EL SALVADOR

READ

 

First published in 1980, One Day of Life, by Manlio Argueta, details the brutal repression of working people in El Salvador, which led to the country’s civil war. The book is told from many points of view, but mainly it follows the life of Lupe Guardado, a grandmother whose family members are at risk because of their opposition to the authoritarian regime and the rich landowners who seek to exploit them.

Lupe’s son has already been murdered by security forces, and her husband has been hiding out in the hills, along with many other men from the town. Now the authorities want to question Lupe’s teenage granddaughter, who was part of a group that occupied the local cathedral to protest the slaughter of those who had fought back against the murder of Lupe’s son. Archbishop Óscar Romero, who we know from history was later assassinated by security forces, gives the group permission to stay in the cathedral for several days, then arranges for them to be safely evacuated by the Red Cross.

The role of the Catholic church in the repression of the townspeople comes into play throughout the book. Salvadoran peasants had been told by the priests for as long as they could remember that it was their lot in life to work hard for the landowners and be obedient to the authorities. They were promised that they would be rewarded in heaven. But new priests began to appear who wanted to help make their lives better in the here and now, and they encouraged the people to stand up for themselves and fight for their rights. Those priests were considered a threat to the people in power, and they suffered accordingly.

In addition to hearing the point of view of the working people, a couple of chapters in the book are written from the viewpoint of the members of the security forces, who grew up among the townspeople but ended up taking a different path. They look down on their fellow Salvadorans, convinced that they are Communists and that they will ruin the country if they are allowed to organize for a better life.

One Day of Life was a difficult book to read, as the torture and murder described by the author is unrelenting. By the end, though, I felt great admiration for the brave people of El Salvador, who were willing to fight for their human rights against such seemingly insurmountable odds.

COOK

Lupe and her family had a very simple diet as they were poor and unable to afford much variety in their food. There were always beans, though, so I decided to make a Salvadoran favorite – pupusas. These are fried disks of cornmeal dough stuffed with various fillings, often beans. I found a recipe for vegan pupusas online at the Curious Chickpea’s website. They are stuffed with refried beans and vegan jalapeño cheese, then served with purple cabbage slaw and either salsa or guacamole. The dough was very difficult to work with, so only one of the pupusas was pretty enough for a picture. But they were tasty and very filling.

GIVE

GlobalGiving.com listed four projects in El Salavador. For my donation, I chose a project by the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, which is seeking to plant 100,000 fruit trees in El Salvador. As the project description explains, “Deforestation and soil erosion in El Salvador has had serious environmental, social, and economic impacts, and is something that affects mostly the rural population with nearly one million Salvadorans living in poverty and over 50% of El Salvador unsuitable for food cultivation.” It is the foundation’s hope that by planting these fruit trees, they will be able to “prevent erosion, create wildlife habitat, contribute to global cooling, provide nutritious food and improve air quality.” More information about the fruit tree planting project is available at https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/elsalvador/.

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