El Salvador, the War and Romero

Last night we watched "Monsenor: The Last Journey of Oscar Romero". Oscar Romero was the archbishop of the Catholic Church of El Salvador. He was assassinated on March 24, 1980, the year the El Salvadoran Civil War began. The war lasted for 12 years and resulted in 70,000 people dead.

This documentary was about the weeks leading up to his death. You can watch some of the video here:

Romero was a true Christ figure in El Salvador. He spoke to the poor, the oppressed. He spoke to the soldiers and guerillas. He called for them to drop their weapons, to finally make peace.

Brothers, you came from our own people. You are killing your own brother peasants when any human order to kill must be subordinate to the law of God which says, 'Thou shalt not kill'. No soldier is obliged to obey an order contrary to the law of God. No one has to obey an immoral law. it is high time you recovered your consciences and obeyed your consciences rather than a sinful order. The church, the defender of the rights of God, of the law of God, of human dignity, of the person, cannot remain silent before such an abomination. We want the government to face the fact that reforms are valueless if they are to be carried out at the cost of so much blood. In the name of God, in the name of this suffering people whose cries rise to heaven more loudly each day, I implore you, I beg you, I order you in the name of God: stop the repression.

The United States funded the El Salvadoran government's guns and bullets. The School of the Americas (a combat training school, part of the US department of defense) trained their soldiers in tactics such as targeting civilians, torture and extortion. The war may not have been as brutal as it was, had it not been for United States support.

The war was about the 1% owning all of the country's resources. People were in dire poverty, and the government was repressive and merciless. Unfortunately, many El Salvadorans say the conditions are no better since the war ended in 1992. There is a democracy now, but there is a 50% unemployment rate and many hungry children.

I am curious to see if what I have gathered from the internet and my limited contact with people from El Salvador is true. It's weird the amount of information we can collect via the World Wide Web, but do we really know the facts?

It is difficult to fathom the kind of violence many El Salvadorans have witnessed, and the ways in which their ancestors have died. It will be a new experience to be with people that have had such hardship and terror in their lives. I hope we are able to show respect for what they have been through. I hope that they are able to find joy in their lives.


I hope.