Domingo Monterrosa

José Domingo Monterrosa Barrios (4 August 1940 – 23 October 1984) was a military commander of the Armed Forces of El Salvador during the Salvadoran Civil War, responsible for the El Mozote murders. He was killed in a helicopter crash when a bomb planted by the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front in a radio transmitter detonated over Joateca.

Early life

José Domingo Monterrosa Barrios was born on 4 August 1940 in Berlín, Usulután, El Salvador. Monterrosa graduated from the Captain General Gerardo Barrios Military School in 1963 and attended the School of the Americas in 1966. The Washington Post reported in 2007 that Monterrosa had ordered the massacre.

Monterrosa was known to be obsessed with destroying the pro-rebel Radio Venceremos, which "specialized in ideological propaganda, acerbic commentary, and pointed ridicule of the government". Monterrosa was a supporter of President José Napoleón Duarte's efforts to hold peace talks in 1984, and his death seriously weakened them.

Death

The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front set a booby trap in a fake rebel radio transmitter that Monterrosa took with him as a victory trophy. The bomb went off while he was in flight; the bombing and crash killed all 14 people on board the aircraft, including Monterrosa. Remnants of his helicopter can be found in the Museum of the Revolution in Perquín, Morazán Department.

Legacy

The Military Museum of the Armed Forces of El Salvador designated a special section for Monterrosa. After his death, the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador honored Monterrosa with the title of "Hero of Joateca" and declared him a national hero for his service to the country.

In 2019, the Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele ordered the removal of Monterrosa's name from one of the main military units of the Salvadoran Army. Years earlier, another Salvadoran president, Mauricio Funes, asked for forgiveness from the state and the people of El Salvador for the crimes committed by state actors during the civil war, and directed the army to review their behavior in those years.