El Mozote To intimidate the countryside into submission, the army often sent out ‘death squads’ used to inflict serious damage: send a message In 1981, over 700 villagers were mowed down my military gunfire This village: El Mozote The bodies were buried and the story took a while to get out The US didn’t want to look as if it was backing this type of counterinsurgency A method of troop recruitment by the army was to force children to join the military