Advisory· El Salvador Civil War Support
ZONA ROSA MASSACRE
The Zona Rosa massacre was a terrorist attack in a restaurant district of San Salvador during El Salvador's civil war, in which gunmen opened fire on a group of off-duty United States Marines who served on the security guard detachment at the American embassy.
The Marines, in civilian clothes and unarmed as embassy policy required when off duty, were seated at a sidewalk cafe frequented by embassy personnel when the attackers, traveling in a vehicle, pulled up and fired into them with automatic weapons. Several Marines were killed in the assault, along with other victims, in an attack claimed by a left-wing guerrilla group. The massacre was the largest single loss in the history of the Marine Security Guard program, a deliberate targeting of Marines for their identity as American servicemen. It was a terrorist murder rather than a battle, a stark reminder of the dangers faced by the Marines who guard American embassies in places torn by conflict.
Record no. 833