September 2nd, 2013: El Salvador

Ever since I learned about Oscar Romero and the Jesuit martyrs, El Salvador has been a place I have wanted to visit.  Prior to going I knew that El Salvador was sacred ground.

Mike and I arrived to El Salvador on Friday, August 2nd.  Once the tires of the plane hit the tarmac tears started to form in my eyes.  I had arrived.  Looking out the airplane windows I saw endless green, beauty, and serenity.  It was hard for me to fully imagine the bloodshed that had occurred in such a gorgeous place during the Salvadorian civil war.   

At the Retreat Center.

Going through security, customs, and gathering our luggage was easy.  Mike and I had a cute conversation with the lady whom stamped our passports.  We met up with our group outside of the airport near the Subway.  Our group was quite easy to spot because from what I could tell we were the only Americans there that afternoon.  While finding our bus was a little chaotic, everything else about the airport and the drive to the retreat center, in Planes de Renderos, was quite simple.  Again what struck me most was the beauty of the landscape.  I instantly felt at home and welcomed in El Salvador.  Perhaps it is a spiritual home for me since I feel so connected to Romero's message of solidarity with those on the margins.  Or perhaps an intellectual curiosity and connection to the Jesuit martyrs since my own spirituality is Ignatian and I do classify myself as a theologian that thinks critically, yet simply, and always in light of the Gospels message of keeping the voiceless at the forefront.  Regardless of the why, the connection with El Salvador is real and deep.

To give those who read my blog a very brief history of El Salvador will be very important.  El Salavdor's recent history is very violent.  In 1880 the main cash crop from El Salvador was coffee, bringing in 95% of the countries income.  However only 2% of the entire population benefited from this.  Tensions from the class inequality grew.  In 1932 the peasant subsistence farmers, many of whom were indigenous, attempted an uprising, but were stopped by the military government.  This lead to genocidal massacre - killing between 10,000-40,000 people.  Military dictators then began to rule El Salvador until 1979.     

The struggle continued through the 1970s.  Depending on your source some say the civil war was brewing since the 30s - since this is when the repression was at its first boiling point, others say that it broke out in the 70s, while others pin 1980 as the official date of the civil war.  "In the 1970s discontent with social inequalities, a poor economy, and the repressive measures of dictatorship led to civil war between the government and leftist anti-government guerrilla units, whose leading group was the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN).  The U.S. intervened on the side of the military dictatorship, despite its scores of human rights violations.  US military aid reached the level of $1 million per day through the late 70s and early 80s.  Between 1979 and 1981, right-wing death squads backed by the military killed about 30,000 people (Maryknoll Trip Preparation Book)."  After approximately 75,000 people were killed, the civil war eventually ended on January, 16th, 1992 when a peace agreement was reached.

Prior to going to El Salvador - I knew all of the history intellectually.  But while I was there the history took root in my very being.  I felt and saw the struggle between those who have everything they need and those who are struggling to survive.  I understood why people revolted against their own government in a much more palpable way.  Honestly, I still saw suppression, extortion, corruption, and felt the presence of violence, although I never once felt afraid or threatened.  What about hope?  Yes, I did see and feel that presence also - this is what I hope my future blogs will be about.

In these next few blogs I will be giving my readers a sense of what I learned, saw and felt when I visited El Salvador.  This trip has changed me.  It has made me a little bit more compassionate.  It has made me more outwardly spoken.  It has helped me to tell others exactly how I feel because I have learned, again, that life is too short to not love deeply.  I hope that these next few blogs move you to learn more about El Salvador, the people, culture, and history.  And I hope this learning moves you towards prayer, love and action.