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.
3 October 1990, 9:00 AM – CRIPDES
[CRIPDES began in 1984 as the Christian Committee of the Displaced. After the Peace Accords were signed in 1992, it became the Association for the Development of El Salvador. Its partnership with SHARE is on-going, strengthening community organizations in their work on justice issues. The SHARE Foundation is a U.S. based non-profit organization committed to supporting and accompanying the people of El Salvador and Honduras in their struggle for social justice and sustainable development. During its early years PVC received security training and assistance in engaging guide/translators from SHARE.]
Our interview begins with brief background remarks. The CRIPDES headquarters was invaded and destroyed in April 1989, and sixty to seventy workers were captured. SHARE gave them the funds to purchase the current location. They are the group which organized the returns from the Honduran refugee camps, Mesa Grande, Colomoncagua, etc. Now they are trying to organize the return to their places of origin or choice of those who are displaced within the country.
We begin by going around the circle and introducing ourselves. The refugee coordinator gives us words of welcome. She says that our presence encourages them in their work with refugees.
Question: How and why was CRIPDES formed?
"There has been social injustice in El Salvador for the past sixty years or more. Thousands of Salvadorans have historically been marginalized, denied the basic rights of housing, land, education. Organizations have formed to respond to this situation. We had a situation where thousands of persons joined together to march in San Salvador and demand their rights. But we have never received a favorable response to our petitions. Always the case has been that when people demand their rights, the government responds with indiscriminate oppression. In 1932 40,000 were slaughtered when they took to the streets. Since then the oppression has intensified. Not only did we have to bear the lack of land, education, medical care, etc., but we also had to put up with the military.