Legacies of Faith and War in the Republic of the Savior, El Salvador
The Quetzaltepec volcano rises over San Salvador |
Historians often guide students to view the study of history as a trip to a foreign land, following the suggestion of L.P. Hartley in his 1953 novel. After starting my fall semester classes in August, I spent nine days in El Salvador to teach an intensive course on Latin American history to a group of U.S. students. Within that class, the “Hartley concept” went “meta,” as the imagined visit to a foreign country actually took place within a foreign country.
Archbishop Oscar Romero’s Toyota Corona |
Semester abroad experiences often prioritize historical study because of its usefulness to interpret the culture during the time in the foreign country. This is also why students take intensive courses in the native language. In an environment where the understanding of the role of history and the humanities is fading, it is tempting to justify historical study by its pragmatic worth. Universities spotlight programs of relevance, immediate application, simple concepts, and raw skills. History and the humanities push us closer to the facts and reality of the story of people. The closer we get to the details, the more fragmented and frayed that story becomes. We can magnify the story, or retell it to get a better focus. But clarity often eludes the realities of Latin America—and history done well. Real history is messy, and not reconciled in a 60-minute documentary. History can leave us with more questions than answers. But the experience of thinking about that history can also change us. Our quick week of history brought these students a deeper understanding of the Cold War, Latin American religion, and the culture of El Salvador.
Sister Bernadetta presents Oscar Romero’s home |
The effects of the Civil War, which ended with a peace agreement in 1992, are still visible in the dramatic poverty in many of the rural villages, once the recruiting base for Marxist rebels fighting for the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front
The altar in the Divina Providencia chapel where Archbishop Oscar Romero died |
During the Civil War period, proponents of Liberation Theology used “consciousness-raising” techniques to explore the meaning of the Bible for empowering the poor. Many Catholic laymen and women read the Scriptures for themselves and embraced a gospel that sought to drastically challenge the political system that had suppressed the poorest in society. The most radical adherents to Liberation Theology preached against the injustices in El Salvador and rallied for an armed revolution. Others challenged the government by preaching for the rights of the peasants and other underprivileged in society.
The altar and crucifix at the National Cathedral, San Salvador |
Our next stop was the National Cathedral, Romero’s burial place, and the site of his funeral, which erupted in violence when military snipers opened fire on the estimated 250,000 mourners gathered in the Civic Plaza. Bombs and gunshots took the lives of over forty people who were stuck in the midst of the crowd with no easy escape. Our group was led by a professor from the Universidad Centroamericana (UCA), who explained that the Christ on the crucifix in the cathedral was viewed by people of indigenous heritage as a Black Christ, because they associate their Catholic faith with a Christ of darker skin. Beneath the cathedral, artistic representations of the stations of the cross lined the walls near the site where Romero was buried in a sarcophagus. Standing on the steps outside the cathedral and looking toward the plaza, it was disturbing to look at a bustling downtown scene as a former battlefield of the Civil War.
The lawn where the Jesuit martyrs were found, today a rose garden |
Our next trip was to UCA, where on November 16, 1989, a Salvadoran army “rapid response team” invaded the home of six Jesuit priestswho were serving at the university as academics: Ignacio Ellacuría, S.J., Amando López, S.J., Ignacio Martín-Baró, S.J., Segundo Montes, S.J., Juan Ramón Moreno, S.J. Joaquín López y López, S.J. Also murdered were housekeeper Elba Ramos and her 16-year old daughter Celina Ramos. These army teams, commonly known as “death squads,” were trained in the search and destroy counterinsurgency tactics developed during the Vietnam War. Members of the Atlacatl Battalion knocked on the door, entered the residence and captured the six priests. They then used machine guns to shoot them, and mutilated their bodies. Other members of the squad entered the adjacent apartment where a housekeeper and her daughter were sleeping, and killed them as well. The Romero Center on the UCA campus houses an adjacent museum where visitors can enter the rooms and see firsthand where the killings took place. And just in case some may doubt what took place, visitors have the option to view graphic photo albums of the victims and murder scene. The museum displayed artifacts from the victims, and also paid tribute to other martyrs of the Civil War era, including the three American nuns and their fellow aid worker—Maura Clarke, Jean Donovan, Ita Ford and Dorothy Kazel—who were raped and murdered by the military in December 1980. The chapel next to the Romero Center displays unique and gruesome artistic representations of tortures and murders as the stations of the cross.
Bibles torn by machine gun fire in the 1989 attack at UCA |
After touring these sites, there was a heavy feeling of the depravity at work during the Salvadoran Civil War. Our guide described the violence she lived through during the Civil War as a unique type of evil. My students were confronted with the reality of the Cold War in ways that are often lost in the classroom in the U.S. And the powerful impact of religion was the key to interpreting the story. These martyrs were killed for their theology and their desire to live out their faith. The words of their sermons were the only weapons they held against government oppression. They believed in a gospel of transformation, based on the core belief that people were created in the image of God. And if people were created in the image of God, the gospel would need to address their spiritual needs, but also their physical, mental, and emotional needs. In the time of the Cold War, both sides escalated the conflict to diminish the worth of human beings.
High above El Salvador |
For our class, studying history as a trip to a foreign country (and in a foreign country) brought a new understanding of humanity. The weight of historical violence was disturbing and challenged our understanding of human nature. The enduring poverty in the nation brought uneasiness and confusion as to the best steps for a remedy. The work that groups like ENLACE have brought by partnering with Salvadoran leaders point to a hopeful future.
Source: http://usreligion.blogspot.com/2014/09/legacies-of-faith-and-war-in-republic.html
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