PVC 1990 Delegation – Part Two: Evening in the Guest House

The following notes have been edited to correct errors and to add explanations and updates. Parenthetical notes and remarks from the original are enclosed in parentheses. Present day [2022] updates are italicized and enclosed in square brackets.

30 September 1990:

Four parish workers have come to the Guest House to talk with us on our first evening in El Salvador. They include Father T., a diocesan priest who works with Base Christian Communities; J., a parish worker in Comunidad Veintidós de Abril [22nd of April, a poor community on the outskirts of San Salvador known as a center of activism] who also works with the BCC's; and two female parish workers. Also present is BD, a North American who has worked in El Salvador for nearly four years.

Father T. opens by telling us that several days ago he had gone with Bishop Medardo Gomez [Lutheran Bishop of El Salvador] to give an address at a church. There the people told him that recently soldiers had invaded the church, forced people to lie on the floor, demanded to know where the guns were hidden, and then robbed them. He sees the role of the church as trying to institute a project of peace while living in a situation of war.

Giving us a brief history of the 22nd of April community, he explains that it dates from 22 April 1971, when people who had been living under bridges, on the margins of life, took over the city garbage dump and built a community. When the war started in 1980 there was an influx of the displaced, and many of the original settlers left. There are now two sections: Credisa, which is more settled, urbanized, with a stable working class population, and 22nd of April, which is poorer than Credisa, an area of much oppression, many disappearances and murders.

Question: What do you see as the present situation of the church?

"The churches are one target of the oppression; they do not escape. There has been an ongoing campaign directed against the church, especially evident in the newspaper, which calls the bishop and auxiliary bishop "Red bishops." What they say is that the bishops instigate the violence of the people. Historically, before actual attacks (on church and community leaders) there are propaganda attacks in the press. (This obviously has him very concerned.)

"Since the signing of the accords in July, there has been a series of violations of human rights. In one parish in Soyapango, ten days ago, the air force raided a house, captured a church member, and interrogated him all night long about activities of the church, names of members, etc. He was then taken back and left near where he was captured about 5:00 AM. In this way the armed forces maintain a facade of following the accords, (since the captured man was released before daylight when his capture could have been denounced).

"Three days later in the same parish two members were captured in the early hours of the morning. One we know is being detained; the whereabouts of the other are unknown.

"In San Roque we opened a parish center for malnourished children. The armed forces took half of the food and accused the priest of delivering arms (to the guerrillas). This same priest, an Italian, had been captured in May 1990.

"In Saragosa, La Libertad, the FMLN attacked a military installation. Ever since that incident, the military has accused the church and the parish house of sheltering the FMLN."

- Observation by one female parish worker: "Soldiers invaded a Bible study group where I was working and prevented us from continuing."

Father T.; "The government maintains that there is no persecution of the churches, yet just three weeks ago while Archbishop Rivera y Damas was in Mexico, he denounced the fact that threats are being made against his life.

"At the present time, plans are being drafted by the government and army to attack community and religious leaders. They call this the "Twenty-four hour plan," to decapitate the leaders of the movement within a short period of time. This is a reaction to the idea of a cut in aid from the U.S. It is a type of revenge. They can't take out their anger on the U.S. government, so they will take it out on the popular movement."

Female parish worker: "Also, the government is taking money away from education and health to invest in the military in order to counterbalance the (anticipated) loss of aid."

BD: "Two Salvadoran journalists were killed in a ‘car accident’ several days ago."

Father T.: "The government and the military are using different methods to get rid of leaders that they don't like. They are persecuting the more progressive journalists. In the case of this so-called ‘accident,’ Tutela Legal found bullet perforations and shrapnel in the car. Within the past few days a promoter has been killed here in San Salvador. The police claim that it was an accident, that they were firing at robbers and the promoter was caught in the cross fire. But the only person who died was the promoter. He had been returning from a large meeting.

"Just the day before, flyers had been circulated in the area saying that the organization for which he worked was a front for the FMLN. So looking at the chain of events - the leaflets, the meeting he attended, and then his death - we cannot discount the possibility of premeditated assassination. Similar leaflets are circulated throughout the country. In the western section, specific professors have been named in these leaflets. There is a lot of fear for their lives."

Question: What are the people doing who have been named?

Father T.: "There has been a lot of struggle against the law to privatize education. This law has been imposed by the International Monetary Fund on all of Latin America to recoup some of the funds owed to the IMF because of national debts. But privatization would increase illiteracy. A work stoppage on October 17th is being planned by teachers throughout Latin America."

Female parish worker: "There are not enough schools, so lots of children do not go to school. There has been a movement among professors and parents (to change this situation). As a result of this movement, these people have been named (in the leaflets)."

Question: How many teachers have been assassinated during the war?

"Over the past ten years 103 professors have been disappeared and more than 400 have been murdered. Ten were jailed in the latest conflict. As an example, Maria Cristina Gomez was captured about 11:00 AM one morning right in front of the children whom she taught and other professors. She was captured by men in civilian clothes and taken away in a van with polarized windows. Two hours later her tortured body was found with acid burns all over it. This happened in March of 1989. She was a Baptist worker."

Question: Has there been a change in the level of violence over the past ten years?

J.: "Yes, there has been a change. In the early 1980's a massive number of bodies were dumped in plain sight. The assassinations now are more professional, done clandestinely. They are now more selective, choosing the victims by the work that they are doing to oppose violations of human rights. They try to cover up the murders, to make them look like automobile accidents, accidental drownings, etc."

Second female parish worker: "Two bodies of cooperative workers were recently found along a road leading to the road from the airport."

-- "A prisoner in Mariona [a large prison in San Salvador, infamous for its brutal conditions] died, and the authorities tried to make it look like suicide, but it was obvious that he had been tortured."

Question: What is your opinion of the peace talks?

J.: "In terms of the negotiations, they have reached stagnation. The FMLN and the people want to address the issue of the armed forces, but the government won't see that point at all. The government has been saying that the army is constitutional, so neither the army nor the constitution can be touched.

"There has been a definite advance. Not just the FMLN and the government are talking. Lots of people are also mobilized, wanting peace, demanding that issues be resolved. There is also another phenomenon. The opposition parties have formed an interparty coalition which is working hard to promote change. They are especially trying to change the election laws to allow more participation. These are ideas from the people, not just from the FMLN.

- "There is also a move toward a coalition of popular organizations, opposing measures taken by the government. They support a purging of the armed forces, and an end to impunity of the army and militarization of society."

Female parish worker: "There is also a situation where the FMLN, faced with government intransigence, has proposed making the peace talks public, in front of cameras, but the government refused."

Father T.: "We can't have democracy as long as the army makes political decisions and holds sway over civilian life. In this country no one who promotes a better life with human rights is guaranteed of being alive tomorrow. There has never been a judicial process or conviction of any high official in the army (for violations of human rights).

"The very worst thing is that the armed forces have the backing and support of the U.S. government. After everything that has happened, still all we see is a (proposed) cut or retention of aid."

Question: What is the role of the FMLN? How does it tie in with the popular organizations, if at all?

J.: "It is important to see how the FMLN was born. It was born in the situation of misery and injustice to which the people of El Salvador were forced to submit. Between 1972 and 1975 Duarte won the elections, but the military captured, tortured, and exiled him. Then they selected their own president. In 1975 the labor unions started to demand rights for workers. The response (of the government) was always repression, armed captures, death squad assassinations. The people took up armed struggle because it was the only path left open.

"In 1981 the people declared themselves. The first offensive by the FMLN took place on January 11th. This was a declaration against the policy of repression. From 1983 through 1985 we were faced with a situation where there was zero possibility for the popular organizations to do any work or make any protest. The leaders were forced into exile and there was no space for political protest.

"Then Duarte came back, but not as the candidate of the people. Instead, he was counseled by the U.S. government. He brought a facade of democracy.

"The struggle of the FMLN has had an impact. We as Christians can't say that we support war, but we appreciate the negotiating space that the FMLN has made possible. There has been a call to the FMLN to put down their arms, but it is well known that the government still has plans to destroy the whole struggle of the people. People are asking not just for an end to the armed struggle, but for an end to unjust society. The institutionalized system of oppression is what we want to change."

Father T.: "There is independence between the FMLN and the popular organizations. Each has its own style. It is clear on the international level that we don't just want a military solution. In this there is a coincidence between what the FMLN is calling for and what the popular organizations are calling for. The FMLN struggles on a military level to bring down tyranny. Their actions are aimed at getting rid of the problems of the people, the unjust society.

"We have a situation where the policies of the government provoke more and more protests. It is undeniable that the popular organizations feel support from the FMLN. If there were not pressure from the FMLN, the army would already have killed all protest. Roberto D'Aubuisson has said that to have peace in El Salvador it will be necessary to kill three hundred thousand people. This is not a just peace, but a peace of the cemetery."

Female parish worker: "Society is divided between those who are filled and those who are empty. The demands of the empty are met only with repression. We have a song which we sing: ‘When the poor believe in the poor.’ The FMLN comes out of the empty, who have nothing.

"Romero was accused of being against the government because he was a voice for the voiceless. He made clear that it was not a conflict of the church against the government, but rather of the people against the government."

 Copyright © 2022 Marian L. Shatto