Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
every i fty years. Twice a century,
landless peasants rise up...and are
crushed. In the 1830s, an insurrec-
tion and its charismatic leader were
put down. In 1881, peasants suf ered
a big and bloody land grab. In 1932,
after the great global depression and
communist inl uence made landless
peasants both hungry and bold, an
estimated 30,000 were massacred
following an insurrection. In the
1980s, the people rose up and were
repressed so cruelly that a 12-year
civil war followed. h e 1830s, 1881,
1932, the 1980s—during the last
two centuries, El Salvador has endured a slaughter every i fty years.
h oughtful travelers who respect the Bible can make a point to read it
as the majority of Christians on this planet do: through the eyes of the poor
world. Christians with two dif erent outlooks could read Matthew 25, where
Christ says, “I was hungry and you fed me, imprisoned and you visited me,
naked and you clothed me. What you have done to the least of people, you
have done to me.” One could be motivated to i nd ways to tackle structural
poverty in poor nations. h e other might think that's naive, and continue
pounding plowshares into swords.
A monument much like America's Vietnam
Veterans Memorial stands in San Salvador,
remembering people killed in its most recent
popular uprising.
El Salvador's Civil War and Bonsai Democracy
h ere's a popular saying in the poor world: Feed the hungry and you're a
saint. Ask why they are hungry and you are a communist. In the 1970s,
Central American priests started asking why. h
ese Liberation h
eologians
threatened the powerful…and were killed.
When Oscar Romero was made archbishop in 1977, wealthy Salvador-
ans breathed a sigh of relief. If his reputation as a fairly conservative priest
was any indication of how he would run the Church here, they believed the
right wing had nothing to fear. But the growing violence against the poor and
the assassinations of church leaders who grappled with economic injustice
drove Romero to speak out. Eventually this mild-mannered priest became
the charismatic spokesperson of his people.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search