Director of CoMadres visits the east coast

Here's a story from the Journal of International Affairs at The New School,  about Patty, the director of CoMadres, who visited New York, Boston, and Washington DC last month. Patricia Garcia, director of CoMadres, talks about the work of the committee and her experiences during the civil war.

Slow progress

I'm getting very anxious because I go back to work (knock on wood) in late August and the book is not coming together. I'm nearing the sheer panic stage, but trying hard to not let this feeling spiral out of control.
Inez and I made a new and improved outline. It feels simpler, but maybe it's just because I broke the book up into more chapters. One concern we have is that the book be readable to folks who don't have a college education, and for that reason we want each chapter to be fairly short and to have a clearly identifiable focus. Also I just couldn't seem to make it work using the previous outline. So far this one is working better.

Yesterday Heider, my transcriber/editor/Spanish tutor extraordinaire helped me write an intro to chapter 3. It  is just a simple straight-forward paragraph that lays out what's in the chapter and it's very satisfying to have that done.

Now I'm editing chapter 4, which is a compilation of stories of how various women came to be involved with CoMadres. I am reading the testimony of Transito. She talks about how happy she was to join the comité, that once she put on the black dress that was their uniform she wasn't afraid any more. How she was homeless, but found a piece of vacant land and built a champa or shack on it of cardboard and plastic sheeting for the roof, and how happy she was because during the day she would work in the CoMadres office and at night she had her little champita to go to.

Here's part of Transito's story:    They (the mothers) had gone out in a large march because some people had been captured and they were demanding their release. So I said to myself, "Here comes some activity." I was standing on the corner and I joined in. I saw that they were all in black. "Oh so this is the Committee of Mothers!" I said. So I went and talked to them. The compañeras greeted me because I told them I wanted to join. They told me, "Yes, join us." Well, I was happy because I had joined the committee. Later we went out, everyone giving out flyers where we asked for the liberty of those who had been taken prisoner. That's when I felt happy. "This is my place," I said, "here is where I'll stay."

Transito: from an interview in 2007) Ellas habían salido en una gran marcha porque habían capturado gente y ellas andaban reclamando. Entonces dije yo, “Viene una actividad,” y yo estaba así en una esquina, y me incorporé. Vi que iban todas de negro, “Ah pues, esto es el Comité de Madres,” dije yo. Bueno  yo llegué y platiqué. Las compañeras me recibieron bien porque yo les dije que yo me quería incorporar. Mi dijeron, “Sí. Incorpore.” Bueno, yo feliz porque me había incorporado con ellas. Vaya luego salimos, todos andábamos reyando volantes, donde se pedía libertad de los que estaban presos. Ahí yo me sentía feliz. “Este es mi lugar,” dije yo, “aquí me voy a quedar.” 

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. 

This is a small part of a large mural being painted of a typical march , with the Madres in their uniforms.  See the paint cans at the bottom? It's still in progress.

Painting of peasant woman and child. 

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.