A Space for Memory and Community Engagement

The Sumpul River Massacre Memorial in Las Aradas, Chalatenango, is a foundational project of the Surviving Memory in Postwar El Salvador initiative. Begun in 2017 and set for full completion in  May 2025, the memorial is a powerful symbol of the community's memory and resistance to one of El Salvador’s most tragic events during the civil war, which remains unrecognized by the Salvadoran state. It commemorates the massacre of approximately 600 civilians on May 14, 1980, by the Armed Forces of El Salvador, ORDEN, and the National Guard, with the support of the Honduran military. This project, developed through a collaborative and participatory process led by survivors and Asociación Sumpul [Sumpul Association], alongside local and international collaborators—including researchers, architects, and artists—serves, not merely as a monument, but as a living space for reflection, education, and community building.

The Sumpul River Massacre and its Memorial: Historical context

From the late 1970s until 1992, the Armed Forces of El Salvador, the Guardia Nacional, and the paramilitary group ORDEN perpetrated numerous massacres against civilians in rural El Salvador, as part of a US-backed government strategy of violent oppression, including assassinations, disappearances, torture, forced displacement, and scorched earth tactics. Victims were targeted because of their perceived support of different factions of guerilla groups opposing the repressive regime.

In Chalatenango, particularly the territories near San José Las Flores, Arcatao, and Las Vueltas, civilians sought refuge in a hamlet known as Las Aradas, by the Sumpul River, on the Honduran border, in early 1980. By mid-May, thousands had gathered there, some escaping the military operations in the region and others repelled from across the border by the Honduran army .

In the morning of the 14th of May, the Armed Forces of El Salvador, ORDEN, and the National Guard massacred approximately 600  civilians with the passive support of the Honduran armed forces, who prevented people from crossing the river. Many were killed on land, while others were shot or drowned in the river as they attempted to escape the onslaught. Access to the site was denied in the weeks following the massacre, preventing the retrieval of bodies for proper burials.

The Sumpul River Massacre [Masacre del Río Sumpul] – as it is now known – was among the first large scale massacres in the region, marking a significant moment precipitating the civil war, alongside other events such as the assassination of Monseñor Romero, the archbishop of San Salvador, on the 24th of March, 1980.

After the Peace Agreements, the first documented commemoration in 1992 and a small monument in 1993 led to the formation the Comité de Memoria Histórica [Historical Memory Committee]. By 2016, the committee had acquired the land of Las Aradas through community fundraising, aiming to create a memorial. The committee formalized into a non-profit organization in August 2017, known and further referred to as “Asociación Sumpul”.

Asociación Sumpul was fortified by the completion of a strategic planning process in 2017 with the support of Dr. Amanda Grzyb, professor of Information and Media Studies at Western University (London, Canada). On the association’s behalf, Grzyb invited architect and ceramist Evelia Macal whom she had met as an election observer in 2014, to attend their first General Assembly, accompanied by her husband, architect Harold Fallon of AgwA architecture office and professor at the KU Leuven Faculty of Architecture (Belgium). This event marked the beginning of a collaboration between the two universities,  Evelia Macal, AgwA, and Asociación Sumpul for the participatory design process of a memorial at Las Aradas.

Río Sumpul Massacre Commemoration, 13-14 May 2024

These photos were taken [upon completion of the works] on May 13 and 14, 2024, during the commemoration of the Rio Sumpul Massacre in Las Aradas, by the artist and architectural photographer Filip Dujardin (Belgium). Starting at dawn on the 13th from Las Vueltas, the walk begins in El Coyolar. Gradually, people gather, the camp is set up, and in the afternoon, rituals and an evening vigil begin. On May 14, more participants join, and the commemoration takes place, including a press release, a mass officiated by Bishop Oswaldo Escobar and other priests from the region, a theatrical performance, songs, and testimonies. Then, the participants gradually return to their homes, walking along the same paths that the survivors once fled.

Participation And Preparation

In October 2017, KU Leuven students Melina Doutreloigne and Justine Morlion, supervised by Harold Fallon, began a Master Dissertation design studio focused on the design of the  memorial at Las Aradas. In January 2018, the students and architects conducted a participatory workshop in San José Las Flores. Three rotating groups of about 15-20 survivors and community members each, discussed the themes of Commemoration & Celebration, Landscape, and Construction. Referential photographs displayed on the walls stimulated interventions and suggestions from the workshop participants.

The first workshop discussion investigated rituals, communities, symbolic elements, spaces for celebration, etc. The second group addressed the role of the Río Sumpul, plantations, trees, topography, etc. The third discussion delved into construction methods, investment, maintenance, existing skills, etc.

These interactive discussions, while not based on specific design proposals, provided critical insights for the design process and helped shape community expectations.

Symbols, Space and Construction

The design’s main feature is the planting of over 250 flame trees [arboles de fuego] in a 7m*7m grid by community members. The irregular exterior edge of the plantation blends into the natural surroundings, while a central 63m*63m “square” forms a distinctive void,  revealing the massacre’s original soil, without pointing to a specific locus.

Key symbolic elements within this space include the 1993 monument, a rounded memorial with ceramic plaques listing the victims’ names slightly below the ground level (referring to the dispersion and unknown exact number of bodies), a circular bench and collective fireplace; a Maquilishuat (Tabebuia Rosea, the national tree of El Salvador), and a ceiba (Ceiba Pentandra, the sacred tree in Maya theology connecting the upper, middle, and underworld,  traditionally marking new settlements).

Bordering the central square, one flame tree is replaced by a polychrome, life-sized, and realistic statue of Monseñor Romero, inspired by the mural painting ornamenting the exterior of the cathedral of San Salvador since 2017.  Devoid of any base, Romero stands on the same soil as the participants, a humble observer to the commemorations.

The statue and the memorial were created in collaboration with Professors Lourdes Calero and Miguel Mira of the University of El Salvador (UES Escuela de Artes), involving students from their respective sections. Numerous community members, stakeholders, collaborators, and scholars participated to the transport and installation of the art pieces during two large-scale collective activities.

The most imposing element of the memorial is a large, single sloped roof offering shelter to the commemoration and to a mural painting on a 15m long adobe wall. A grid of 16 columns continuing the pattern of the flame trees and a lightweight, prefabricated steel structure supports the roof. Matiz, a local collective of painters, is creating the fresco to be finalized after the completion of the works in May 2024. Three benches containing river stones frame a space for activities. Similarly to the memorial and the statue, avoiding monumentality but embracing dignity, the roof quietly navigates characteristics of sacred, utilitarian and popular architecture.

The adobe wall represents ancestral, low impact building techniques supporting local economics. The rationality of industrial building techniques, such as the prefabricated steel structure, is essential for the feasibility of the project. Popular building strategies, such as the benches of cement and river stones, the formwork made with reused corrugated metal sheets for the concrete columns, or the steel bars supporting the roof tiles, facilitate construction and identification. Together, they create a hybrid yet rooted architecture, resting upon the equal treatment of different types of knowledges and skills.

Fundraising for the construction was a significant effort, with scholars, architects, and artists surpassing their usual roles to support the Asociación Sumpul in this aspect and to activate international solidarity.

An Architecture of Resistance

Recent commemorations have seen survivors criticize the anti-historic rhetoric and policies of El Salvador’s president, who dismissed the Peace Agreements as a “farce”,  and suppressed their commemorations since 2021. Community members often highlight the youth exodus led by fear of arbitrary or targeted imprisonment, under the current state of emergency and the “war on gangs”.  The country’s trend of centralization, illustrated by the fusion of the country’s 262 municipalities into 44 entities , is another source of concern.

In this environment, preserving memory and supporting grassroots organizations, the fundaments of societal engagement, is vital. The physical spaces embodying this empowerment, as constant public reminders, are crucial for community building, democratic processes, and resistance to authoritarianism. It is not a coincidence that the plan of the Sumpul River Memorial resembles the foundation of a new city. Architecture has a role to play.

Text sources

Fallon, Harold, Amanda Grzyb, Evelia Macal, Thomas Montulet, and Lourdes Calero. "Memorial of the 1980 Rio Sumpul Massacre, Chalatenango, El Salvador: The Participatory Design and Collaborative Realization of a Grassroots Project." In Local Cultures – Global Spaces: Communities, People, and Place, edited by Uli Linke, Isaac Leung, and Janet McGaw. AMPS Proceedings Series 37.2. Rochester Institute of Technology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, University of Melbourne, December 5-7, 2023. ISSN 2398-9467. https://amps-research.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Amps-Proceedings-Series-37.2.pdf (accessed 28 August 2024)

Fallon, Harold, Camila Fallon, Evelia Macal, Miguel Mira, Lourdes Calero, Thomas Montulet, and Antonio Romero. “Un Catorce De Mayo - Memorial de la masacre del río Sumpul” exhibition, Centro Cultural de España en San Salvador. San Salvador, El Salvador, 11 July 2024 – 30 August 2024. https://www.ccesv.org/evento/un-14-de-mayo/ (accessed 28 August 2024) + internal link to the page of the exhibition on the project’s website.

Other publications and exhibitions

Alas, Adriana, Heidi Calderón, Lourdes Calero, Harold Fallon, Giada Ferrucci, Amanda Grzyb, Reynaldo Hernández, Meilyn Leiva, Evelia Macal, Eduardo Maciel, Miguel Mira, Thomas Montulet, and Meylin Navarrete. “Río Sumpul Massacre Memorial – Trails and Voices”. Editors Harold Fallon, Evelia Macal, Lourdes Calero, Amanda Grzyb. To be published 2024-2025.

Fallon, Harold, Amanda Grzyb, and Thomas Montulet. “Guinda.” In Vesper Journal of Architecture, Arts & Theory, no. 3, Nella selva-Wildness. Venezia: Quodlibet, 2020. https://www.torrossa.com/en/resources/an/4821048 (accessed 28 August 2024)

Fallon, Harold, and Thomas Montulet. “Las Aradas Memorial: Engaging in Popular Building Techniques.” In Structures and Architecture: A Viable Urban Perspective? Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Structures and Architecture (ICSA 2022), 317-320. Aalborg, Denmark: CRC Press, 2022.   https://adk.elsevierpure.com/files/69510031/ICSA2022_Critical_Practices_Booklet.pdf (accessed 28 August 2024)

Fallon, Harold, Thomas Montulet, and Amanda Grzyb. Las Aradas Memorial Site, Chalatenango, El Salvador. Presented at the AHRA 2019 - Architecture & Collective Life, Dundee, 21 Nov 2019-23 Nov 2019.

Fallon, Harold, and Amanda Grzyb. “The Río Sumpul Massacre Memorial”, in “Sofa Talks”, conversation with Gideon Boie. KU Leuven Faculty of Architecture, 20 March 2024. https://www.blog-archkuleuven.be/architecture/2024/03/19/sofa-talk-with-amanda-grzyb-and-harold-fallon-call-for-participation-teach-in/

Fallon, Harold, and Evelia Macal. Las Aradas Memorial, Opening Lecture of the Preservation section of the Institution Building exhibition, CIVA. Brussels, Belgium, 21 October 2021. https://www.civa.brussels/en/exhibitions-events/opening-institution-building-chapter-8-preservation (accessed 28 August 2024)

Fallon, Harold, Camila Fallon, Evelia Macal, and Thomas Montulet. “The Rio Sumpul Massacre memorial. A collaborative exhibition on arts and architecture” exhibition, KADOC - KU Leuven. Louvain, Belgium, 06 March 2024 – 19 March 2024. https://kadoc.kuleuven.be/english/5_news/2024/n_2024_0014 (accessed 28 August 2024) + internal link to the page of the exhibition on the project’s website.

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