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| El Salvador’s Endless Ordeal | El Salvador’s Endless Ordeal |
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| SAN SALVADOR — In the 1980s, the United States gave the tiny country of El Salvador billions in military and economic aid in an effort to to undermine a leftist insurgency. Washington’s argument for doing so was that El Salvador was a crucial laboratory to determining the future of Latin America. | SAN SALVADOR — In the 1980s, the United States gave the tiny country of El Salvador billions in military and economic aid in an effort to to undermine a leftist insurgency. Washington’s argument for doing so was that El Salvador was a crucial laboratory to determining the future of Latin America. |
| El Salvador has indeed gone on to profoundly shape Latin America, just not in the ways envisioned by the cold warriors. In the end the insurgents of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, or F.M.L.N. , never did succeed in establishing the Soviet proxy state that the Carter and Reagan administrations feared. But the brutal civil war set in motion cycles of violence and impunity that have unleashed waves of migration to the United States. | El Salvador has indeed gone on to profoundly shape Latin America, just not in the ways envisioned by the cold warriors. In the end the insurgents of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, or F.M.L.N. , never did succeed in establishing the Soviet proxy state that the Carter and Reagan administrations feared. But the brutal civil war set in motion cycles of violence and impunity that have unleashed waves of migration to the United States. |
| I returned here last month as part of a delegation examining the root causes of Central American migration to the United States. We toured the Catholic university campus where 30 years ago six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her teenage daughter were killed by a Salvadoran military unit trained by the United States. | I returned here last month as part of a delegation examining the root causes of Central American migration to the United States. We toured the Catholic university campus where 30 years ago six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her teenage daughter were killed by a Salvadoran military unit trained by the United States. |
| The Rev. José María Tojeira, who was then the head of the Jesuit order for Central America, was among the first to see the bodies. At the time he recounted to reporters how “they were assassinated with lavish barbarity.” “They took out their brains,” he said. | The Rev. José María Tojeira, who was then the head of the Jesuit order for Central America, was among the first to see the bodies. At the time he recounted to reporters how “they were assassinated with lavish barbarity.” “They took out their brains,” he said. |
| Father Tojeira escorted us to a bed of roses growing on the spot where five of the six priests were killed that Nov. 16, and encouraged us to enjoy the tranquillity of the place — to reflect on the meaning of the priests’ deaths. | Father Tojeira escorted us to a bed of roses growing on the spot where five of the six priests were killed that Nov. 16, and encouraged us to enjoy the tranquillity of the place — to reflect on the meaning of the priests’ deaths. |
| “Over the years, my conviction has strengthened that the Jesuits were murdered for working in favor of a peaceful and negotiated outcome of the civil war, and for defending the human rights of the poorest, who were the ones especially being afflicted by the war,” he later told me. | “Over the years, my conviction has strengthened that the Jesuits were murdered for working in favor of a peaceful and negotiated outcome of the civil war, and for defending the human rights of the poorest, who were the ones especially being afflicted by the war,” he later told me. |
| The American ambassador at the time, William Walker, called the perpetrators “animals” and “traitors to their country.” He lamented the murder of Ignacio Ellacuría, rector of Central American University and the primary target of the killers, who had been meeting regularly with El Salvador’s president, Alfredo Cristiani, in an effort to help broker peace. | The American ambassador at the time, William Walker, called the perpetrators “animals” and “traitors to their country.” He lamented the murder of Ignacio Ellacuría, rector of Central American University and the primary target of the killers, who had been meeting regularly with El Salvador’s president, Alfredo Cristiani, in an effort to help broker peace. |
| It was not the biggest atrocity committed during the war, but it still resonates today. The international outcry over their deaths, which came as the F.M.L.N. launched its so-called final offensive into the suburbs of San Salvador in 1989, was credited with helping generate momentum toward a United Nations-sponsored negotiation that formally ended the 12-year civil war in 1992. | It was not the biggest atrocity committed during the war, but it still resonates today. The international outcry over their deaths, which came as the F.M.L.N. launched its so-called final offensive into the suburbs of San Salvador in 1989, was credited with helping generate momentum toward a United Nations-sponsored negotiation that formally ended the 12-year civil war in 1992. |
| Moving beyond the trauma of the years of death-squad violence and the disruptions of war has proved difficult. The Salvadoran writer Jorge Galán was forced into exile in 2015 after receiving death threats for writing about the murder of the six Jesuits. “For Galán, the priests represented a vision of peace and justice that could have changed his country’s future.” Danielle Marie Mackey wrote in The New Yorker in 2016. | Moving beyond the trauma of the years of death-squad violence and the disruptions of war has proved difficult. The Salvadoran writer Jorge Galán was forced into exile in 2015 after receiving death threats for writing about the murder of the six Jesuits. “For Galán, the priests represented a vision of peace and justice that could have changed his country’s future.” Danielle Marie Mackey wrote in The New Yorker in 2016. |
| Mr. Galán linked the migrant caravans to the country’s endemic violence and corruption, not just economic factors. “When someone migrates, it is not only due to the lack of an honorable job, but primarily it is to flee from violence,” he told me, echoing an argument of many here. | Mr. Galán linked the migrant caravans to the country’s endemic violence and corruption, not just economic factors. “When someone migrates, it is not only due to the lack of an honorable job, but primarily it is to flee from violence,” he told me, echoing an argument of many here. |
| According to national police figures, disappearances in El Salvador rose significantly in 2018, to nearly 2,500, the highest in more than a dozen years. Salvadoran democracy may have taken a step forward. The F.M.L.N. is now a political party holding the second-largest bloc of seats in the Legislative Assembly, but the scourge of gang violence and corruption risks undermining all progress. | According to national police figures, disappearances in El Salvador rose significantly in 2018, to nearly 2,500, the highest in more than a dozen years. Salvadoran democracy may have taken a step forward. The F.M.L.N. is now a political party holding the second-largest bloc of seats in the Legislative Assembly, but the scourge of gang violence and corruption risks undermining all progress. |
| Father Ellacuría was part of the movement known as liberation theology, inspired by the Second Vatican Council’s call for a more Christ-centered church built on humility and commitment to improving the lives of poor people. Liberation theology was hailed as giving new life to the church, but condemned by many for relying too much on Marxist interpretation. | Father Ellacuría was part of the movement known as liberation theology, inspired by the Second Vatican Council’s call for a more Christ-centered church built on humility and commitment to improving the lives of poor people. Liberation theology was hailed as giving new life to the church, but condemned by many for relying too much on Marxist interpretation. |
| Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pope and the first from the Americas, visited Central America this year and hailed Jesuits working in Central America as “pioneers” in the struggle for social justice. “The Christian faith always entails a pacifist culture,” Father Tojeira told me. “A Christian person from the second century, in those times of persecution, prohibited Christians from attending the gladiators’ matches, saying that to see murder happening is almost like murdering.” | Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pope and the first from the Americas, visited Central America this year and hailed Jesuits working in Central America as “pioneers” in the struggle for social justice. “The Christian faith always entails a pacifist culture,” Father Tojeira told me. “A Christian person from the second century, in those times of persecution, prohibited Christians from attending the gladiators’ matches, saying that to see murder happening is almost like murdering.” |
| Maybe the ultimate lesson of El Salvador’s violent past is simply that remembering does matter, and that the six murdered Jesuits still have lessons to teach, if we let them. | |
| Steve Kettmann, a former San Francisco Chronicle reporter, is co-director of the Wellstone Center in the Redwoods writers retreat center. | |
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