El Salvador: Stories of War and Hope

About

Testimonies

History

Introduction

Testimonies

	Repression in the 70s - Ana Milagros Ana Milagros Cornejo left El Salvador in 1978 in fear of getting murdered at the hands of the police... (en español). Listen \| Read Transcript

	Which Side Are You On? - Susan Susan is one of many U.S. activists who became deeply involved in the war in El Salvador. I wanted to include testimonies of U.S. citizens to show how there was a strong resistance within the United States against the war and U.S. military aid to El Salvador. Listen \|Read Transcript \| En español

	Brief Historical Background - Jack Spence A short interview does not do justice to everything that led to the civil conflict in El Salvador. I hope that the slideshow gives more context to a very complex history of state repression. One thing that I have learned with this project is that only those who lived it first-hand or "en carne propia" can illustrate the realities of the suffering lived in their country. Listen \|Read Transcript \| En español

	An Urban Guerrilla - Mario In the late 1970s, Mario became an urban guerrilla in San Salvador after he was exposed to the country's poverty as a church youth worker. In college, he saw many refugees--entire families who had fled the military's repression in the countryside--living in the school's classrooms and using the university's facilities. He became responsible for the armed security during marches... Listen \|Read Transcript \| En español

	The Lost Children - Imelda Imelda had to witness the murder of her parents and two older sisters when she was only four. She is one of many children from El Salvador who were given up in adoption (many of them kidnapped) during the war. Twenty years later, she was reunited with her family... Listen \|Read Transcript \| En español
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Background

Welcome to El Salvador's Oral History Project

This oral history project seeks to collect testimonies of Salvadorans living in Boston about the war in El Salvador in the 1980s. Its aim is to document historical memories that can serve as a tool for the promotion of democracy and the defense of human rights. In the vein of "¡Nunca más!" or never again, oral histories have traditionally served as a vehicle towards processes of truth and reconciliation.

The war in El Salvador claimed more than 75,000 lives in a country the size of Massachusetts, and conjures images of torture, disappearances, and beheaded bodies dumped by the side of the road. In the same period of time, the United States poured $1 billion in military aid and $4.5 billion of economic aid into that country to halt the “spread of communism” in the region.

Peace accords were signed between the Salvadoran government and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) guerrilla on January 16, 1992, in Chapultepec, Mexico. The accords included, among other stipulations, the significant reduction and restructuring of the armed forces, the dismantling of the guerrilla forces, and a special UN delegation to document human rights violations during its 12-year war period. The UN Truth Commission for El Salvador concluded that 85% of the human rights violations had been committed by "agents of the State, paramilitary groups allied to them, and the death squads." Yet the report did not address the political and social crisis previous to 1980 which led Salvadorans to war.

This oral history project is a collective effort to shed a light on the complexity of El Salvador’s conflict before and during the war. I also hope these stories serve as a small beacon of hope for the Salvadoran people who managed to survive and continue today to struggle for democracy in their country. Finally, given that the United States was intrinsically involved in this conflict, these testimonies should serve as a direct examination of current and future U.S. foreign policy, as well as the responsibility we hold to the post-war generation in countries like El Salvador.