I was talking to Juana who had lived in El Salvador in Central America before immigrating to the US when she was 13. She was there when the civil war was going on. She talked about how her father had to hide because the government and the guerrilas wanted to conscript him. The last time he had to hide, he did not return home but left for the US.
Juana talked of being a child of seven and seeing dead people in the streets; it was a casual event in her town. She also talked of walking with her family members and being caught between military and guerrilas shooting at each other; they had to run and hide. She said she had erased a lot of those memories, but that now and then the memories surface.
The Salvadoran civil war happened between 1979 and 1992, and it was between the government and left-wing guerrillas. Numerous people "disappeared" during this conflict and the UN reports list 75,000 killed.
I remember when news broke about Archbishop Romero's assassination in 1980 while saying Mass. As a Catholic, I was stunned at the brazenness of shooting a bishop in church. He had just written an open letter asking US President Carter to suspend support of the military in El Salvador. At Romero's funeral, snipers killed 42 mourners.
I also recalled seeing a documentary titled, Innocent Voices, about a boy who was caught between the government and rebels who went about recruiting young children. The child had to flee. Juana confirmed that it was true that young boys had to hide when the men (from either faction) came around.
The awful conflict in El Salvador ended in 1992. It is a reminder to all that even the most terrible wars will pass.
Right now, my heart goes out to people in conflict areas and pray that peace will come to them soon.
Read also
Syrian Revolutionary Poem
Syrian Revolutionary Poem #2
Shakespeare's Macbeth and North Korea's Kim Jong Un
Why Pope Francis Want to Declare Murdered Romero a Saint
Julia Stein's "The Woman Disappears Bit by Bit" - re Iraq War
Tags: wars, war, conflict, revolution, civil war, El Salvador, Middle East, Africa
This is all for now,
Cecilia
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