Stories of War and Hope

Stories of War and Hope  From Tim's Blog

Worth a visit is the website El Salvador: Stories of War and Hope. The website has collected oral testimonies of participants in the events of El Salvador's civil war. The words of these participants put a human face on that tumultuous period for an English speaking audience.

One Story

Defending Our Town - Miguel




Miguel (not his real name) grew up in a town terrorized by death squads. When he was merely six years old, he was forced to witness the death of his own first grade teacher. Historically, this event coincides with the repression against teacher's strikes (1969 and 1971) organized by the ANDES-21, or National Association of Salvadoran Educators.


By the time he was twelve, Miguel and other children in the town decided to create a defense group, armed with slingshots, to try to put a stop to the nightly kidnappings and murders. The group of approximately 50 adolescents slowly became a small guerrilla as they confronted the army with stolen weapons. They eventually joined the FMLN when the war exploded, and Miguel was among the survivors who “liberated” his town from the armed forces to incorporate it into guerrilla-controlled territory.



 http://www.memoriaypaz.net/repression1.php?testi_id1=58