International Partnership 

In 2017, Asociación Sumpul partnered with Dr. Amanda Grzyb (Western University, Canada), Dr. Harold Fallon (KU Leuven, Belgium), Evelia Macal (Architect, Belgium), Thomas Montulet (Architect, Belgium), Pedro Cabezas (ACAFREMIN), CCR, CRIPDES, SalvAide, and the Municipalities of San José Las Flores, Nueva Trinidad, Arcatao, and Las Vueltas to develop community-based research projects that document and commemorate 60 community-identified massacres in the department of Chalatenango. Funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Partnership Development Grant (2018-2021), Western University, and in-kind contributions from all participating partners, our initial projects included: the architectural design of the Sumpul Massacre Memorial Park at Las Aradas, an interactive map of 60+ massacres in Chalatenango, archiving testimonies of massacre survivors, planning the 40th commemoration of the Sumpul Massacre in 2020, and facilitating workshops, meetings, and other capacity-building activities in local communities. From 2021-2028, our new partnership projects include: collaborative development of community museums in Las Vueltas, Arcatao, and Toronto; co-creation of memory trails, exhibitions, art installations, community murals, and massacre memorials; a community book series; documentary films and video testimonies; digitization of civil war archives at Centro Arte para la Paz, Tutela Legal “Dra. María Julia Hernández,” and CRIPDES; new interactive maps; workshops on recovering traditional knowledge; and open-access, collaborative publications.

The Sumpul Massacre Memorial Park at Las Aradas

Our SSHRC Partnership Development Grant includes the architectural design of the Sumpul Massacre Memorial Park at Las Aradas, the site of the 1980 massacre in which 600 civilians were killed by the Salvadoran Armed Forces and the paramilitary group, ORDEN. Using a collaborative and workshop-based design process with the massacre survivors in Chalatenango, this project is led by the Sumpul Association and a team of architects based in Belgium -- Dr. Harold Fallon, Evelia Macal, and Thomas Montulet -- with additional support from Pedro Cabezas, Dr. Amanda Grzyb, Western University, CCR, CRIPDES, and SalvAide.  The final design features a memorial park of Árboles de Fuego (Firetrees) that bloom red in May, a memorial of handmade ceramic tiles bearing the names of the victims, an open plaza and long benches to facilitate commemorations, a statue of Saint Romero, and a roofed structure with a large mural. The Sumpul Association is now actively fundraising to build the memorial, which should be completed in 2020. 

For more information about the architectural plans, please visit Asociacion Sumpul’s website: www.asociacionsumpul.org 

The 40th Commemoration of the Sumpul Massacre

May 14, 2020 was the 40th commemoration of the Sumpul Massacre. Prior to the pandemic, Asociación Sumpul worked closely with Western University, KU Leuven, CCR, CRIPDES, and our partner municipalities to plan a series of events for the commemoration, including a gathering of survivors from across the region to participate in workshops, musical performances, testimonies, film screenings, and educational theatre. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, we have postponed these events to May 2022, and produced a scaled-down virtual commemoration that was broadcast by Radio Sumpul and Radio Farabundo Marti in May 2020.

May 14, 2020: In this video, Asociación Sumpul president, Felipé Tobar, sings a song he wrote about the work of the association and their international collaborators. Video courtesy of CCR, May 2020.