News 11 -- August 10, 1991

“If I were to try to put my wishes in a nutshell for my Salvadoran community to which I return, they would be this: to discover in the daily reading of scriptures, the light and energy to pass from the present darkness of fear and violence to the light of an end to the war and a steady building of a new El Salvador.”

[In some of his letters Larry used the word womyn as his way of expressing the equality of women and men.
campo = farm field or farm region. Campesino(a) = peasant farmer]

Newsletter # 11

August 10, 1991
El Salvador

Dear Friends,

The majority of the community are busy about many things this morning. Many of the men and their sons are in the fields collecting the fruits of their months of labor, though about half of the corn crop is lost to the weeks of drought. The other half has survived. For this reason, there is joy among the people to be eating fresh corn, tamales and atol -- a delicious drink made from corn.

I cannot go anywhere without being invited to share in the reaping of the year's harvest, though faltering this year in its abundance.

I am planning on leaving for the U.S, next week to visit my mom, other family members and friends. I go, as usual, with some anticipation as the country remains tense and as the war continues on. In the midst of negotiations between the FMLN and the Government's military forces, the deeper forces of fear and hate rise to the surface. It looks to me as though the government and its military forces do not wish to end the war through negotiations and peaceful accords. They continue to promulgate hateful propaganda and tactics of kidnapping, torture, and violent death against the guerrilla forces of the FMLN and the civilian population.

To the military and government, an end to the war is disadvantageous. War keeps the money flowing from the U.S. -- that is 1.4 million per day. For those who believe in and benefit from the war, U.S. dollars are indispensable.

From our viewpoint here in the countryside, we see and experience the government's plan with our own eyes. There is an all-out movement to crush opposition to government and military by any and every means necessary.

The popular organizations such as the campesino movements fighting to regain the land and other organizations serving the communities who had to flee their towns and villages and those who crossed the borders into neighboring countries are, upon their return, claiming and demanding their rights. They are a force that must be reckoned with.

No amount of money or military strength will overcome them. Concretely speaking, this has meant the march of campesinos to demand their right to the land. This year alone thousands of acres of land have been claimed by the campesinos as their families´ rightful duty to work in order to survive. These acres and acres of land `owned' but not used by the rich are being defended--often by violent methods--by the Arena party and the military. We in our community are parceling out this land of the rich so that no family here goes hungry. It would otherwise not be used and serve no purpose at all.

Because of this possession of the land by the campesino, hundreds have been arrested, tortured and imprisoned. Others have disappeared and been killed. In our community, the military presence has been increasing day by day. Arrests and imprisonment of members of our community is steadily increasing each day.

A week ago today we awoke to an entire battalion of soldiers, heavily armed, passing by foot through the middle of our settlement. Men, womyn and children lined the porch rail of the hacienda watching as the soldiers passed through. Not a word was uttered or need be. Passing out of our front entrance, the soldiers continued down our road in the direction of the corn fields, watermelon patch and the grazing land for the animals. It was a tense few minutes. Arriving to work in the watermelon patch, I saw the last of one of the brigades making its way past a group of campesinos in the direction of the river below us.

We moved slowly into the field to begin to cut and bring the watermelons to those with the wheelbarrows waiting close by. It wasn't 10 minutes into our work, that we heard the sound of automatic weapons in the distance. Then mortar shots shook the earth about us and a battle set in that would last for 12 hours, at a cost of more than 30 government soldiers dead, 80 wounded and several soldiers captured by the FMLN. The FMLN had set an ambush. One member of the guerrilla forces was reported killed and 3 wounded.

At 2:00 pm, the community was witness to two jet planes roaring at tree-top distance overhead. Never had I experienced such sudden terror as the mountainside in front of us went up in smoke. This was a show by experts who manipulated these U.S.-made planes with exact precision. A Franciscan sister from the U.S., also working here, remarked: "Only American pilots could have flown this mission with the skill displayed overhead.”

We are a community of 1200; 600 being children and the other part being made up of mostly womyn and the elderly. Arriving less than a year and a half ago, after 9 years in a refugee camp in Honduras, our community was promised the right to return to the land, live in peace and be granted the necessary documents to move about in El Salvador, free from harassment. We wish we could say that such freedom has been granted our people but the opposite has been true.

An accurate description of what to expect in the coming months is hard to predict. The complexity within the Arena Party and the Armed Forces, along with the external pressures from the Bush administration makes such a prediction impossible. At best, some basic hopes can be underlined.

The Salvadoran people are tired after 11 years of war and 75,000 dead. The popular organizations have regained their strength and unity. They have discovered this strength and unity in walking the long haul together. With the support of the international community, these organizations and communities such as our own will persevere until justice and peace reign here in El Salvador.

The FMLN guerrilla forces are not weak and divided among themselves as Colonel Emiliano Ponce, chief of the Salvadoran Armed Forces, would have the world believe. The FMLN is at the negotiating table to bring about a cease-fire, but only with conditions attached:

---To demilitarize the Armed Forces. This basically means to cut the number of 60,000 soldiers to 5 or 6,000, essential to maintain the security of the country.

---To do away with the National Guard units and the National police; both groups are notorious for their atrocious acts of violence against the civilian population.

---To recognize the FMLN as a legitimate political entity, with the areas under their control respected as such.

Months and months at the negotiating table has brought no concrete results, no cease- fire with agreements from both sides attached. What can be hoped for in the near future? We in our community and other repatriated communities and with the displaced groups and popular organizations throughout the country linked to international community sense our common strength and will continue to build our communities stronger in every possible way. We have come a long way. There can be no turning back now.

Our community is getting closer and closer to becoming self-sufficient. Our clothes, our shoes, our tables, beds and chairs are made with our own hands. Many of our basic food staples are grown on our land: corn, soybeans, rice, along with more and more tomatoes, chilis, squash and watermelon. A banking system is underway as is our educational program. They become more sound each day. We have five years of basic grammar school and then offer skills that will provide each person to earn his or her own salary. This looks good on paper, but is more difficult to accomplish than meets the eye.

Most of the above was completed since my return to the U.S. almost four weeks ago. I have received almost no news, especially through the news media here, about El Salvador.

As I sat in my mom's apartment tonight, after most have retired to bed, I picked up a small book on Bonhoeffer's reflection on the Word of God: "We read the Word daily and its spirit enters our hearts and we are strengthened for whatever the day may bring."

Bonhoeffer wished this for all with whom he lived and worked. He believed that the daily reading of the Word would enlighten our beings with the energy and light to walk through whatever darkness, into the light.

If I were to try to put my wishes in a nutshell for my Salvadoran community to which I return, they would be this: to discover in the daily reading of scriptures, the light and energy to pass from the present darkness of fear and violence to the light of an end to the war and a steady building of a new El Salvador. Let us all work toward this end that Dietrich Bonhoeffer himself so aspired.

Until next year, friends,

Lorenzo