The return started from Colomoncagua on 18 November 1989 when 712 people traveled on foot to El Salvador. Subsequently, 1,500 trips were taken in trucks to transport some 8,000 people with all their belongings to the site of the new settlement.

On March 25th of 1990, the community "Segundo Montes" was inaugurated in memory of the murdered Jesuit priest.

Thanks to the support of several international organizations, programs of land transfer were implemented that created space in which the resettled refugees built homes, schools, clinics, cultural centers, and community radio stations.