 13 year old girl are tortured. Montano's unit and the Green Berets are joined by Salvadoran Air Force Commander Rafael Bustillo and other Salvadoran officers during these two sessions. A Salvadoran officer tells the assembled soldiers:
"[Watching] will make you feel more like a man. [Do] not feel pity [for] anyone [but only] hate for those who are enemies of our country.''
The Commission on Human Rights of El Salvador reports of indiscriminate bombing of unarmed civilians and the use of chemical weapons against civilians.
