Domingo Monterrosa

Lieutenant Colonel Domingo Monterrosa Barrios was a military commander of the Armed Forces of El Salvador during the Salvadoran Civil War.

Monterrosa distinguished himself preceding his 1963 graduation from the Escuela Militar Capitán General Gerardo Barrios military academy. Monterrosa went on to take military classes at the School of the Americas (SOA) in Panama, and later went on to Taiwan to study anti-communist insurgency tactics. Soon after his return to El Salvador, Monterrosa was assigned to become the leader of the elite and controversial Atlacatl Battalion. The Atlacatl Battalion was held responsible for the El Mozote Massacre. Monterrosa was allegedly seen arriving by helicopter by a local guide prior to the start of the massacre, as told by reporter Mark Danner; however, Danner also reported that Monterrosa had been contacted by a U.S. military advisor to share the outcome of the battle that had taken place in El Mozote. At that point, Monterrosa was in the Atlacatl's headquarters. According to Danner's story, after the conversation with the U.S. advisor, Monterrosa boarded a helicopter and headed to Morazan.[1] The Washington Post reported in 2007 that Monterrosa had ordered the massacre.[2] El Mozote was a tiny village located North of Morazan.

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".[3] Monterrosa was a supporter of President José Napoleón Duarte's efforts to hold peace talks in 1984, and his death seriously weakened them.[4]

There are several versions of how Monterrosa was killed. One is that a malfunctioning helicopter crashed and killed its occupants including Col. Monterrosa. Another version states that an FMLN booby trap was set under a fake rebel radio transmitter that Monterrosa took with him as a victory trophy, in 1984. The bomb went off while he was in flight.[5] Remnants of his helicopter can be found in the Museum of the Revolution in Perquin, Morazan department.

The museum of El Salvador's Armed Forces has designated a special section for Monterrosa. After his death in October 1984, the Salvadoran congress honored Monterrosa with the title of "Heroe de Joateca" and declared him a national hero for his service to the country.

In 2019, the new Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele ordered the removal of Monterrosa's name from one of the main military units of the Salvadoran Army.[6] 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. [7]