Two separate attacks left many young Todosantero men dead. Others were tortured, while some villagers simply disappeared. Women were rounded up and publicly raped by government soldiers. Todosanteros were casualties of the 30 years' war, aligning with neither side and therefore suffering retaliation from both sides. Today, villagers continue to live with the scars left by the violence of the 1980s.
Many women are widows and single parents.
I had first arrived in Todos Santos three years after a peace accord was signed that officially ended the war, but the wounds left by the violence are still fresh. As an outsider from a politically stable country, I was overwhelmed by the violence suffered by the Todosanteros . One afternoon on a walk through the town's idyllic countryside, Justa Matias, a sunny 10-year old shepherd girl, catches my eye and calls me over. They cut off your head and steal your body. I cast her a puzzled glance.