Help us bring to life a documentary that traces the history of Salvadoran political prisoners and torture survivors in their decades-long efforts to organize and educate others as part of an unwavering journey toward achieving justice and reparations. Keep reading to learn more about the history of COPPES, the importance of this documentary, and how you can help!

History of COPPES

During the armed conflict in El Salvador (1980–1992), the government detained, tortured, and forcibly disappeared many people who were fighting to improve living conditions. While some were forcibly disappeared, others were transferred to prisons. In a context where the government denied having political prisoners—labeling them instead as “subversives”—on September 15, 1980, approximately 30 young people detained at the Santa Tecla Penitentiary occupied two dormitory-cells and began a hunger strike to demand recognition as political prisoners and insist on respect for their rights. This is how the Committee of Political Prisoners of El Salvador (COPPES) came into being, which later also established a presence in the women’s prison.

When the conflict ended, the survivors reintegrated into the new realities of the postwar era; like the rest of the population, they focused on working to ensure their economic survival, all while coping with the psychological, physical, and social scars left by torture.

Between 2008 and 2013, several former political prisoners came together to revive and reorganize COPPES, with the aim of securing justice and reparations, and demanding guarantees that the violations of their rights—as victims of torture—would never be repeated. Between 2010 and 2016, some members filed complaints with the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) as victims of torture; this case remains open to this day. For the members of COPPES, staying organized has allowed them to support one another and carry on their struggle in solidarity.

For more background in the history of COPPES:

Timeline

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1978

April 1

Hunger strike by political prisoners

1980

January 1

Amnesty Granted by the Civil-Military Junta

1980

September 15

COPPES Emerges at Santa Tecla Prison with the Occupation of 2 Cell-Dormitories and the First COPPES Hunger Strike

1981

January 15 and February 15

Police raids targeting COPPES in Santa Tecla

1981

March 24

COPPES is formed at the Ilopango Women's Prison

1981

August 1

Coordinated Hunger Strike: Ilopango, Mariona, and Santa Tecla

1982

February 20

Closure of Santa Tecla Prison. Political prisoners transferred to Mariona

1982

March 2

Hunger strike

1982

March 25

Raid on COPPES in Mariona 3 days before the Constituent Assembly election

1983

May–June

Partial release of 500 political prisoners through an amnesty, following public and international pressure

1984

January 1

Day of Civil Disobedience in Mariona

1984

March 1

Hunger strike

1985

October 24

Release of prisoners in exchange for President Duarte's daughter

1986

May 26–29

Arrest of CDHES members, including Herbert Anaya Sanabria

1987

November 5

Partial amnesty —many political prisoners are released

1989

November–December

Before and after the November 1989 offensive, there was an increase in arrests, torture, and disappearances

1990

June 1

Reorganization of COPPES with new political prisoners

1991

June 17

Attack on Mariona. Release of more than 30 political prisoners

1991

December 31

End of the armed conflict

1992

March

Release of the last political prisoners. End of the era of political prisoners

1992

January 16

Peace Accords signed

2008/2009

Reunions and organization of some former COPPES members

2010–2025

Support from UES and UCA in psychosocial and therapeutic processes

2010–2016

Complaints of torture filed with the Attorney General of the Republic

2010–2018

Testimonies of Torture in International Restorative Justice Courts

2013

June 27

Obtaining legal status for COPPES

2013–2017

Discussion Sessions at 4 Universities in El Salvador

2016

July 3

Constitutional Chamber rules 1993 Amnesty Law unconstitutional

2016–2025

Participation and contributions to the drafting of transitional justice legislation

2025

September 15

45th Anniversary of COPPES

2026

Work on a historical documentary about COPPES begins

Our project: a documentary

¡Contra el olvido y la impunidad, caminamos con dignidad!

"Against oblivion and impunity, we march with dignity!" This is COPPES’ current motto, and, true to this principle, we know that one of the best ways to combat oblivion is through an audiovisual documentary that can speak on our behalf for years to come.

An audiovisual production team working with a group of torture victims and survivors has begun the process of making a documentary to tell the story of COPPES, from its origins during the armed conflict to the new phase of struggle in the post-conflict period. Sharing the activities of torture victims and survivors—which reflect truth, justice, and comprehensive reparation—aims to ensure that future generations learn about the experiences of victims of a state that—decades after these events occurred—still refuses to acknowledge its violence or offer reparation for the harm it caused.

Throughout the documentary, the project will reflect on the experience of being a victim, resilience, and healing, while highlighting the solidarity, camaraderie, and collective social and cultural work that emerged among the survivors. By reclaiming their own narrative, the participants recount their experiences and struggles with dignity.

For the survivors and their families, recognition and justice remain essential for healing and for improving their quality of life; for many victims are now elderly people running out of time to seek justice through a slow and indifferent legal system.

El Salvador’s current security policies—including the “state of emergency” in effect since March 2022—have led to mass detentions and widespread violations of detainees’ rights. As a result, the issues explored in this documentary retain an undeniable urgency and relevance. Justice and reparations for past abuses have not yet been achieved, while many of the same patterns of violence and torture persist today. The documentary aims to promote social justice and encourages critical reflection on the past and the present.

How to support

Throughout this struggle for our rights, we have met people with expertise in audiovisual media, a deep understanding of El Salvador’s recent history, and a sense of solidarity and empathy toward our work and our ongoing struggle.

Over the past year, we have invited them to join us; now we also need financial support to produce this documentary.

The goal is to secure the necessary resources to produce and distribute the documentary COPPES: A Lucid History. For those of us involved in this project, the final product is not the only concern; the aim is to create a documentary with the participation of COPPES. The project, already underway, fosters a close working relationship between the production team and COPPES members. The process from the outset, and during filming, will be a collaborative effort, and both the final edit and the distribution strategy will be determined by mutual agreement.

Although it has not been explicitly defined as a therapeutic process, every aspect of this initiative—remembering, organizing, reflecting, interacting with social actors from that era and the present, working with archival material (newspapers, photographs, audio and visual recordings), participating in group exercises, and proposing ways to visually represent torture, justice, and resistance—contributes, to some extent, to the collective healing of these wounds.

These processes involve financial costs that we cannot bear on our own. That is why we are asking for your financial support.

If you are unable to contribute financially, another way to help is by spreading the word. We would greatly appreciate it if you could share this message on your social media. Once the documentary is complete, you can also organize screenings. Knowing that you are following this project is, for us, a powerful show of solidarity.

The final product—the documentary—will be a testimony from those who survived capture and torture at the hands of the government’s repressive forces during the armed conflict in El Salvador. It is aimed primarily at younger generations, so they may learn what happened and develop a critical awareness of the atrocities that the state and government were capable of committing once the rule of law was suspended. Understanding historical events and strengthening collective historical memory are fundamental to preventing such events from recurring. “Never again” is now.

“They took our fruits,
cut our branches,
burned our trunk,
but they could not
kill our roots.”
— Nahuatl poem (Anonymous)

Contact

Do you have questions, stories about COPPES to share, or would you like more information on how to support? Write to us at contacto@unahistorialucida.com, on Instagram @unahistorialucida, or on Facebook at Una Historia Lúcida.