El Salvador

On April 29, 1981 American journalist George Thurlow was shot by members of the El Salvador Treasury Police on a jungle road in San Salvador. His 29-year-old driver, Gilberto Moran, was killed and Associated Press photographer Joaquin Zuniga was seriously injured in the shooting. Thurlow left El Salvador two days later to receive medical treatment in the U.S. In 2000 he began a more than two-decade search to find Gilberto Moran's grave and some form of personal redemption. El Salvador: Blood On All Our Hands details that search and introduces us to those who fought in the civil war, U.S. aid workers helping to rebuild the tiny country, as well as every day Salvadorans who suffered through a war that killed 70,000 of their fellow citizens. Many Salvadorans have decided it is time to move on from focusing on the war as their country enters a new era. The U.S. officials who supplied weapons and encouragement to the Salvadoran government, its security forces and the murderous death squads have never been held accountable. In El Salvador a Truth Commission has identified those most responsible for the assassinations and murder of priests, journalists and opposition leaders. This book is intended to document a moment in Salvadoran history when the United States government was responsible for a cruel carnage and to illustrate how American citizens are attempting to repair the damage.