Day by Day in El Salvador - Day Three

Just adding this in because it is so fun!

We will be spending all day at UCA - Universidad Centroamericana "José Simeón Cañas" (UCA)

UCA played an important part during the war sadly because of the massacre of the Jesuit priests and their housekeeper and her daughter.  

Now UCA has satellite campuses in various parts of the country including San Jose las Flores where they are training teachers.  This will be a good day!

All day:  Seminars at Central American University (UCA – Jesuit University) covering education topics, e.g. liberation theology, critical pedagogy, popular education, the role of the Church in social struggle, the legacy of Archbishop Romero and the Jesuit scholars.  Here is more about the university from Wikipedia:

"José Simeón Cañas" Central American University[1] (Universidad Centroamericana "José Simeón Cañas", UCA) is a private university with non-profit purposes in San Salvador, El Salvador, Central America run by the Society of Jesus. It was founded in September 1965 at the request of a group of Roman Catholic families who appealed to the Salvadoran government and to the Society of Jesus to create another university as an alternative to the University of El Salvador (Universidad de El Salvador).

UCA has since evolved to be one of the best institutions of higher learning in Central America (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama).[2] This is the case, despite the university's focus on playing a decisive role in the transformation of the unjust Salvadoran society.[3] Such a focus within the Salvadoran context has driven the university to give priority to undergraduate degrees, research within the social sciences, popular presentation of research results ("proyección social") and local peer-reviewed journals. All of these are elements which formally reduce the university's impact in international rankings. In the 1970s and 1980s during the Civil War in El Salvador, UCA was known as the home of several internationally recognized Jesuit scholars and intellectuals, including Jon Sobrino, Ignacio Ellacuría, Ignacio Martín-Baró, and Segundo Montes. They were outspoken against the abuses of the Salvadoran military and government, and carried out research to demonstrate the effects of the war and poverty in the country. The extreme social conditions in El Salvador provided a very rich empirical basis for innovative research within sociology, social anthropology, philosophy, social psychology and theology. These scholars made important and lasting contributions within these fields. Ellacuría, Martín-Baró and Segundo Montes, along with three other Jesuit professors, their housekeeper and her daughter, were murdered by the Salvadoran Armed forces on November 16, 1989 in one of the most notorious episodes from the Civil War (see The murdered scholars of UCA).

This is a new day for us, we should take a careful look at this day - what are your impressions of this day?  Is this interesting for you?  This day was originally designed when this trip was going to be a university credit.  Does this work as an element in an introductory tour of El Salvador?  Please comment on this.

Related articles

• killing priests and nuns, because they support the poor
• Former guerrilla in El Salvador
• U.S. Sentences Salvadoran Linked to Massacre for Immigration Fraud

Day by Day in El Salvador - A Discussion

Day Two in El Salvador

Day Two in El salvador looks like this:

AM: Workshop with Equipo Maíz on socio-political history of El Salvador
PM: “Contrasts Tour” of San Salvador to witness the geographical distribution of social
inequity and exclusion among some of San Salvador’s neighbourhoods

We are starting our discussion with Day Two because we will only get into San Salvador around 8:30 PM - too late to do anything but get settled and sleep - the travel days are long!

We start Day Two by visiting with Equipo Maiz.  This is the best way to start.  On past trips we have had a terrific introduction to the history of El Salvador from this group.

They have a very interesting way of teaching using popular education techniques.  Equipo Maiz has conducted workshops throughout Latin America and the United States.  They use great illustrations like the one above to build a picture of how the current struggles in this country have evolved over time.

This is really important - how can people expect to understand the current dynamic in this country unless they have some understanding of its history?

Here is an excerpt from one of my journals detailing my first visit with Equipo Maiz in 2005:

We went to a lot of meetings in the first two days in El Salvador. On our second full day 

we met with Equipo Maiz, the Corn Team, who gave us an alternative history of El 

Salvador. History is so important if we want to get a true measure of the character of a 

country. This is the specialty of Equipo Maiz. They have worked since 1983 with small 

communities to develop a greater understanding of the people’s situation. Through 

workshops on gender issues, civil participation, privatization and leadership, they hope to 

equip people with the knowledge to better understand their current situation. They also 

specialize in telling the story of El Salvador’s past.

A key point in the story. In 1932, the government exterminated over 30,000 indigenous 

people after a failed revolt. This has resulted in the total denial of the native heritage of 

the Salvadorans. Unlike Mexico and Guatemala, there is no talk of an indigenous culture 

in El Salvador. There are really only two indigenous communities now in El Salvador. 

You can see the native heritage in the faces of the people, but the culture is kept in check. 

People fear a return to the 1930’s. They have good reason for their fears. Other 

countries like Haiti and Guatemala have suffered from similar disasters. 

Our history lesson included the FMLN, still a strong presence in the country. The 

FMLN, named after Farabundo Marti, the leader of the indigenous insurrection of the 

1930’s is a coalition of leftwing groups that formed in 1980 to present an armed front to 

the military government of the country. Most of the areas we visited are controlled by 

the FMLN, now a legitimate political party. Many of the people we worked with, 

including Miguel and Damian are ex-FMLN fighters. 

The afternoon activity is new to me - I will ask Rene our trip coordinator for information about this and add this to our blog.

What questions do you have for Equipo Maiz?

Related articles

• Ex-Guerrilla Declared El Salvador President