This is how “9F: The Return of the Rifles” was made, which presents unpublished events and analyzes after the military takeover of Nayib Bukele.
A dozen journalists from El Diario de Hoy, Revista Factum and El Faro covered, for eight days, the diffuse paths of the events that took place on the day of the militarization of the Legislative Assembly, on February 9, 2020 (9F) with the intention of reliving, connect and reveal hitherto unknown details of one of the darkest dates of the Nayib Bukele period.
From these marathon and reflective days of interviews, analysis of publications and consultation of archives, appeared the documentary “9F: Return of the rifles”, a retrospective look that includes the voices of journalists, politicians, diplomats and analysts who draw and blur events before and after February 9.
This, in order to build a narrative that responds to the need to clarify, once and for all, the reasons that Bukele had to enter the Salvadoran congress with armed soldiers and the consequences of that event described, more regularly as a coup. has failed.
OPINION: 9F’s memory
The production team of this documentary mini-series was made up of journalists and audiovisual producers from El Diario de Hoy and Revista Factum who, for four days, interviewed no less than 18 characters involved, in different spheres, with the events of 9F .
These sessions led to more than 15 hours of audio and video involving whole days and nights of transcription and analysis, one at a time, to ensure that every phrase, idea, intonation, or inflection that contributed to the purpose of building a The recordings were completely faithful to this episode in the recent history of El Salvador, which could later be used as a meaningful document for those who in the future examine Salvadoran political memory.
As valuable as the testimonies was the archive of images, videos and photographs compiled by the media involved in the project, as well as other visual witnesses of the parallel and related events. All this material went through an exhaustive cleaning process that allowed, in order to generate unprecedented connections and relationships between events, an invaluable contribution to the understanding of what happened.
Four chapters
“9F: The Return of the Rifles” takes almost 60 minutes, and its publication has been divided into chapters that segment the events of 9F into four major moments.
Chapter 1: The Smoke Screen, reports the events that led until February 9 and clarifies the reasons for President Bukele.
In Chapter 2: It explores the end of charm, the national and international consequences of the military takeover of the Salvadoran Congress.
Democracy under fire is the name from chapter 3, which describes the circumstances in which the Salvadoran constitutional order was violated and the damage done to democracy.
In the fourth chapter: With rifles and God, the day of the failed coup is recounted, step by step, and reflections are presented on what is missing from Nayib Bukele’s presidential term.