Adrian Esquino Lisco - Salvadoran Civil War (1980 - 1992)

1992)

Adrian Esquino Lisco first appeared in international news coverage of the civil war when he began calling attention to the February 23, 1983 Salvadoran army-led attack on an indigenous farm cooperative in Las Hojas, El Salvador. Salvadoran soldiers captured 74 male villagers, tied their thumbs behind their backs shot them. A Salavadoran federal judge later reported just 18 dead.

An El Salvadoran federal human rights commission, charged with investigating the Las Hojas massacre and other violations, did not accomplish much, reportedly because of pressure from the country's army. The commanders of the Salavadoran troops at Las Hojas were given amnesty in the 1990s as part of a broader Central American peace plan.

Lisco and others blamed wealthy Salvadoran landowners for the atrocity at Las Hojas. Lisco accused influential landownders of using the army to destroy the Las Hojas cooperative. Landownders often considered the farm cooperatives to be subversive, even Communist. Attempts at farm reforms were begun in the late 1970s, but were soon halted, leading to resentment from both peasants and wealthy landowners.

Lisco once had an encounter with Colonel Elmer Gonzales Araujo, one of the leading commanders at Las Hojas. Araujo reportedly told Lisco that his soldiers were defending themselves against "armed subversives." Lisco later told the New York Times that, "I asked the army high command how guerrillas could die with their hands tied behind their backs."

Lisco went to Washington D.C. during the height of the Salvadoran Civil War to draw attention to the war's atrocities. He soon found receptive supporters in the U.S. Congress, most notably Senator Ted Kennedy and U.S. Representative Joe Moakley. His work in Washington put pressure on the Salvadoran government. According to Francisco Acosta, a Salvadoran activist based in Maryland, Lisco's lobbying of Congress led to the release of more than 100 political prisoners from government custody.