El Salvador Civil War

I jump out of the Huey-1, three feet over the battlefield in El Volcancillo, a rebel base in Chalatenango. I land next to the bare-chested corpse of a teenage guerrilla killed by Lieutenant Moreno. The swarthy lieutenant smiles at the body. At the dead boy’s side is a Czech carbine circa 1937. On his lap is a battery pack used for explosives. Flies are swimming in the blood of the crater-shaped exit wound in his shoulder.

“You’re just in time for lunch,” says Major Armando Azmitia.