Latest news with #DayofRemembrance
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
El Paso Walmart shooting victims remembered, but closure may never come to their families
The families of those killed in the Walmart mass shooting came together to share memories of their loved ones at the sixth anniversary of the El Paso Walmart mass shooting, but there has been no closure, even as the gunman will spend his life in prison. "No, I will never get closure," Dora Lizarde, grandmother of 15-year-old Javier Rodriguez, who was killed in the shooting, said in Spanish. "It (criminal case) is over, but for us it isn't. He (Javier) will never come back." Victims' families, shooting survivors and El Paso community members gathered Sunday night, Aug. 3, for the sixth anniversary of the mass shooting to remember those killed and wounded. The Day of Remembrance memorial was held at the El Paso Community Healing Garden National Memorial in Ascarate Park. The event was attended by more than 100 people, including prominent El Paso leaders District Attorney James Montoya, County Judge Ricardo Samaniego, U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, County Attorney Christina Sanchez, El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson and El Paso County Sheriff Oscar Ugarte. The family members sat by the plaques honoring their loved ones, crying, hugging and smiling at times when telling stories of those they lost. More: Hispanic community in El Paso that Walmart mass shooter targeted ultimately saved his life "He was always joking," said Patricia Benavides, who lost her husband Arturo in the mass shooting, as she smiled and tears rolled down her face. "He was always laughing. He loved food. He was always telling me not to ration his dinner. We would go everywhere together. He was always a very, very good husband. "I miss him a lot. It's been hard for all of us. I feel my house is now too big for me. I need him. I need him, but there's nothing I can do." Memorial comes months after gunman's sentencing The sixth anniversary of the shooting came just months after the Aug. 3, 2019, Walmart mass shooter pleaded guilty to fatally shooting 23 people and injuring 24 more in a racially-motivated mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart. The gunman was sentenced to 23 life sentences on April 21. "Even six years later, it doesn't get any easier, certainly not for the families directly affected, certainly not for the survivors," Montoya said. "There is never going to be closure. All we can really do is continue living in their memory, honoring their memory and live how they would want us to." The gunman's name was never mentioned during the memorial event. The scars and trauma of reliving the events months earlier at the gunman's sentencing were still fresh for the victims' families and the survivors. "Every year we have a better sense of where the community is at," Samaniego said. "But this year we don't because it's too quick after the sentencing. I've been talking to the families to see what we're going to do next year, because then it'll be a continuation of remembering and honoring their loved ones. But this year, it's about coming together and staying together after the experience they had to go through in court just months ago." Never forget the victims Patricia Benavides and Lizarde said they thank the El Paso community for their support over the last six years, but asked for the community to continue remembering and honoring the victims of the shooting. "I feel a lot of support and a lot of people have shown how much they care about us and sympathize with us," Patricia Benavides said. "We were not expecting anything like this to happen in El Paso. I hope that El Paso never, never, never forgets about this tragedy and they keep on praying for the families." Lizarde added in Spanish, "Time passes and people forget, I hope that El Paso will never forget, no matter how much time passes." More: Lights in darkness: Orange lights honor victims of Aug. 3 El Paso Walmart mass shooting The memorial featured music by El Paso Pro Musica musicians before a prayer was recited and the names of the 23 victims were read. As each name was read, a light behind the memorial wall was lit up, until all 23 lights met high in the El Paso summer night sky. Remembering the victims The 23 people killed in the El Paso Walmart shooting were: Jordan Anchondo Maribel Campos Arturo Benavidez Andre Pablo Anchondo Javier Amir Rodriguez David Alvah Johnson Sara Ester Regalado Moriel Angelina Silva Englisbee Adolfo Cerros Hernandez Juan de Dios Veláquez Chairez Gloria Irma Márquez Maria Flores Maria Eugencia Legarreta Rothe Raul Flores Jorge Calvillo Garcia Alexander Gerhard Hoffman Elsa Mendoza de la Mora Luis Alfonzo Juarez Ivan Filiberto Manzano Margie Reckard Leonardo Campos Jr. Teresa Sanchez Guillermo "Memo" Garcia Aaron Martinez covers the criminal justice system for the El Paso Times. He may be reached at amartinez1@ or on X/Twitter @AMartinezEPT. This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso honors victims on sixth anniversary of Walmart mass shooting
Gulf Today
13-07-2025
- Gulf Today
Three Cambodian sites of Khmer Rouge brutality added to Unesco heritage list
Three locations used by Cambodia's brutal Khmer Rouge regime as torture and execution sites 50 years ago have been added by Unesco to its World Heritage List. The three locations were inscribed to the list by the United Nations cultural agency Friday during the 47th Session of the World Heritage Committee in Paris. The inscription coincided with the 50th anniversary of the rise to power by the communist Khmer Rouge government, which caused the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians through starvation, torture and mass executions during a four-year reign from 1975 to 1979. Tourists look at portrait photos of victims of the Khmer Rouge regime at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh on Saturday. AFP Unesco's World Heritage List sites considered important to humanity and includes the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, the Taj Mahal in India and Cambodia's Angkor archaeological complex. The three sites listed include two notorious prisons and an execution site immortalised in a Hollywood film. Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, located in the capital Phnom Penh, is the site of a former high school used by the Khmer Rouge as a notorious prison. Better known as S-21, about 15,000 people were imprisoned and tortured there. The M-13 prison, located in rural Kampong Chhnang province in central Cambodia, also was regarded as one of the main prisons of the early Khmer Rouge. A tourist takes photos next to skulls of victims of the Khmer Rouge regime at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh. AFP Choeung Ek, located about 15 kilometres south of the capital, was used as an execution site and mass grave. The story of the atrocities committed there are the focus of the 1984 film "The Killing Fields,' based on the experiences of New York Times photojournalist Dith Pran and correspondent Sydney Schanberg. The Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, and immediately herded almost all the city's residents into the countryside, where they were forced to toil in harsh conditions until 1979, when the regime was driven from power by an invasion from neighboring Vietnam. In September 2022, the UN-backed Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, better known as the Khmer Rouge tribunal, concluded its work compiling cases against Khmer Rouge leaders. The tribunal cost $337 million over 16 years but convicted just three men. Fine art students perform a reenactment of Khmer Rouge crimes to mark the annual 'Day of Remembrance' at the Choeung Ek memorial. AFP Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet issued a message directing people to beat drums simultaneously across the country on Sunday morning to mark the Unesco listing. "May this inscription serve as a lasting reminder that peace must always be defended,' Hun Manet said in a video message posted online. "From the darkest chapters of history, we can draw strength to build a better future for humanity.' Youk Chhang, executive director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, said the country is "still grappling with the painful legacies of genocide, torture, and mass atrocity.' But naming the three sites to the Unesco list will play a role in educating younger generations of Cambodians and others worldwide. Chum Mey, a survivor of the notorious S-21 prison where an estimated 15,000 people were tortured to death, tells his story during an interview in Phnom Penh on Saturday. AFP "Though they were the landscape of violence, they too will and can contribute to heal the wounds inflicted during that era that have yet to heal,' he said. The Unesco inscription was Cambodia's first nomination for a modern and non-classical archaeological site and is among the first in the world to be submitted as a site associated with recent conflict, Cambodia's Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts said in a statement on Friday. Four Cambodian archaeological sites were previously inscribed as Unesco World Heritage Sites including Angkor, Preah Vihear, Sambo Prei Kuk and Koh Ker, the ministry said. Associated Press
Euronews
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Cambodia marks 50th anniversary of Khmer Rouge genocide
Cambodia on Tuesday marked 50 years since the country's communist Khmer Rouge launched a four-year reign of terror that killed an estimated 1.7 million people. On Cambodia's annual Day of Remembrance, about 2,000 people attended a ceremony honouring the victims of the Khmer Rouge genocide at Choeung Ek, a site of one of the most notorious "killing fields" — about 15 kilometres south of the capital Phnom Penh. Dozens of student actors from a Phnom Penh art school re-enacted brutalities under the Khmer Rouge, which held power from 1975 to 1979, when an estimated one quarter of Cambodia's population was wiped out due to torture, starvation, executions, and misrule. The re-enactment was held near a memorial displaying victims' skulls and mass graves where thousands of others were buried. "When I come here, it reminds me, and I will never forget this Khmer Rouge regime because it was extremely cruel and barbaric," said 71-year-old Nhem Sovann, a Phnom Penh resident who lost six family members — her parents-in-law and four siblings — to the regime. She was put to work farming a rice field in the western province of Pursat. "I saw with my own eyes that even children were taken and had their heads smashed against the trunk of a coconut tree," she said. The Day of Remembrance is a learning experience for younger Cambodians, such as 23-year-old art student Pen Kunthea. She said she first learned about the regime from her parents and from her studies, and that one of her uncles died from illness during the Khmer Rouge's time in power. "I feel scared, and I think the Khmer Rouge made our people afraid and I don't want that regime to happen again," she said. The Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh on 17 April 1975 and immediately herded almost all the city's residents into the countryside, where they were made to toil in harsh conditions. The regime ruled until 1979, when it was driven from power by an invasion from neighbouring Vietnam, which forced its ruler Pol Pot into hiding. In 1984, a new Cambodian government installed by the Vietnamese declared 20 May — the day the genocide was said to begin — as a "National Day of Hatred" for people to express their anger against the Khmer Rouge and its backers. At the time, the Khmer Rouge were still trying to regain power by fighting a guerrilla war from the countryside. They were finally subdued in 1997. In 2018, the day was officially redesignated the National Day of Remembrance, with an emphasis on honouring the victims. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Hun Manet urged all Cambodians join in preserving and protecting peace. "Even though these tragic events have passed, and the Cambodian people have been living in peace, political stability, and full of development in all fields, we must not let go or forget this bitter past," he said in a statement.
San Francisco Chronicle
20-05-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Cambodia's 'Day of Remembrance' marks the 50th anniversary of the Khmer Rouge genocide
CHOEUNG EK, Cambodia (AP) — About 2,000 people attended Cambodia's annual Day of Remembrance Tuesday to mark half a century since Cambodia's communist Khmer Rouge launched a four-year reign of terror that caused the deaths of about 1.7 million people. Some three dozen student actors from a Phnom Penh art school re-enacted brutalities under the Khmer Rouge, which held power from 1975-1979, when an estimated one-quarter of Cambodia's population was wiped out due to tortures, executions, starvation and misrule. The official ceremony honoring the victims of what a U.N.-backed tribunal judged to be genocide was held at Choeung Ek, site of a Khmer Rouge 'Killing Field' about 15 kilometers (10 miles) south of the capital Phnom Penh. Several dozen Buddhist monks were among those attending. Garbed in black, the Khmer Rouge's standard attire, the performers acted as executioners, swinging bamboo sticks at the heads of victims whose arms were bound behind their backs. The re-enactment was held near a memorial displaying victims' skulls and mass graves where thousands of others were buried. 'When I come here, it reminded me, and I will never forget, this Khmer Rouge regime because it was extremely cruel and barbaric,' said 71-year-old Nhem Sovann, a Phnom Penh resident who said she lost six family members — her parents-in-law and two brothers and two sisters. She was put to work faming a rice field in the western province of Pursat. "I saw with my own eyes that even children were taken and had their heads smashed against the trunk of a coconut tree,' she said, sobbing. For a younger generation, the 'Day of Remembrance' is a learning experience. Pen Kunthea, a 23-year-old art student who portrayed a government soldier who rescued fellow Cambodians from the Khmer Rouge as they were being chased from power in early 1979, said the more she performs, the more she learns. She said she first learned about the Khmer Rouge regime from her parents and from her studies, and that one of her uncles died from illness during the Khmer Rouge's time in power. 'I feel scared, and I think the Khmer Rouge made our people afraid and I don't want that regime to happen again,' Pen Kunthea said. 'When I perform, it makes me feel like I was in the middle of the story,' she said, adding that she was excited to be able to portray the history of the regime. The Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975 and immediately herded almost all the city's residents into the countryside, where they were forced to toll in harsh conditions until in 1979, when the regime was driven from power by an invasion from neighboring Vietnam. In 1984, a new Cambodian government installed by the Vietnamese declared May 20, the day the genocide was said to begin, to be a 'National Day of Hatred' for people to vent their anger against the Khmer Rouge and its backers. At the time the Khmer Rouge were still trying to regain power by fighting a guerrilla war from the countryside, only to be finally subdued in 1997. In 2018, the day was officially redesignated the National Day of Remembrance, with an emphasis on honoring the victims. In a statement issued Tuesday, Prime Minister Hun Manet urged all Cambodians join in preserving and protecting peace. 'Even though these tragic events have passed, and the Cambodian people have been living in peace, political stability, and full of development in all fields, we must not let go or forget this bitter past," he said.
The Hill
20-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Cambodia's ‘Day of Remembrance' marks the 50th anniversary of the Khmer Rouge genocide
CHOEUNG EK, Cambodia (AP) — About 2,000 people attended Cambodia's annual Day of Remembrance Tuesday to mark half a century since Cambodia's communist Khmer Rouge launched a four-year reign of terror that caused the deaths of about 1.7 million people. Some three dozen student actors from a Phnom Penh art school re-enacted brutalities under the Khmer Rouge, which held power from 1975-1979, when an estimated one-quarter of Cambodia's population was wiped out due to tortures, executions, starvation and misrule. The official ceremony honoring the victims of what a U.N.-backed tribunal judged to be genocide was held at Choeung Ek, site of a Khmer Rouge 'Killing Field' about 15 kilometers (10 miles) south of the capital Phnom Penh. Several dozen Buddhist monks were among those attending. Garbed in black, the Khmer Rouge's standard attire, the performers acted as executioners, swinging bamboo sticks at the heads of victims whose arms were bound behind their backs. The re-enactment was held near a memorial displaying victims' skulls and mass graves where thousands of others were buried. 'When I come here, it reminded me, and I will never forget, this Khmer Rouge regime because it was extremely cruel and barbaric,' said 71-year-old Nhem Sovann, a Phnom Penh resident who said she lost six family members — her parents-in-law and two brothers and two sisters. She was put to work faming a rice field in the western province of Pursat. 'I saw with my own eyes that even children were taken and had their heads smashed against the trunk of a coconut tree,' she said, sobbing. For a younger generation, the 'Day of Remembrance' is a learning experience. Pen Kunthea, a 23-year-old art student who portrayed a government soldier who rescued fellow Cambodians from the Khmer Rouge as they were being chased from power in early 1979, said the more she performs, the more she learns. She said she first learned about the Khmer Rouge regime from her parents and from her studies, and that one of her uncles died from illness during the Khmer Rouge's time in power. 'I feel scared, and I think the Khmer Rouge made our people afraid and I don't want that regime to happen again,' Pen Kunthea said. 'When I perform, it makes me feel like I was in the middle of the story,' she said, adding that she was excited to be able to portray the history of the regime. The Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975 and immediately herded almost all the city's residents into the countryside, where they were forced to toll in harsh conditions until in 1979, when the regime was driven from power by an invasion from neighboring Vietnam. In 1984, a new Cambodian government installed by the Vietnamese declared May 20, the day the genocide was said to begin, to be a 'National Day of Hatred' for people to vent their anger against the Khmer Rouge and its backers. At the time the Khmer Rouge were still trying to regain power by fighting a guerrilla war from the countryside, only to be finally subdued in 1997. In 2018, the day was officially redesignated the National Day of Remembrance, with an emphasis on honoring the victims. In a statement issued Tuesday, Prime Minister Hun Manet urged all Cambodians join in preserving and protecting peace. 'Even though these tragic events have passed, and the Cambodian people have been living in peace, political stability, and full of development in all fields, we must not let go or forget this bitter past,' he said.
