{"code":"26599","sect":"EF Photo","sect_slug":"ef-photo","hits":"371","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/en\/202212\/ef_photo\/26599","link_edit":"","name":"45 Years after the National Guard of El Salvador Killed Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo, His Family Bids Him Farewell","slug":"45-years-after-the-national-guard-of-el-salvador-killed-efrain-arevalo-his-family-bids-him-farewell","info":"Teachers' unionist Efra\u00edn Antonio Ar\u00e9valo Ibarra was assassinated by the National Guard of El Salvador in November 1978, one year after his disappearance, according to a declassified CIA report newly obtained by the University of Washington Center for Human Rights.","mtag":"Historical Memory","noun":{"html":"\u003Cspan class='tint-text--dark' data_href='\/user\/profile\/vpena'\u003E V\u00edctor Pe\u00f1a\u003C\/span\u003E","data":{"victor-pena":{"sort":"vpena","slug":"victor-pena","path":"victor_pena","name":"V\u00edctor Pe\u00f1a","edge":"0","init":"0"}}},"view":"371","pict":{"cms-image-000038418-jpeg":{"feat":"0","sort":"38418","name":"cms-image-000038418.jpeg","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000038418.jpeg","path":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000038418.jpeg","back":"","slug":"cms-image-000038418-jpeg","text":"<p>Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo Ibarra was working as a teacher and serving as a member on the Executive Committee of the National Association of Salvadoran Educators 21 de Junio (ANDES 21 de Junio) when he disappeared in 1977. He would have turned 88 years old on November 19, 2022, the day his family and roughly one hundred other mourners gathered at the Monument to Memory and Truth in Cuscatl\u00e1n Park in San Salvador, to celebrate his life and bid him farewell. Efra\u00edn\u2019s family placed a floral wreath on the monument, his granddaughter recited a poem, his children read letters and pasted photographs of their father on the wall, alongside the names of the thousands disappeared during El Salvador\u2019s armed conflict, bidding him farewell with dignity.<\/p>","capt":"\u003Cp\u003EEfra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo Ibarra was working as a teacher and serving as a member on the Executive Committee of the National Association of Salvadoran Educators 21 de Junio (ANDES 21 de Junio) when he disappeared in 1977. He would have turned 88 years old on November 19, 2022, the day his family and roughly one hundred other mourners gathered at the Monument to Memory and Truth in Cuscatl\u00e1n Park in San Salvador, to celebrate his life and bid him farewell. Efra\u00edn\u2019s family placed a floral wreath on the monument, his granddaughter recited a poem, his children read letters and pasted photographs of their father on the wall, alongside the names of the thousands disappeared during El Salvador\u2019s armed conflict, bidding him farewell with dignity.\u003C\/p\u003E"},"cms-image-000038419-jpeg":{"feat":"0","sort":"38419","name":"cms-image-000038419.jpeg","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000038419.jpeg","path":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000038419.jpeg","back":"","slug":"cms-image-000038419-jpeg","text":"<p>Mario Orellana, 58, consoles Fresia Ar\u00e9valo, his wife of 56 years and Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo\u2019s third daughter, as other family members read letters to their deceased father. Mario and Fresia migrated to the United States during the war and now live in Salt Lake City, Utah. Mario has known the Ar\u00e9valo family since 1976 and lived through Efra\u00edn\u2019s disappearance. He has also accompanied the family on their search for Efra\u00edn for the past 45 years. \u201cWe had already resigned ourselves to never knowing anything about what happened to him, but now that we have an answer, we want to bid him a proper Christian farewell, as his mother and wife would have wanted,\u201d Mario says. In 2017, Carlos Efra\u00edn Orellana, the son of Mario and Fresia, met Angelina Godoy, the Director at the Center for Human Rights at the University of Washington, and told her about his grandfather\u2019s 1977 disappearance. In June 2019, Godoy requested the declassification of CIA documents on enforced disappearances involving El Salvador\u2019s National Police and National Guard that occurred between January 1975 and December 1980. In September 2022, these documents confirmed that Efra\u00edn was killed in 1978.<\/p>","capt":"\u003Cp\u003EMario Orellana, 58, consoles Fresia Ar\u00e9valo, his wife of 56 years and Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo\u2019s third daughter, as other family members read letters to their deceased father. Mario and Fresia migrated to the United States during the war and now live in Salt Lake City, Utah. Mario has known the Ar\u00e9valo family since 1976 and lived through Efra\u00edn\u2019s disappearance. He has also accompanied the family on their search for Efra\u00edn for the past 45 years. \u201cWe had already resigned ourselves to never knowing anything about what happened to him, but now that we have an answer, we want to bid him a proper Christian farewell, as his mother and wife would have wanted,\u201d Mario says. In 2017, Carlos Efra\u00edn Orellana, the son of Mario and Fresia, met Angelina Godoy, the Director at the Center for Human Rights at the University of Washington, and told her about his grandfather\u2019s 1977 disappearance. In June 2019, Godoy requested the declassification of CIA documents on enforced disappearances involving El Salvador\u2019s National Police and National Guard that occurred between January 1975 and December 1980. In September 2022, these documents confirmed that Efra\u00edn was killed in 1978.\u003C\/p\u003E"},"cms-image-000038420-jpeg":{"feat":"0","sort":"38420","name":"cms-image-000038420.jpeg","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000038420.jpeg","path":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000038420.jpeg","back":"","slug":"cms-image-000038420-jpeg","text":"<p>Efra\u00edn\u2019s name is one of more than 600 others listed as \u201cdesaparecidos y desaparecidas\u201d for the years 1970 to 1979 on the Monument to Memory and Truth in Cuscatl\u00e1n Park \u2014 a fraction of the nearly 30,000 total victims memorialized. \u201cThis is an act of closure and healing for our hearts,\u201d said Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo\u2019s nephew, Roberto Castillo, speaking in front of the wall of names. In 1977, when Roberto was just eight years old, he accompanies his grandmother to the morgues and other places where authorities had reported deaths, to confirm whether any of the bodies were his uncle\u2019s. Roberto says that he remembers how every day, his grandmother would sit in the doorway of her house waiting for Efra\u00edn to return. Originally, the family was from the municipality of Santa Elena, in the department of Usulut\u00e1n, where in 1981 the Salvadoran Army massacred more than 30 people.<\/p>","capt":"\u003Cp\u003EEfra\u00edn\u2019s name is one of more than 600 others listed as \u201cdesaparecidos y desaparecidas\u201d for the years 1970 to 1979 on the Monument to Memory and Truth in Cuscatl\u00e1n Park \u2014 a fraction of the nearly 30,000 total victims memorialized. \u201cThis is an act of closure and healing for our hearts,\u201d said Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo\u2019s nephew, Roberto Castillo, speaking in front of the wall of names. In 1977, when Roberto was just eight years old, he accompanies his grandmother to the morgues and other places where authorities had reported deaths, to confirm whether any of the bodies were his uncle\u2019s. Roberto says that he remembers how every day, his grandmother would sit in the doorway of her house waiting for Efra\u00edn to return. Originally, the family was from the municipality of Santa Elena, in the department of Usulut\u00e1n, where in 1981 the Salvadoran Army massacred more than 30 people.\u003C\/p\u003E"},"cms-image-000038421-jpeg":{"feat":"0","sort":"38421","name":"cms-image-000038421.jpeg","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000038421.jpeg","path":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000038421.jpeg","back":"","slug":"cms-image-000038421-jpeg","text":"<p>Nervous and breathless, Iris M\u00e1rquez (left) delivers the opening remarks for her grandfather\u2019s memorial service: \u201cI know that it takes a lot of effort for those of you who are accompanying us here today, but I also know that my grandfather, wherever he is, is glad to be the reason for this gathering and this movement that we have built together, as a family, to support each other.\u201d Standing next to Iris is Fresia Monroy, another of Efra\u00edn\u2019s granddaughters, who recited a poem in honor of her grandfather.<\/p>","capt":"\u003Cp\u003ENervous and breathless, Iris M\u00e1rquez (left) delivers the opening remarks for her grandfather\u2019s memorial service: \u201cI know that it takes a lot of effort for those of you who are accompanying us here today, but I also know that my grandfather, wherever he is, is glad to be the reason for this gathering and this movement that we have built together, as a family, to support each other.\u201d Standing next to Iris is Fresia Monroy, another of Efra\u00edn\u2019s granddaughters, who recited a poem in honor of her grandfather.\u003C\/p\u003E"},"cms-image-000038422-jpeg":{"feat":"0","sort":"38422","name":"cms-image-000038422.jpeg","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000038422.jpeg","path":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000038422.jpeg","back":"","slug":"cms-image-000038422-jpeg","text":"<p>Next to the photograph of Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo Ibarra were two more portraits pasted on the wall: Alfredo Aguilar (center), another teacher disappeared during the armed conflict, and Jos\u00e9 Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo (right), the oldest of Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo\u2019s five sons, who was captured by the National Guard on October 26, 1977, in the city of San Miguel. Jos\u00e9 Efra\u00edn reappeared on November 10, 1977 in the emergency room at Rosales Hospital in San Salvador. He had been tortured and had cigarette burns on his wrists. His family said that when they found him in the hospital, he was skin and bones. They mistook him for his father. On Wednesday, March 13, 1980, Jos\u00e9 Efra\u00edn was found dead on the outskirts of the city of San Miguel. He had been shot in the head after filing a compaint at the National Institute in response to killings that took place on March 8. Jos\u00e9 Efra\u00edn\u2019s murder was one of several incidents denounced by Monsignor \u00d3scar Arnulfo Romero during his penultimate homily on Sunday, March 16, 1980, nine days before his assassination.<\/p>","capt":"\u003Cp\u003ENext to the photograph of Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo Ibarra were two more portraits pasted on the wall: Alfredo Aguilar (center), another teacher disappeared during the armed conflict, and Jos\u00e9 Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo (right), the oldest of Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo\u2019s five sons, who was captured by the National Guard on October 26, 1977, in the city of San Miguel. Jos\u00e9 Efra\u00edn reappeared on November 10, 1977 in the emergency room at Rosales Hospital in San Salvador. He had been tortured and had cigarette burns on his wrists. His family said that when they found him in the hospital, he was skin and bones. They mistook him for his father. On Wednesday, March 13, 1980, Jos\u00e9 Efra\u00edn was found dead on the outskirts of the city of San Miguel. He had been shot in the head after filing a compaint at the National Institute in response to killings that took place on March 8. Jos\u00e9 Efra\u00edn\u2019s murder was one of several incidents denounced by Monsignor \u00d3scar Arnulfo Romero during his penultimate homily on Sunday, March 16, 1980, nine days before his assassination.\u003C\/p\u003E"},"cms-image-000038423-jpeg":{"feat":"1","sort":"38423","name":"cms-image-000038423.jpeg","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000038423.jpeg","path":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000038423.jpeg","back":"","slug":"cms-image-000038423-jpeg","text":"<p>Ren\u00e1n (third from left) is Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo\u2019s youngest son. He was born on December 21, 1977, one month after his father\u2019s disappearance. He grew up in Los Planes Segundos, a canton in the municipality of Chinameca, in the department of San Miguel, the same community where his father worked as director of the Escuela Rural Mixta Jos\u00e9 A. Mora. When he was 14 years old, his teacher showed him a photograph of Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo, which had been published in a 1977 newspaper. This was the first time Ren\u00e1n, who had grown up separate from the rest of the family, had seen his father\u2019s face, and from that point on, he began developing an interest in meeting his other siblings. In 2008, he finally met his three sisters. \u201cThey say I look just like my dad. I feel proud because now I know he was an exemplary person who fought against injustice and for inequality in my country,\u201d he says. Now, Ren\u00e1n is the same age as his father was when he disappeared. He attended his father\u2019s funeral accompanied by his wife and three children.<\/p>","capt":"\u003Cp\u003ERen\u00e1n (third from left) is Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo\u2019s youngest son. He was born on December 21, 1977, one month after his father\u2019s disappearance. He grew up in Los Planes Segundos, a canton in the municipality of Chinameca, in the department of San Miguel, the same community where his father worked as director of the Escuela Rural Mixta Jos\u00e9 A. Mora. When he was 14 years old, his teacher showed him a photograph of Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo, which had been published in a 1977 newspaper. This was the first time Ren\u00e1n, who had grown up separate from the rest of the family, had seen his father\u2019s face, and from that point on, he began developing an interest in meeting his other siblings. In 2008, he finally met his three sisters. \u201cThey say I look just like my dad. I feel proud because now I know he was an exemplary person who fought against injustice and for inequality in my country,\u201d he says. Now, Ren\u00e1n is the same age as his father was when he disappeared. He attended his father\u2019s funeral accompanied by his wife and three children.\u003C\/p\u003E"},"cms-image-000038424-jpeg":{"feat":"0","sort":"38424","name":"cms-image-000038424.jpeg","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000038424.jpeg","path":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000038424.jpeg","back":"","slug":"cms-image-000038424-jpeg","text":"<p>At the end of the ceremony, the family and loved ones of Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo Ibarra, spoke and recited quotations one by one in his honor, and placed roses at the foot of the Monument to Memory and Truth, to celebrate his birthday and his funeral. The Ar\u00e9valo family still holds out hope that they will one day find Efra\u00edn\u2019s remains.<\/p>","capt":"\u003Cp\u003EAt the end of the ceremony, the family and loved ones of Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo Ibarra, spoke and recited quotations one by one in his honor, and placed roses at the foot of the Monument to Memory and Truth, to celebrate his birthday and his funeral. The Ar\u00e9valo family still holds out hope that they will one day find Efra\u00edn\u2019s remains.\u003C\/p\u003E"}},"pict_main__sort":38423,"date":{"live":"2022\/12\/14"},"data_post_dateLive_YY":"2022","data_post_dateLive_MM":"12","data_post_dateLive_DD":"14","text":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"\/es\/202212\/ef_foto\/26583\/La-familia-de-Efra%C3%ADn-lo-despide-45-a%C3%B1os-despu%C3%A9s-de-ser-asesinado-por-la-Guardia-Nacional.htm\"\u003E\u003Cem\u003ELeer en espa\u00f1ol\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe National Guard of El Salvador executed Efra\u00edn Antonio Ar\u00e9valo Ibarra in November 1978, one year after his disappearance. His death is one of several documented in a recently declassified document obtained from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on August 29, 2022 by Angelina Godoy, the Director at the Center for Human Rights at the University of Washington. It is one of several documents related to enforced disappearances during the country\u2019s armed conflict that Godoy requested in 2019, which reveal further details on atrocities perpetrated by El Salvador\u2019s National Police and National Guard between January 1, 1975 and December 31, 1980.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt the time of his disappearance, Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo had been working as a teacher at a rural school in the municipality of Chinameca, in the department of San Miguel, and serving as a member of the Executive Committee of ANDES 21 de Junio, the most important teachers\u2019 union in the country. His son, Jos\u00e9 Efra\u00edn Cu\u00e9llar Ar\u00e9valo, had also been detained by government forces in the city of San Miguel on October 26, 1977, so days later, on November 6, Efra\u00edn went to the National Guard barracks in San Salvador, searching of his son. He had received information that Jos\u00e9 Efra\u00edn was being held there, and Efra\u00edn, who had scheduled a meeting at the Ministry of Education later that afternoon, took advantage of his trip to the capitol to search for his son.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe never made it to the meeting. \u201cOn the day of his disappearance, Efra\u00edn was wearing brown linen pants and a yellow shirt,\u201d wrote his wife, Iris Idalia Portillo, who would go on to search for her husband at every state security agency and nearly every hospital in the country. Iris even managed to get an audience with the Undersecretary of Defense, Jos\u00e9 Eduardo Iraheta, but she never found any answers. She sought help from Monsignor \u00d3scar Arnulfo Romero, who publicly denounced Efra\u00edn\u2019s disappearance in one of his homilies. She spoke with media outlets about her husband\u2019s disappearance and met with Victoria de Romero, the mother of then-President General Romero.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENone of her efforts yielded any answers, but Iris held out hope that her husband had escaped the country and was still alive. In September 2022, upon the release of the declassified documents, Efra\u00edn\u2019s family received confirmation of his death: \u201cIn November 1978, General Alfredo Alvarenga, the Director General of the National Guard of El Salvador, ordered the assassination of Salvadoran political prisoners Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo Ibarra, Manuel Alberto Rivera, and Carlos Antonio Madriz. They were killed by National Guard Lieutenant Jos\u00e9 Antonio Castillo and Sergeant Miguel Antonio Ram\u00edrez Mejicanos.\u201d The bodies, the document continues, were deposited in an unknown location.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EForty-five years later and two months after learning of his death, on November 19, 2022, the Ar\u00e9valo family organized a ceremony to celebrate what would have been Efra\u00edn\u2019s 88\u003Csup\u003Eth\u003C\/sup\u003E birthday, and to hold a funeral to bid him farewell. The gathering took place in San Salvador at the Monument to Memory and Truth, in Cuscatl\u00e1n Park. \u201cIt is absurd and thoughtless to say that these events have been a \u2018farce\u2019,\u201d said Astul Ar\u00e9valo, Efra\u00edn's brother, referring to comments made by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele and his followers about events such as the signing of the 1992 Peace Accords.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAs long as Efra\u00edn is in our memory, he will always be part of history. We are doing this, as a family, to demand justice for all those crimes and human rights violations, so that they are not repeated here or anywhere else, because human rights must be respected,\u201d said Mario Orellana, Efra\u00edn's son-in-law. \u201cThis is an act of closure and healing for our hearts,\u201d added Roberto Castillo, Efra\u00edn\u2019s nephew, who at only eight years old would help search for his uncle\u2019s body among the corpses that began appearing in the streets in the early years of the war.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E \u003Cfigure class=\"pict pict_land pict_move_posc 0 cs_img cs_img--curr rule--ss_c\" data-shot=\"pict\" data-hint=\"pict\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"pict__pobj text-overflow\"\u003E\u003Cimg src=https:\/\/elfaro.net\/get_img?ImageWidth=3000&ImageHeight=2000&ImageId=38418 class=\"pobj\" style=\"max-width: 100%\" rel=\"resizable\" alt=\"Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo Ibarra was working as a teacher and serving as a member on the Executive Committee of the National Association of Salvadoran Educators 21 de Junio (ANDES 21 de Junio) when he disappeared in 1977. He would have turned 88 years old on November 19, 2022, the day his family and roughly one hundred other mourners gathered at the Monument to Memory and Truth in Cuscatl\u00e1n Park in San Salvador, to celebrate his life and bid him farewell. Efra\u00edn\u2019s family placed a floral wreath on the monument, his granddaughter recited a poem, his children read letters and pasted photographs of their father on the wall, alongside the names of the thousands disappeared during El Salvador\u2019s armed conflict, bidding him farewell with dignity.\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E \u003Cfigcaption class=\"pict__text cs_img_caption folk_content typo_buttons line--ss_s0c line--ss_s0c--auto block full-width text-overflow rule--ss_l relative\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"__content block-inline full-width align-top tint-text--idle relative\"\u003E Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo Ibarra was working as a teacher and serving as a member on the Executive Committee of the National Association of Salvadoran Educators 21 de Junio (ANDES 21 de Junio) when he disappeared in 1977. He would have turned 88 years old on November 19, 2022, the day his family and roughly one hundred other mourners gathered at the Monument to Memory and Truth in Cuscatl\u00e1n Park in San Salvador, to celebrate his life and bid him farewell. Efra\u00edn\u2019s family placed a floral wreath on the monument, his granddaughter recited a poem, his children read letters and pasted photographs of their father on the wall, alongside the names of the thousands disappeared during El Salvador\u2019s armed conflict, bidding him farewell with dignity. \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/figcaption\u003E \u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E \u003Cfigure class=\"pict pict_land pict_move_posc 0 cs_img cs_img--curr rule--ss_c\" data-shot=\"pict\" data-hint=\"pict\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"pict__pobj text-overflow\"\u003E\u003Cimg src=https:\/\/elfaro.net\/get_img?ImageWidth=3000&ImageHeight=2000&ImageId=38419 class=\"pobj\" style=\"max-width: 100%\" rel=\"resizable\" alt=\"Mario Orellana, 58, consoles Fresia Ar\u00e9valo, his wife of 56 years and Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo\u2019s third daughter, as other family members read letters to their deceased father. Mario and Fresia migrated to the United States during the war and now live in Salt Lake City, Utah. Mario has known the Ar\u00e9valo family since 1976 and lived through Efra\u00edn\u2019s disappearance. He has also accompanied the family on their search for Efra\u00edn for the past 45 years. \u201cWe had already resigned ourselves to never knowing anything about what happened to him, but now that we have an answer, we want to bid him a proper Christian farewell, as his mother and wife would have wanted,\u201d Mario says. In 2017, Carlos Efra\u00edn Orellana, the son of Mario and Fresia, met Angelina Godoy, the Director at the Center for Human Rights at the University of Washington, and told her about his grandfather\u2019s 1977 disappearance. In June 2019, Godoy requested the declassification of CIA documents on enforced disappearances involving El Salvador\u2019s National Police and National Guard that occurred between January 1975 and December 1980. In September 2022, these documents confirmed that Efra\u00edn was killed in 1978.\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E \u003Cfigcaption class=\"pict__text cs_img_caption folk_content typo_buttons line--ss_s0c line--ss_s0c--auto block full-width text-overflow rule--ss_l relative\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"__content block-inline full-width align-top tint-text--idle relative\"\u003E Mario Orellana, 58, consoles Fresia Ar\u00e9valo, his wife of 56 years and Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo\u2019s third daughter, as other family members read letters to their deceased father. Mario and Fresia migrated to the United States during the war and now live in Salt Lake City, Utah. Mario has known the Ar\u00e9valo family since 1976 and lived through Efra\u00edn\u2019s disappearance. He has also accompanied the family on their search for Efra\u00edn for the past 45 years. \u201cWe had already resigned ourselves to never knowing anything about what happened to him, but now that we have an answer, we want to bid him a proper Christian farewell, as his mother and wife would have wanted,\u201d Mario says. In 2017, Carlos Efra\u00edn Orellana, the son of Mario and Fresia, met Angelina Godoy, the Director at the Center for Human Rights at the University of Washington, and told her about his grandfather\u2019s 1977 disappearance. In June 2019, Godoy requested the declassification of CIA documents on enforced disappearances involving El Salvador\u2019s National Police and National Guard that occurred between January 1975 and December 1980. In September 2022, these documents confirmed that Efra\u00edn was killed in 1978. \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/figcaption\u003E \u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E \u003Cfigure class=\"pict pict_land pict_move_posc 0 cs_img cs_img--curr rule--ss_c\" data-shot=\"pict\" data-hint=\"pict\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"pict__pobj text-overflow\"\u003E\u003Cimg src=https:\/\/elfaro.net\/get_img?ImageWidth=3000&ImageHeight=2000&ImageId=38420 class=\"pobj\" style=\"max-width: 100%\" rel=\"resizable\" alt=\"Efra\u00edn\u2019s name is one of more than 600 others listed as \u201cdesaparecidos y desaparecidas\u201d for the years 1970 to 1979 on the Monument to Memory and Truth in Cuscatl\u00e1n Park \u2014 a fraction of the nearly 30,000 total victims memorialized. \u201cThis is an act of closure and healing for our hearts,\u201d said Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo\u2019s nephew, Roberto Castillo, speaking in front of the wall of names. In 1977, when Roberto was just eight years old, he accompanies his grandmother to the morgues and other places where authorities had reported deaths, to confirm whether any of the bodies were his uncle\u2019s. Roberto says that he remembers how every day, his grandmother would sit in the doorway of her house waiting for Efra\u00edn to return. Originally, the family was from the municipality of Santa Elena, in the department of Usulut\u00e1n, where in 1981 the Salvadoran Army massacred more than 30 people.\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E \u003Cfigcaption class=\"pict__text cs_img_caption folk_content typo_buttons line--ss_s0c line--ss_s0c--auto block full-width text-overflow rule--ss_l relative\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"__content block-inline full-width align-top tint-text--idle relative\"\u003E Efra\u00edn\u2019s name is one of more than 600 others listed as \u201cdesaparecidos y desaparecidas\u201d for the years 1970 to 1979 on the Monument to Memory and Truth in Cuscatl\u00e1n Park \u2014 a fraction of the nearly 30,000 total victims memorialized. \u201cThis is an act of closure and healing for our hearts,\u201d said Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo\u2019s nephew, Roberto Castillo, speaking in front of the wall of names. In 1977, when Roberto was just eight years old, he accompanies his grandmother to the morgues and other places where authorities had reported deaths, to confirm whether any of the bodies were his uncle\u2019s. Roberto says that he remembers how every day, his grandmother would sit in the doorway of her house waiting for Efra\u00edn to return. Originally, the family was from the municipality of Santa Elena, in the department of Usulut\u00e1n, where in 1981 the Salvadoran Army massacred more than 30 people. \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/figcaption\u003E \u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E \u003Cfigure class=\"pict pict_land pict_move_posc 0 cs_img cs_img--curr rule--ss_c\" data-shot=\"pict\" data-hint=\"pict\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"pict__pobj text-overflow\"\u003E\u003Cimg src=https:\/\/elfaro.net\/get_img?ImageWidth=3000&ImageHeight=2000&ImageId=38421 class=\"pobj\" style=\"max-width: 100%\" rel=\"resizable\" alt=\"Nervous and breathless, Iris M\u00e1rquez (left) delivers the opening remarks for her grandfather\u2019s memorial service: \u201cI know that it takes a lot of effort for those of you who are accompanying us here today, but I also know that my grandfather, wherever he is, is glad to be the reason for this gathering and this movement that we have built together, as a family, to support each other.\u201d Standing next to Iris is Fresia Monroy, another of Efra\u00edn\u2019s granddaughters, who recited a poem in honor of her grandfather.\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E \u003Cfigcaption class=\"pict__text cs_img_caption folk_content typo_buttons line--ss_s0c line--ss_s0c--auto block full-width text-overflow rule--ss_l relative\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"__content block-inline full-width align-top tint-text--idle relative\"\u003E Nervous and breathless, Iris M\u00e1rquez (left) delivers the opening remarks for her grandfather\u2019s memorial service: \u201cI know that it takes a lot of effort for those of you who are accompanying us here today, but I also know that my grandfather, wherever he is, is glad to be the reason for this gathering and this movement that we have built together, as a family, to support each other.\u201d Standing next to Iris is Fresia Monroy, another of Efra\u00edn\u2019s granddaughters, who recited a poem in honor of her grandfather. \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/figcaption\u003E \u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E \u003Cfigure class=\"pict pict_land pict_move_posc 0 cs_img cs_img--curr rule--ss_c\" data-shot=\"pict\" data-hint=\"pict\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"pict__pobj text-overflow\"\u003E\u003Cimg src=https:\/\/elfaro.net\/get_img?ImageWidth=3000&ImageHeight=2000&ImageId=38422 class=\"pobj\" style=\"max-width: 100%\" rel=\"resizable\" alt=\"Next to the photograph of Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo Ibarra were two more portraits pasted on the wall: Alfredo Aguilar (center), another teacher disappeared during the armed conflict, and Jos\u00e9 Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo (right), the oldest of Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo\u2019s five sons, who was captured by the National Guard on October 26, 1977, in the city of San Miguel. Jos\u00e9 Efra\u00edn reappeared on November 10, 1977 in the emergency room at Rosales Hospital in San Salvador. He had been tortured and had cigarette burns on his wrists. His family said that when they found him in the hospital, he was skin and bones. They mistook him for his father. On Wednesday, March 13, 1980, Jos\u00e9 Efra\u00edn was found dead on the outskirts of the city of San Miguel. He had been shot in the head after filing a compaint at the National Institute in response to killings that took place on March 8. Jos\u00e9 Efra\u00edn\u2019s murder was one of several incidents denounced by Monsignor \u00d3scar Arnulfo Romero during his penultimate homily on Sunday, March 16, 1980, nine days before his assassination.\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E \u003Cfigcaption class=\"pict__text cs_img_caption folk_content typo_buttons line--ss_s0c line--ss_s0c--auto block full-width text-overflow rule--ss_l relative\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"__content block-inline full-width align-top tint-text--idle relative\"\u003E Next to the photograph of Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo Ibarra were two more portraits pasted on the wall: Alfredo Aguilar (center), another teacher disappeared during the armed conflict, and Jos\u00e9 Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo (right), the oldest of Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo\u2019s five sons, who was captured by the National Guard on October 26, 1977, in the city of San Miguel. Jos\u00e9 Efra\u00edn reappeared on November 10, 1977 in the emergency room at Rosales Hospital in San Salvador. He had been tortured and had cigarette burns on his wrists. His family said that when they found him in the hospital, he was skin and bones. They mistook him for his father. On Wednesday, March 13, 1980, Jos\u00e9 Efra\u00edn was found dead on the outskirts of the city of San Miguel. He had been shot in the head after filing a compaint at the National Institute in response to killings that took place on March 8. Jos\u00e9 Efra\u00edn\u2019s murder was one of several incidents denounced by Monsignor \u00d3scar Arnulfo Romero during his penultimate homily on Sunday, March 16, 1980, nine days before his assassination. \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/figcaption\u003E \u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E \u003Cfigure class=\"pict pict_land pict_move_posc 0 cs_img cs_img--curr rule--ss_c\" data-shot=\"pict\" data-hint=\"pict\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"pict__pobj text-overflow\"\u003E\u003Cimg src=https:\/\/elfaro.net\/get_img?ImageWidth=3000&ImageHeight=2000&ImageId=38423 class=\"pobj\" style=\"max-width: 100%\" rel=\"resizable\" alt=\"Ren\u00e1n (third from left) is Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo\u2019s youngest son. He was born on December 21, 1977, one month after his father\u2019s disappearance. He grew up in Los Planes Segundos, a canton in the municipality of Chinameca, in the department of San Miguel, the same community where his father worked as director of the Escuela Rural Mixta Jos\u00e9 A. Mora. When he was 14 years old, his teacher showed him a photograph of Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo, which had been published in a 1977 newspaper. This was the first time Ren\u00e1n, who had grown up separate from the rest of the family, had seen his father\u2019s face, and from that point on, he began developing an interest in meeting his other siblings. In 2008, he finally met his three sisters. \u201cThey say I look just like my dad. I feel proud because now I know he was an exemplary person who fought against injustice and for inequality in my country,\u201d he says. Now, Ren\u00e1n is the same age as his father was when he disappeared. He attended his father\u2019s funeral accompanied by his wife and three children.\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E \u003Cfigcaption class=\"pict__text cs_img_caption folk_content typo_buttons line--ss_s0c line--ss_s0c--auto block full-width text-overflow rule--ss_l relative\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"__content block-inline full-width align-top tint-text--idle relative\"\u003E Ren\u00e1n (third from left) is Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo\u2019s youngest son. He was born on December 21, 1977, one month after his father\u2019s disappearance. He grew up in Los Planes Segundos, a canton in the municipality of Chinameca, in the department of San Miguel, the same community where his father worked as director of the Escuela Rural Mixta Jos\u00e9 A. Mora. When he was 14 years old, his teacher showed him a photograph of Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo, which had been published in a 1977 newspaper. This was the first time Ren\u00e1n, who had grown up separate from the rest of the family, had seen his father\u2019s face, and from that point on, he began developing an interest in meeting his other siblings. In 2008, he finally met his three sisters. \u201cThey say I look just like my dad. I feel proud because now I know he was an exemplary person who fought against injustice and for inequality in my country,\u201d he says. Now, Ren\u00e1n is the same age as his father was when he disappeared. He attended his father\u2019s funeral accompanied by his wife and three children. \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/figcaption\u003E \u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E \u003Cfigure class=\"pict pict_land pict_move_posc 0 cs_img cs_img--curr rule--ss_c\" data-shot=\"pict\" data-hint=\"pict\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"pict__pobj text-overflow\"\u003E\u003Cimg src=https:\/\/elfaro.net\/get_img?ImageWidth=3000&ImageHeight=2000&ImageId=38424 class=\"pobj\" style=\"max-width: 100%\" rel=\"resizable\" alt=\"At the end of the ceremony, the family and loved ones of Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo Ibarra, spoke and recited quotations one by one in his honor, and placed roses at the foot of the Monument to Memory and Truth, to celebrate his birthday and his funeral. The Ar\u00e9valo family still holds out hope that they will one day find Efra\u00edn\u2019s remains.\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E \u003Cfigcaption class=\"pict__text cs_img_caption folk_content typo_buttons line--ss_s0c line--ss_s0c--auto block full-width text-overflow rule--ss_l relative\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"__content block-inline full-width align-top tint-text--idle relative\"\u003E At the end of the ceremony, the family and loved ones of Efra\u00edn Ar\u00e9valo Ibarra, spoke and recited quotations one by one in his honor, and placed roses at the foot of the Monument to Memory and Truth, to celebrate his birthday and his funeral. The Ar\u00e9valo family still holds out hope that they will one day find Efra\u00edn\u2019s remains. \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/figcaption\u003E \u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E*Translated by Max Granger\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E"}