PVC 1991 Delegation – Part Twenty: Conversation with Bishop Medardo Gomez

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.

Sunday, 20 October 1991 7:30 PM The Guest House

Bishop Medardo Gomez has joined our delegation for our final evening meal in El Salvador – pizza, soda, beer, and ice cream. There is laughing and joking around the table, and I wonder a bit at the ease with which we continue with ordinary conversation in the presence of this great man. Then suddenly he is addressing our gathering, and light-hearted banter turns to serious attentiveness, all eyes fixed on the head of the table. There is a scramble for notebooks and pens as we realize that what we are hearing is no longer social chatter, but rather a significant discourse, important for all of us to remember in the days and months to come.

"Even though I have seen you before, and said this before, let me say my greetings. I am glad to have you here, especially at the service this evening. As I look around, I see some familiar faces, and this is good.

"The times in which we live right now are very historical. We're at a very historic moment because the war is coming to an end and we are able to construct peace. We are very optimistic.

"In five hundred years of history, this is the first time that we have had a chance to live in real justice. We come from a long history of injustice, with this so-called 'discovery.’ For it was not a discovery. It was a pillage, an invasion, an intervention. We were rich. These people weren't always poor. It was a fact that the princes of the indigenous lived in great splendor. Indigenous people lived in a system that was social, with things held in common. They didn't know private property.

"If we could build again what was built by the indigenous, how beautiful it would be! The conquest came and destroyed all that was beautiful. It took away all the riches. They turned the indigenous into slaves, and also took away the land. Cuscatlan, which is the indigenous name for El Salvador, means land of riches. Specifically, it means land of precious stones. The people called themselves Cuscatlanos, the rich. But we aren't rich now. All the riches here went to Europe.

"For this reason there has been a great reaction among the indigenous. They have begun to write their own story. Before, it was the rich who wrote the story.

PVC 1991 Delegation – Part Nineteen: San Miguel

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.

Saturday, 19 October 1991 - San Miguel

Today the ciudad group is to join the campo group out in San Miguel, spending one night with our sister community and then returning Sunday afternoon to the capital. By 7:30 AM we have the van loaded for what is predicted to be about a three hour drive. The day is clear and the scenery lovely as we make our way east around Lake Illopango. The van engine has a disconcerting habit of overheating, so we make regular stops to add water to the radiator. This requires removing the bench seat behind the driver's seat, which in turn requires emptying the front half of the van of passengers. We don't mind the opportunity to stretch and take pictures, however. One stop is at a small roadside stand, actually a private home with drinks and snacks served on the porch.

The day had been almost cool when we started out from San Salvador, but the closer we get to San Miguel, the hotter and more humid it becomes. Later we learn from the campo group that San Miguel is noted for being the hottest part of the country. Now they tell us, after we have already made the sister commitment!

It is a bit after 11:00 AM when we arrive, and we stop first at the Lutheran Church of the Divine Redeemer in downtown San Miguel. There is a Bible training session going on for lay leaders who have come from several different communities to attend, so we meet on a sheltered porch area behind the church. There is much to catch up on with the other half of our delegation. Nancy Jones, the ELCA long-termer who had led the campo group out to San Miguel via public bus on Wednesday, had stayed until Friday with them, then returned to the capital. Pastor Leslie, a Presbyterian from the U.S. who is married to a Salvadoran, had helped to coordinate their stay, and she meets with us now to tell us what is planned for the rest of the day.

PVC 1991 Delegation – Part Eighteen: Guest House and ASTAC

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.

Friday, 18 October 1991 – The Guest House

We are up very early because Gary has told us that we are leaving for the lake at 10 to 7. At breakfast he informs us that he was wrong; we are not to pick up A. until 7:30 at Resurrection Church. We are there at 7:30, but no A. So we sit in the van catty-cornered across the street from the church and wait while Gary runs back and forth between the women's center and the church. By 8:15 there is still no A., and no Karl, either, so we come back to the guest house to wait while Gary tries to make some other contacts. Mary, Wanda, Betsy, and Kathy decide to walk down to the market for some spices, while Lucy and I stay at the house. Everyone is to be back by 9:30 AM.

About five after nine Kathy is at my door asking where's Gary. Our driver has come to the market to bring them back because Gary has returned. After a bit of confusion we gather in the living room for a conference. No one knows where A. is, Karl has not come into the office, and there is no one else at the Lutheran Church able to go with us out to the lake community. Besides, we have now missed the two Lutheran boats which run in the mornings, and would have to rent a boat to make the crossing.

We discuss our options for the day. Gary is uncomfortable taking us out to the lake community without someone from the church to accompany us. Mary would like to see a museum. Betsy wants to go swimming. Lucy is feeling intrusive visiting communities, and we reflect on this for a while, discussing how to show respect while walking around and taking pictures.

Celia has called while we are out, so I ask if there is a possibility of meeting with her. Gary makes a call and reports back that we can see her at 10:00 this morning. We also decide on the Exquartal Market and a high-class artist's shop in Escalon which carries hand crafts as well as the work of Fernando Llort, the artist whose establishment it is.

PVC 1991 Delegation – Part Seventeen: National DEBATE, and 22nd of April

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.

Thursday, 17 October 1992 2:15 PM National Debate, and Mass at 22nd of April Parish

The afternoon schedule lists "National Debate" and I am anticipating a return visit to the spacious building where we met last year with this prime player in the move toward a negotiated end to the civil war. Much to my surprise, the van delivers us instead to a neighborhood church, where we walk quickly across the broken concrete of the courtyard and enter a low outbuilding, rather like a garage or large shed. The men inside are annoyed; they had expected us at 1:30 and were about to leave. The younger one is introduced as R., a Presbyterian representing the Presbyterian Church USA, who works for the Lutheran University. The other, of slight build and unassuming mein, turns out to be the Rev. Edgar Palacios himself, co-director of DEBATE. Now it is clear to me where we are – the offices of Shalom Baptist Church, a conclusion which I am able to confirm as we leave by a sign which had escaped my notice on the way in.

Betsy makes the introductions for our group, and I wonder if all of the first time people are aware of what a great honor it is for us to be meeting with Rev. Palacios. Then we listen intently as R. begins a description of the work of DEBATE.

"We here represent the church sector in the movement for peace. The National Debate is what we believe is a miracle of El Salvador. It brings together eighty-five organizations. The principal objective is to bring together during this time of negotiations ideas about what the different sectors of society want when the war is ended. DEBATE is a pluralistic organization, including churches, popular organizations, other religious organizations.

"The role of DEBATE has been to influence the FMLN as well as the government that here there is no more space for war. The Salvadorans want peace and democracy. We believe that the first step is to end U.S. military aid. The government will have fewer arms; then they will hear the cries of the people. With fewer arms they will have less power.

PVC 1991 Delegation – Part Sixteen: Diario Latino

 

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.

Thursday, 17 October 1991 10:30 AM Diario Latino

We are inside a huge warehouse which serves as both offices and plant for Diario Latino, the only progressive newspaper in El Salvador. A gigantic press dominates the main floor. Partitions section off the office area, but there are no enclosed rooms. We are invited to climb a fire escape stairway to a second-level balcony, where there is additional office space, and are seated in a circle in the open space at the top of the stairway, surrounding Francisco Valencio, the director of the newspaper.

It is apparent that Wanda is in her element here, and we gladly defer to her to make the introductions and lead the discussion on behalf of our group. Señor Valencio thanks us for our visit and explains the newspaper's philosophy.

"We see our role as a newspaper to accompany our people in support of the interests that all our people share for peace and democracy. All these are things that the people have lacked because of the military governments, especially recently since the counter-insurgency.

PVC 1991 Delegation – Part Fifteen: The Non-Governmental Human Rights Commission

 

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.

Thursday, 17 October 1991 9:00 AM - The Non-Governmental Human Rights Commission (CDHES)

Wanda introduces our group to the staff worker for the CDHES who is acting as our host this morning. He greets us graciously and begins his narrative of the work of the commission.

"Welcome to our offices. We are glad to have you here so that you can gain a truer picture of life in our country on the basis of what you will see and hear here, as well as through your meetings with other organizations.

"This human rights commission began its work on 1 April 1978, with the establishment of four objectives:

1. To advocate for respect for the physical and moral integrity of every Salvadoran;

2. To investigate and document human rights abuses;

3. To denounce violations of human rights, both nationally and internationally, through agencies such as the United Nations; and

4. To undertake activities directed toward public education about human rights. This last goal has not been fulfilled in its entirety.

"We've had to live through the sadness of having four of our members slain and three disappeared since we were established. In 1987 fourteen members were captured and tortured by the Treasury Police. Nine of these were released and five sent to Mariona Prison. Nonetheless, we have continued forward with our work. We have won recognition both national and international. Three times we have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Humanitarian organizations assist us both morally and economically to continue the work.

PVC 1991 Delegation – Part Fourteen: Comunidad Rutilio Grande

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.

Wednesday, 16 October 1991 - 2:30 PM - Comunidad Rutilio Grande

The road into Comunidad Rutilio Grande is as bad, if not worse, than the one coming out of Comunidad Ellacuria last year. In fact, "linear mudhole" would not be an inaccurate description of it. We get stuck several times on the way in and even more frequently on the way back out. Twice people along the road stop to help push us out, and we do a lot of walking while our driver fishtails the van through the worst spots.

It is with a certain sense of triumph and relief that we assemble in the community office to speak with representatives from the directorate. These include V., who works with human rights, J., a health promoter, and R., the coordinator for production. After introducing themselves, they ask for introductions from each of us.

"This community is called Rutilio Grande (after a well-known priest who had served that area until he was assassinated by the military in 1977). We didn't know that you were coming to visit, so not all of the directorate is here. The president is in San Salvador, accompanied by the director of finances. And another is out in the region. [St. Oscar Romero, who was Archbishop of El Salvador, was good friends with Fr. Rutilio Grande. Romero’s decision to hold a public funeral for Fr. Grande – a controversial and provocative move at the time – is considered to have been a clear early signal to authorities that he sided with the poor.]

PVC 1991 Delegation – Part Thirteen: CONAMUS

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.

Wednesday, 16 October 1991 - 9:00 AM - CONAMUS (National Coordinating Committee of Salvadoran Women)

We are seated in a small conference room with another U.S. delegation composed of CISPES regional leaders. Isabel Vasquez, who is in charge of communications for CONAMUS, introduces herself and apologizes for the tight quarters. They had not realized that they had two delegations scheduled simultaneously.

"I have been with CONAMUS since its founding. Our Secretary General is not here, so I am assuming the responsibility of attending to delegations in her absence.

"Let me begin with a short history of our organization. We were founded in November 1986 with the goal of promoting the integral development of women, so that we can be conscious of our reality and work for change. Our object is to mobilize people and to struggle for our vindication.

"We were formed out of different committees of women which had already been established, and we now have a broad organization to represent women throughout our country. Recently we have been evaluating our work and have found that it is not sufficient. So we have begun new work with women who were not previously organized.

PVC 1991 Delegation – Part Twelve: Fr. Rafael Sivatte

 

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.

Tuesday, 15 October 1991 - 4:10 PM - Fr. Rafael Sivatte at the UCA

We are seated once more in the library of the Monsignor Romero Center on the campus of the Central American University. As I look around, I note that the machine-gunned volumes which had last year been exhibited open on chairs along the one wall are now in glass covered display cases lining the same wall. The scorched and mutilated portrait of Archbishop Romero, glass stalactites still appended to its frame, is also enclosed and glass covered once again. These are mute reminders of the night of slaughter which took place here nearly two years ago.

George introduces our group to Father Sivatte, who greets us graciously. We have asked him specifically to speak about the recently concluded trial of those accused of murdering the six Jesuits and their two housekeepers.

"I am delighted to be able to receive you. I am Vice Rector of the University and Assistant to the director of the Monsignor Romero Pastoral Center. I also give classes in Old Testament and in theology, and I assist Father Sobrino [Father Jon Sobrino, who had escaped the massacre two years before because he was out of the country at the time.] in editing "Letters to the Churches," a bi-weekly journal published by the University. I have been here two years since they killed my associates.

PVC 1991 Delegation – Part Eleven: ONUSAL

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.

 

Tuesday, 15 October 1991 - 2:20 PM - ONUSAL (United Nations Observer Mission in El Salvador)

The ONUSAL headquarters is located in the Sheraton Hotel, high atop the ridge overlooking Escalon [an elite neighborhood in San Salvador]. As the van makes its way through the broad streets of this wealthy neighborhood, with its lavish mansions hidden behind high brick walls and barbed wire barricades, we wonder how many poor peasants will be able or willing to make this daunting trip in order to denounce the injustices they have experienced. The entrance to the Sheraton courtyard is guarded by armed soldiers who are not certain at first if they want to let us pass. We are more uneasy entering what is supposed to be a UN safe haven than we have been at any other visit this year.

Once in the lobby we are kept waiting for ten to fifteen minutes, then taken to one of the upper floors and seated around a conference table in an office which had quite obviously until recently been a regular hotel room. Jake introduces the group to the ONUSAL representative, Ingrid Kircher, a young woman from Austria who mentions that she had worked for Amnesty International before joining this mission.

"ONUSAL is part of the whole peace process. There were two major initial meetings: in April 1990 both sides committed to continuing negotiations; then in May 1990 in Venezuela they set up the agenda for the negotiations. The first agreement which was concluded, signed on 26 July 1990, covered human rights and provided for an observer mission to be set up after a cease fire had gone into effect. But the commission in April 1991 decided that both sides to the negotiations and the people themselves wanted the mission set up as soon as possible.

PVC 1991 Delegation – Part Ten: CRIPDES

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.

Tuesday, 15 October 1991 – 9:00 AM – CRIPDES

Once again we are on familiar territory as we enter the CRIPDES offices and clinic. Last year we left the bus a block away and walked quickly and quietly to the location. This year the van pulls right up into the courtyard; our driver is proud to bring us to his home base. We view with delight the architect's model of a substantially enlarged clinic which is on display in the reception room. This represents their hope and their goal for the future.

After we are seated in the meeting room, Sally introduces our group, saying how glad we are to return and to see the improvements and expansion that they have made since last year. She also expresses our deep concern for Mirtala's safety, and describes the actions we had taken to help to secure her visa to enter the United States. We are speaking with Elizabeth, who works in the secretariat of relations.

"Thank you for all that you have done for our organization and for our companion. In the end there were five different threats against Mirtala and against CRIPDES. What they are always trying to do is to terrorize us, hoping that we will disappear. But they have never been able to do this. So thank you for all that you have done. We know that we are not alone; there are many international supporters who will respond.

PVC 1991 Delegation – Part Nine: Fr. Antonio Canas

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.

Monday, 14 October 1991 – 3:00 PM – At the UCA (University of Central America)

We arrive early on campus for our meeting with Fr. Antonio Canas so stop in the cafeteria for drinks. I order tea, which turns out to be an herbal tea with sugar already added, not at all what I had wanted and too sweet to be refreshing. There are definite disadvantages to not drinking carbonated beverages. The cafeteria itself is a pleasant structure, open on three sides, with tables and benches in rows, looking more like a fast-food restaurant than an academic institution.

From the cafeteria we walk over to the administration building and are seated in a meeting room. Fr. Canas begins the discussion by asking if there are any specific areas which we want to explore. As our delegates speak, he takes notes on a small pad that he has brought with him.

Linda: Please discuss military reform and the underlying social conditions which caused the war.

Gregg: I am concerned about foreign aid, especially that which comes with strings attached, encouraging privatization. How will that affect Salvadoran society?

George: Would you speak about the role of DEBATE both now and in the future, in the reconstruction.

Linda: When we return to the U.S., we have appointments scheduled in Washington. What is it important for us to stress to our Congressional representatives?

"I have been working for seven years here at the University in information, as editor of the journal 'Processo' and also as a professor. This work is dedicated to analyzing and unraveling the political and economic situation in the country. This is the task that Fr. Ellacuria gave us, and it is one reason that he was killed. [Ignacio Ellacuria SJ was one of the six Jesuit professors at the UCA who, along with their housekeeper and her daughter, were assassinated by the military on November 16, 1989.]

PVC 1991 Delegation – Part Eight: Dental Clinic

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.

Monday, 14 October 1991 - 1:00 PM - The Dental Clinic

We are back in familiar territory for several of us, having visited this clinic last year, and we are eager to learn what advances they have made since we were here before. There is also the pleasure of having Sally, who works as a dental technician, with us this time, since she had not been able to make the visit last year. We are seated on wooden benches in an open garage area, talking with O., who had been one of our guides the previous time and who recognizes us as repeat visitors.

"Welcome to our country. Thank you for coming to see the reality that we have. Our project specifically is the formation of dental promoters. Here we train people in how to extract teeth, cleaning, denture making and fitting; and we build the equipment needed to do these things.

"Owing to the situation in our country, 90% of our projects are installed in the countryside where there is no electricity, so we need to buy generators. This means that our dental promoters must also be trained in generator maintenance. Our project is now about five years old. It came out of the need of the people, as there was no government program around. Before we started, campesinos had to walk nearly all day to get to a clinic for one extraction. This meant a whole day lost, with the danger of leaving a conflicted area, spending money for transportation and food, and of course losing the day's wages.

PVC 1991 Delegation – Part Seven: Lutheran University

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.

Monday, 14 October 1991 – 8:30 AM - The Lutheran University

We leave the guest house before eight in the morning, planning to stop and exchange dollars for colones on the way to the university, but find that the exchange does not open until 8:30, so continue on and are a bit early for our appointment. While we sit waiting for our host, Gary gives us some background information on the Salvadoran press. There are two morning papers, both of which are extremely right wing. Of the two afternoon papers, only Diario Latino can be considered progressive. El Mundo will at least take paid ads from the popular organizations. Diario Latino, on the other hand, will even carry FMLN press releases.

Señora Alva Zuri Molina, the General Secretary of the University, enters and introduces herself. Later we also talk with Rene Mauricio Mejia, the Admissions Director.

"Thank you for your visit here in the fifth year of your work. Your activities have been serving the interests of our people.

"From 1989, when your previous delegation visited us, until now our growth has accelerated. Programs have been developed and fulfilled. The first stage of the modification of this building has taken place. We have prepared eight classrooms, which allows us to serve 200 to 300 students simultaneously. We have also built administrative offices, and the personnel and administrative sectors occupy permanent facilities. We have prepared professor's offices to allow them individual privacy. The pastoral center has been developed. We are now working on the cafeteria, which will be the final area to be done in the first phase of renovation. The library is complete with about 3000 volumes. (Project Via Crucis raised $10,000.00 for this library in 1989.) Later we'll go take a look at it!

PVC 1991 Delegation – Part Six: Sunday Evening

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.

Sunday, 13 October 1991 – Evening in the Guest House

As I write this, there is a frisbee game going on in the living room of the guest house. Sally is playing with Felicita's two younger children, with Gregg and Wanda looking on.

We have had a bit of a chance to meet the other delegation. They are Presbyterians from Alberta, Canada, near Calgary. There are eight of them, I think, with a female pastor as leader. It appears to be a senior citizens group, with one younger woman among them.

Nancy has arranged a craft fair for us at the guest house. The Canadian delegation did their shopping while we were at Exodus 29 October, and now it is our turn. There are representatives from several different craft organizations, including 22nd of April. We gather first in the living room to hear introductions, including a request from Project Salvador to carry crafts back with us when we return to the states, and an opportunity to subscribe to an English language edition of Letters to the Churches, the periodical from which the stories in the Springs book were drawn. I agree to the first and take advantage of the second. Then we scatter to the tables to look over the wares of the gathered artisans. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to shop at our leisure, and for the artisan groups who depend on international delegations for the bulk of their sales to have our undivided attention.

PVC 1991 Delegation – Part Five: Community Exodus 29 October

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.

Sunday, 13 October 1991 – 2:30 PM - Exodus 29 October

We are visiting a community on the outskirts of San Salvador which was occupied on 29 October 1989 by people who had been displaced by a bad storm. They occupied previously vacant land and put up housing with the help of the CCM, The Council of Marginalized Communities. Our guide through the community is A., a member of the CCM directorate. CCM provided the tin siding, and the rest the people had done for themselves. Before coming here some had lived along the banks of the sewage rivers which run through the capital, or in tenements which had fallen down. Others had been evicted from their homes when the rent got too high.

After they were established, they asked the city for permits to hook up to the city water and electric supplies, but there was no action for months. So they tapped into the water main and into the power lines themselves. Once the city saw that the hook-ups were an established fact, the permits were issued. Now both electricity and water are legal and metered. Water is available to them on week-ends and after 6:00 PM on week-days, but all day during the week it is turned off.

PVC 1991 Delegation – Part Four: Resurrection Lutheran

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.

Sunday, 13 October 1991 - Morning Worship

After the talk [Saturday evening] we have an orientation meeting to go over the schedule and house rules, then to bed around 9:00 PM, which is 11:00 PM according to our not-yet-readjusted body clocks. I sleep fairly well, but am up several times. Finally up for good, showered and dressed around 6:00 AM. Breakfast had been scheduled for 8:00, but we are all up and around well before that time, so we eat around 7:15, then hold a short meeting and walk to church, accompanied by Felicita's two younger children.

Because of the international conference just ending, there are quite a few visiting ministers and bishops in the congregation. The service begins almost on time – about 9:40 AM. As usual, Medardo forms the procession out on the sidewalk in front of the church, brilliant and vulnerable in his red chasuble. Linda has brought her service book, so we are able to follow the liturgy. The processional hymn is Ein' Feste Burg [A Mighty Fortress], with a Latin rhythm. Unfortunately, the Spanish words are not in the service book, so all we can do is hum along.

PVC 1991 Delegation – Part Three: Evening Conversation 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.

Saturday, 12 October 1991 - 7:00 PM

We are gathered in the living room for our first meeting, and as he did last year, Father T. has come from one of the local parishes to talk with us about the current situation in the country. He has brought with him M., who works with Christian base communities in another parish. They request that we list some of our questions, and then they will try to address these issues in particular during their talk. The delegation asks for the churches' view on the negotiations [Peace talks were then on-going, resulting in the signing of a Peace Accord early in 1992]; changes which have taken place since last year; is military reform possible? and a discussion of the recent persecution of educators. Just as Father T. is about to begin, a woman enters the room and is introduced as Th., who works with expectant mothers and newborn infants, and also with M. on Bible study.

"Let me say this first. In this country, through the efforts of the negotiations, even though not all of the agreements have been signed yet, to this point there are things which have not been fulfilled, but the agreements have opened spaces at every level - for the popular organizations, political parties, churches. In the years before the accords, there was a continuous struggle for economic justice, for the right to organize ourselves, for human rights, land reform, against the impunity of the armed forces. We had all of these issues as struggles, but with the accords, there is something concrete for the people to grab onto. Before there was no legal structure (to back us up), even though our struggles were legitimate and just. From the point of view of the government, anything which came out of the popular organizations was seen as illegitimate. So the accords are legitimizing forces, opening spaces in which we can work.

PVC 1991 Delegation – Part Two: The Flight In

 

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.

Saturday, 12 October 1991

9:23 AM - We are airborne at last. We started boarding the plane at just about the time we were supposed to have taken off.

I left work yesterday just a few minutes before five, was at Mary's house about twenty after six, and we had the car loaded and were on the road by 6:30 PM. There was a light rain, but nothing like what it had been earlier in the day. When we stopped about 8:20 PM at the single rest stop on I95 between Baltimore and Washington, we met Linda, Betsy, Linda's husband Russ, and her sister Donna coming in as we were leaving. A bit later two accidents within a mile of each other just at the I95-495 split at the Washington beltway held us up for a while, but not terribly long. The far worse traffic jam was going onto I95, not our direction. We reached the Hampton Inn at 9:30.

George followed us into the lobby. Linda and her crew had just gotten there. Everyone else had arrived earlier. After some confusion, rooms were sorted out: 237 - Mary, Jake, Marian; 239 - Linda, Betsy, Lucy, Kathy; 243 - Gregg, George, Sally, Wanda. There was no meeting for reflection or devotions; Lucy and Kathy were already in bed. We got settled and lights out in our room by 10:30, but had very fitful sleep.

When the wake-up call came at 5:00 AM, I was already wide awake. The buffet breakfast in the lobby was just being set out when we entered. Vans had been arranged for 6:30 and 7:00, but at 6:30 they called the Holiday Inn van to help and loaded everybody but George, Gregg, and me. We followed at 7:00, arriving at the airport about 7:20 to discover Linda at the ticket counter and all the rest being treated as a group. So much for acting like separate couples at the airport. George lost track of one bag in the confusion. We will hope that it was checked through and will be waiting for us in El Salvador. (It was.)

PVC 1991 Delegation - Part 1: The Delegates

 

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.

Project Via Crucis is a Pennsylvania-based ministry committed to building mutually empowering relationships between communities of faith here and communities of faith served by the Lutheran Church of El Salvador. The work of Project Via Crucis includes accompaniment of our Salvadoran sisters and brothers through delegations; sharing our resources by assisting Salvadoran communities with economic aid and projects that facilitate self-sufficiency; educating people in the United States about El Salvador; and advocacy on behalf of the Salvadoran poor to promote respect for human rights, non-violent resolution of conflict, and a society built on a just peace. (Statement of Purpose adopted September 1991.)

This ministry has sent a delegation to El Salvador each October since its founding in 1987, and with each passing year our relationships with the people we visit have deepened and broadened. In early 1991, after a lengthy process of discussion and discernment, Project Via Crucis committed itself to a sister relationship with a cluster of congregations associated with the Lutheran Church in the department of San Miguel. We did this knowing that San Miguel has had very little international attention, that it is an extremely militarized area, and that the Lutheran work there had been dealt a major set-back by the assassination of Pastor David Fernandez in 1984, a blow from which the congregations were only now recovering. We also knew that San Miguel was the family home of Bishop Medardo Gomez, and that the work there was again growing under the leadership of a dynamic young pastor, Walter Baires. The messages we were receiving indicated that sistering with San Miguel would be much more difficult than with one of the already conscienticized and thriving parishes nearer the capital, but that PVC had proven itself capable of fulfilling commitments over the years and that we would be equal to the challenge.

PVC 1990 Delegation – Part Eighteen: Final 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.

8 October 1990, 7:00 PM - The Guest House

It is our final evening in El Salvador and many guests have been invited to the Guest House for a meal and discussion. Bishop Medardo Gomez arrives about 6:30 PM, accompanied by J. and J. This is a great honor for us; he rarely goes out after dark because of the threats against his life. He is immediately the center of attention, a quietly intense and imposing presence seated on one of the couches in the common room. After a few minutes the word goes out that we should gather around him. He wants to talk with us before the meal so that he can go home early and be ready for an early-morning departure for meetings in the U.S.

"For better or for worse, we have a process of peace going on in our country. It is not complete, but we are moving. Delegations like yours help to open this space. You are like a great choir, carrying the stories. I want to assure you that, even though you might not think so, your presence helps in the process for peace. Extend my thankfulness to the brothers and sisters in the United States for their solidarity and prayers. This is a great contribution for the building of peace here."

At this point he introduces Pastor W., from San Miguel, who is president of the eastern region of the Lutheran Church in El Salvador. Later I hear the opinion from several of the delegates who have been here before that Pastor W. is the apparent next Lutheran Bishop of El Salvador. He has the faith and commitment to working with the poor, plus the education needed to move comfortably in international circles.

PVC 1990 Delegation – Part Seventeen: Aguilares area

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.

8 October 1990 - Aguilares area

We are visiting a community which was one of the stops made by the 1989 delegation. Returning delegates are amazed to see how much building and planting has taken place in just one year. We are told that they have about fifty acres in the community. About 7.5 acres are planted in vegetables, and about ten are set aside for grazing. They have four cows. The main crop is corn, with sesame interspersed. They also have a chicken house and bee hives.

Question: How did you get this land?

"We have the help of U.S. sister parishes, and also of a Norwegian group. SHARE was a big help to us. We have put in electricity and an irrigation system."

Question: Do you experience much harassment?

"Not right now. In other areas there is repression, but for us here, right now, there is nothing repressive. Of course, they are watching us. We had plenty of problems in the first location where we settled as a repopulated community. The most serious of our problems was land, which is why we moved here. We heard about this land and had an opportunity to buy it."

PVC 1990 Delegation – Part Sixteen: Resurrection Lutheran Church

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.

8 October 1990 - 8:00 AM - Resurrection Lutheran Church

Chris had the time of the service wrong, so we are sitting in an office of the Lutheran Church waiting for the students to end their 7:30 worship. The one that we will attend doesn't begin until 8:30. This church is an amazing shade of green - green for the Resurrection. We entered through a lovely enclosed and shaded courtyard. The room in which we are waiting has a beautifully painted Salvadoran cross, about 21" high, hanging on a wall against an excruciatingly tacky floral-patterned wall paper. Two-thirds of the adjoining wall, which is the first thing one sees upon entering, features a floor to ceiling photo mural of a fall scene in the U.S. or Canadian northwest. Cyril opines that it depicts the Cascades rather than the Rockies. The incongruity of such a scene here in tropical El Salvador is startling.

I learned this morning that most of the group was awake a good bit of last night. Helicopters were flying low overhead, and there were explosions in the distance and brilliant flashes lighting the sky. We heard several explanations of what was going on, but finally learned that a cadre of FMLN had attacked Mariona prison in an unsuccessful attempt to liberate some of the political prisoners.

PVC 1990 Delegation – Part Fifteen: Suchitoto

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.

7 October 1990 - Suchitoto

[Our intention for today had been to visit Panchimilama, a village which previous delegations had visited and which had received material support from PVC fund-raising efforts. On the previous evening, however, word had come to the Guest House that a fiesta was planned for the next day by the people of Suchitoto, who had requested that any internationals who were able to do so should come to the city as witnesses, thus providing some protection for the inhabitants as they gathered. After a brief discussion our delegation decided that this was where we were needed most and changed our plans accordingly.]

We leave at 7:30 AM for a 9:00 AM mass celebrating the 25th anniversary of a Sister who works for the church in Suchitoto. We are stopped at two military checkpoints along the way. Both times we are all ordered out of the bus, to line up along the side of the road and have our passports checked and our knapsacks searched. At the first stop we pick up J. and J. and two Salvadorans. They had been on a public bus on their way to Suchitoto, and had been taken off and detained. The bus did not want to wait for them while their documents were cleared, so they had been waiting for another ride to come along.

PVC 1990 Delegation – Part Fourteen: Santa Ana Department

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.

6 October 1990 - Santa Ana Department

It is Saturday morning and the bus has brought us to a public park in the department of Santa Ana in the western part of the country. This is not a conflictive area, and despite the war in the country, life goes on here more or less as usual. The park is crowded with families on holiday, and we look like just one more group of tourists, with our cameras and backpacks. The contrast between this and what we have been experiencing for the past week is more than a little jarring.

We are met by Pastor C., a Lutheran pastor whose main parish is in the city of Santa Ana, but who also supervises the work in four outlying communities. His manner is hearty and outspoken; he even has business cards which he hands to us as we gather around him for a background briefing before we begin our hike into the communities. He leads us along several of the planned trails through the park, allowing us to linger at a scenic overlook for photographs of the Santa Ana Volcano. Then single file we descend the mountain on a steep and rugged trail which takes us at last into the community of indigenous which we are to visit. Pastor C. gives us some background on the area.

PVC 1990 Delegation – Part Thirteen: University of Central America

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.

5 October 1990, 3:00 PM - University of Central America

We are welcomed to the university and led back a hallway to a conference room/library where some of the items which were attacked during the massacre are on display. [On the night of 16 November 1989 members of the elite Atlacatl Battalion of the Salvadoran military invaded the UCA and massacred six Jesuit priests/scholars, their housekeeper, and her daughter.] There are text books and a Bible which were machine-gunned into tatters. A scorched and blistered portrait of Archbishop Romero hangs in a charred wooden frame. The glass which had once covered it drips in icicles from the lower edge of the frame, melted by flame throwers and solidified again into tortured columns. The wooden panel above the door frame is pierced repeatedly with bullet holes, mementos of that terrible night nearly a year ago.

A slightly-built, middle-aged Spanish priest enters the room and takes his seat at the head of the conference table. He is introduced to us as Rafael Sivatte, an assistant to Fr. Jon Sobrino.

"I have been here since 1985, more or less - teaching at the university three months of each year. The last time that I was here was just before the massacre. But now I am settled in to stay as the Old Testament professor and assistant to Jon Sobrino.

PVC 1990 Delegation – Part Twelve: CODEFAM

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.

5 October 1990, 11:50 AM - CODEFAM

This group was formed on 9 September 1981 out of the roots of the war in El Salvador by families of captured, disappeared, and assassinated persons. It was originally called Comite. Later, on 14 March 1983 Marianella Garcia Villas was assassinated in Las Bermudas. She was a worker who fought for human rights, and at the time of her death she was investigating the use of chemicals in bombing by the military. She was accompanying ninety families who were escaping from a strong military operation when she was wounded and captured. First she was taken to a military school, then to a military hospital, where she was tortured – burned on the legs and arms, raped, and forced to swallow a grenade which then was exploded. She was a founder of the Human Rights office which PVC just visited, and CODEFAM works in her name today.

(Later we were to meet a young girl named Marianella. Her mother, whose first husband was disappeared, tells us that the child was born just a few months after Marianella Garcia Villas' assassination, and that when she went to register the birth, the authorities questioned her sharply as to whether she was sure that she wanted to give her daughter such a controversial name. She answered them proudly that yes, that was her deliberate intention.)

"The work of the committee is three-fold: 1. to struggle for the defense of human rights, with priority on freeing political prisoners; 2. to struggle to clarify the whereabouts of the disappeared and to enforce existing laws in El Salvador to discontinue this practice; and 3. to bring those persons who are responsible for the violations of human rights to trial and punishment.

PVC 1990 Delegation – Part Eleven: The Independent Human Rights Commission

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.

5 October 1990, 10:15 AM - The Independent Human Rights Commission

We are introduced to Jorge, who will tell us about the history and work of the Commission.

"I am pleased that you are here, because your visit demonstrates the authority that our group has internationally.

"We began on 1 April 1978 at the initiative of professors and students at the National University who raised concerns about the rise in human rights violations at that time. In twelve years we have suffered two disappearances, three assassinations, and three captures. But we still continue despite the oppression of the armed forces.

"We are members of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIHD) and of the Coordination of Human Rights in Central America (CODEHUCA). Our organization has been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize, and this year received a prize from the non-governmental organization 2001 in Sweden. Also the Lutheran Church has extended to us the symbol of human rights.

PVC 1990 Delegation – Part Ten: The Dental Clinic

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.

5 October 1990, 8:30 AM - The Dental Clinic

We are seated in a circle on folding chairs in a corner of a large garage or warehouse, talking with two of the leaders who direct the dental clinic. They begin with a history of the project.

- "Brazilian doctor Nathan Kamilot came here to develop a health project. As he worked among the people, he determined that there was a major problem with dental care, and that many health problems could be traced to dental problems. For instance, a lack of teeth can cause secondary malnutrition. Dental promotion was a new concept here. Dr. Kamilot studied to learn dental work himself, then started teaching others. The project took off. A proposal for funding was made to SHARE and to the Public Welfare Foundation, a U.S. organization which awards grants for health work. The funding is ongoing, because the project by its nature cannot be self-supporting. The PWF grant was about $50,000.00 and is still being given out.

"We train community members to do cleaning, extractions, and fillings, and to make and fit false teeth. This is a constant educational program, and it is spreading like wildfire all over the country. The main problem is getting supplies through to where they are needed. Our community clinics need generators and compressors, but anything bigger than a toothbrush is considered subversive. The doctor who started this work has since been captured and deported.

PVC 1990 Delegation – Part Nine: Chalatenango

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.

4 October 1990: The Feast of St. Francis - Chalatenango

We leave soon after 7:00 AM for Chalatenango, a trip which should take only about three hours driving time, but on which we anticipate delays at military roadblocks. The first is at a bridge about an hour outside of the city, where we are held for a half hour and depart with instructions to stop at the military installation up the road. Ignoring this order would be both futile and dangerous, for the troops at the roadblock are obviously in radio communication with their headquarters.

At the gate we are stopped and required to surrender all cameras, which are collected and taken into the guard house. We then proceed up an inclined driveway to the parking area outside of what appears to be the main building of the installation. Chris tells us all to stay on the bus, while he goes into the building to negotiate permission for us to continue. Though our salvos are in order, any one of these regional commanders could decide not to honor them. While we are waiting, soldiers are working in the area of the bus on various projects. One group displays a speed and efficiency which leads us to believe that they had been trained by PennDOT. [Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, which is definitely NOT known for its speed and efficiency.] We also observe a white car with polarized windows drive up, from which emerges a gringo in military uniform (presumably U.S.) Later Chris tells us that he had had a rather lengthy talk with a U.S. "advisor" inside the headquarters while he was waiting for our papers to be reviewed.

Finally after an hour of sitting in an increasingly hot bus, we are cheered to see Chris emerge from the building with an expression of success on his face. At the gate we are handed back our cameras and are relieved to note that no film had been removed from any of them. From there we proceed into the city of Chalatenango, where we are stopped by the local police, who want to check the driver's papers. Chris explains that this is fairly routine and has nothing to do with our earlier stop. Probably the driver will have to pay a fee (bribe?) and we will be able to be on our way.

PVC 1990 Delegation – Part Eight: 22nd of April Parish

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, 4:00 PM - 22nd of April Parish

As the afternoon wanes toward evening, our bus takes us to the outskirts of San Salvador, to the church building in 22nd of April Parish, about which I have heard so much for so long. This was Father Jim Barnett's parish before he had to flee last November. We are introduced to "the tallest man in El Salvador" - Father Gerardo, a German priest who towers over everyone in our group, even Chris. We enter the church and sit on benches in the back while Father Gerardo tells us the history of the parish and explains some of the work they are doing.

"This parish was founded nearly twenty years ago, near a former garbage dump. The people who built here literally invaded the place. They were threatened in the beginning and told to leave. These were people who had lived in San Salvador and had lost their homes because they couldn't pay the rent. This has always been a parish of poor people; many are unemployed. Years later people who had been displaced from the countryside began to arrive.

"This area is divided into four sectors. I serve two of those sectors, 22nd of April and La Credisa. There are fifteen thousand displaced persons living in these two sectors now.

"The work of the parish is organized by lay commissions – for missionaries, for catechists, for day care, for schools, for the artisans, carpentry, liturgies, youth groups, the elderly. Every commission has two representatives who meet together every Thursday evening to evaluate the work and plan for the future. There is also a pastoral team, with members elected by the commissions for a one or a two year term. This team consists of three religious, three lay persons from the 22nd of April, and three lay persons from the other sector. Two Sisters and I are the religious on the team at present. There are other Sisters who work in the parish but are not on the pastoral team."

Question: What is the most difficult thing for you working here, and what gives you the most joy?

"It is difficult to live in another country. I notice more and more that I am a foreigner. One can learn another language, but one can never know what every word means. It is difficult to know what offends people. I can't do direct translations, because something which would be quite all right for me to say in German comes out being very offensive in Spanish. It is difficult for me not to live in my own culture, not to be allowed to read whatever I want and to have whatever books I want. This is a very oppressive and totalitarian society. Here I must be very careful all the time.

"As for joy, the work is very satisfying, especially with the children. There is more liberty here to do what I want with methods of education. In Germany the school system is very controlled."

Question: What is your community's relationship with the government?

"Since the offensive, there has been more development in this parish. They have installed drainage canals and built public housing. But they do it on an individual basis, and this divides the people. The government won't work with the community as a community.

"A majority of the children do not go to school. There are official textbooks, but we don't use them. We get other books from Mexico, Guatemala, Spain.

"The offensive was not very strong in 22nd of April. It was much worse in Credisa. I wore earplugs and slept very well on Saturday night! We opened the clinic on Sunday afternoon. Soldiers came to the foot of the street, but they feared the guerrillas and wouldn't advance up the street. Then helicopters came after the guerrillas, but they wounded and killed many civilians. Middle class people in the parish criticized us for opening the clinic. They said that we did it to help the guerrillas. So many of the middle class left our church and went over to the fundamentalists. But the reality was that the FMLN had their own clinic. They didn't need our facilities.

"On Tuesday we opened the church. The FMLN had told the people in La Credisa to evacuate. Some residents had been trapped in their homes by the fighting. They asked me to ask the FMLN to let them out. The FMLN said yes, if the people would go directly to the priests' home. Afterwards some of these same people that I helped said that my success in negotiating with the FMLN proved that I was a friend of the FMLN.

"The people in the community are very fearful, especially the poor. Under other conditions most of these people would be in favor of the revolution. But here people do not speak about politics. They are controlled by propaganda and counter-insurgency tactics.

"You know, when at first one speaks out of fear, one is aware of what one is doing. But after a while, you forget that what you are saying is said under fear. You think that it is your own idea. And you end up saying what the TV says. For example, young priests know the gospel and preach it. But after enduring conflict and opposition, they muffle what they say. And gradually they come to believe that their bland sermons are still the gospel message."

Father Gerardo excuses himself and hurries off to another appointment. Our group leaves the sanctuary and walks around to a small room built against the side of the church. Here the artisans' cooperative makes and sells decorated greeting cards, notebooks, and wooden items. The first timers get first chance at the shopping, then wait while the others make their purchases. I buy three small wooden crosses on thread to be worn around the neck, two larger crosses which can be used hanging on the wall, a set of twenty-five notecards, six wooden Christmas tree ornaments, and one hand-painted notebook.

Copyright © 2022 Marian L. Shatto