Travel Reference
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of each Member of Congress on Capitol Hill. Deep down I knew that my efforts would
likely end up in congressional recycling bins, but I needed to do it. And doing it felt good.
That little mission marked the start of the time when my travels became more than just
recreation.
In 2005, I returned to El Salvador for the first time in nearly a decade and a half. Land-
ing in the capital city, San Salvador, I was met by César, who whisked me away in his car.
In his coin dish, I saw shiny Lincolns and Washingtons. I'm never very confident upon
arrival in a new country, and this confused me. César explained, “We've been dollarized
now since 2001.” My coins had become the local coins. (In a kind of voluntary coloniza-
tion, local elites chose to adopt the US currency to avoid losing their personal fortunes in
case of a radical change in their government.) My hunch was that much more had changed
in El Salvador than just the currency.
El Salvador politics line up on two sides: The left includes the FMLN guerillas-
turned-politicians, students, labor groups, Protestant churches, and many Catholic priests
and nuns (especially those who espouse a Liberation Theology approach). The right in-
cludes the establishment ARENA party, the military (and Civil War-era death squads),
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