Comité de Madres y Familiares de los Desaparecidos, Presos Políticos y Asesinados, Monseñor Oscar Arnulfo Romero

(Committee of Mothers and Relatives of the Disappeared, Political Prisoners and Assassinated, Monsignor Oscar Arnulfo Romero)

Friday, January 4, 2013


I had a fantastic visit with Patty, Blanca, Sofia, Trini, and other members of CoMadres at the end of November, 2012. Didn't find a publisher, but I learned a lot about the process and left feeling hopeful. One of the cool things I got to see was that, with the help of college students and others, the madres are converting their office into a monument to their history, as well as a place where they conduct their ongoing work for human rights. Here are a few photos of the murals, paintings and photos in the office. 


Mural of Romero with the people whose rights he defended, and Madre Alicia.

Gallery of photos of torture and murder victims-
a gruesome reminder of why CoMadres exists. .
Portrait of Romero. 




Here's the translation of the first page of chapter 2 of our book, which as of yet has no title. Please see the previous blog post for an explanation of this. It's just the first page, and so ends abruptly. .


Chapter 2:  Memories of Mother Alicia. These are her words, but they could be from any of a multitude of other mothers who experienced the same events in their lives over the years that led to war.

 I remember that Archbishop Romero said,
                "It is up to you to make road where there is no path. It is up to you to open gap between hills and brambles. You will encounter many obstacles along the way. You will stumble over many stones. But you will overcome, because the work we have started is very worthy. It is the defense of life. "

             Back in '74 is they started disappearing persons. I was 32, and people began to disappear. And at protest marches they began beating people, peasants. When campesinos came to the place for the march, and when they returned from the march, the Hacienda Police and the National Guard would capture and beat them, and then they’d leave them there in the road. So that people would see, and wouldn’t go to the marches. That was an order by the landowners.
            At that time, the army was quite independent. They considered the defense minister to be their boss. The president had no control over the army. No, no. The office of the Minister of Defense was in charge of the military-all of it. The Hacienda Police, National Police, National Guard ... he had power to command all the branches. And still does.
            The Hacienda Police used to guard the estates. But later they became a very repressive body, very criminal. The National Guard became criminal as well. At that time the National Guard received visitors  from other countries like the United States... and Europe. People said that U.S. military advisers came to help the authorities here. After the arrival of foreigners the National Guard began their criminal practices.
           Well, the thing is that there were people who were quite unhappy. And that discontent motivated people to organize. Unions increased organizing in the workplace; workers organized. Many cooperatives appeared; cooperatives were organized.
            After that came the repression of the march of July 30, 1975. In 1975, university students held a march where they demanded better conditions for education in college. They called for improved curriculum. And they wanted the classrooms to be improved. Because, [for example,] some of the chairs were ruined. Then wanted general improvements, to teaching and to the places where they had classes. That was the protest, the demand of the government. [1]
                But the government had prepared a large ... a group of soldiers. And there they was like ... a lack of control of everything. There was uncontrolled slaughter all because with this massacre, there was…

[1] The army took over the campus of Santa Ana of the University of El Salvador on July 25, 1975. The July 30, 1975 protest demanded that the military leave the University.