RED STONES

A survivor recalls her experiences during the Salvadoran Civil War in this unflinching account.

A brief opening overview of the upheaval in El Salvador from the 1970s to the 1980s provides much-needed context for the subsequent narrative. Bridging memories from the recent present to the distant past, Saade begins in 2021, when he visited the town of Santa Marta to interview Miriam, who lived through the brutal 1981 Red Stones massacre. At age 12, she witnessed the events leading up to the killings, beginning with a protest that resulted in the deaths of over 100 people at the hands of military forces. The incident subsequently drew Santa Marta into the crosshairs, forcing men to go into hiding as it “became a town of only women and children.” With the assassination of Óscar Romero, the Archbishop of San Salvador and renowned “voice of the voiceless,” and a surge in anti-guerilla military operations in rural communities targeting the so-called “enemies of the country,” the people of Santa Marta mobilized. They mounted a resistance, resulting in a bloody confrontation and an exodus into neighboring Honduras. The atrocities committed against the people of Santa Marta detailed here are truly harrowing. Fortunately, Saade’s conversations with an older Miriam provide intervals of respite and reflection, allowing readers space to grapple with the heavy subject matter while also depicting a bright contemporary Santa Marta through the detailed, strikingly evocative artwork.

A momentous testimony.