Background into the Massacre
In 1989 there were six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her daughter, that were taken from their rooms late one night into the courtyard of UCA, were shot and were killed. A large reason for the disruptions in El Salvador was because they had a dictator who was in charge of the country and was abusing his power completely. People in the country were beginning to uprise and demand change, riots were taking place by people who were insisting on these changes. These riots and disruptions in El Salvador were killing so many people each day and the Jesuit priests were speaking out against the injustices. There was an eye witness to the massacre who saw the soldiers come into the university where the Jesuits lived. She saw them being taken from their rooms in the middle of the night, dragged to the central courtyard, and shot down the line. The soldiers then found their housekeeper and her teenage daughter and dragged them out to the courtyard as well to be murdered. This tragedy then prompted hundreds of Jesuit priests from across the world to come to aid the area after this devastation occurred.
