The Production Continues: Monday in San Salvador

Violence is an everyday presence in El Salvador. We awoke to the news that a minivan had been set afire with five people inside, and in another part of the same neighborhood of San Salvador, a house with 11 people inside had been set afire. All of the people in these incidents were killed. We are living in a safe part of the city, and many precautions have been taken to make sure we are safe. But this occurrence made us even more conscious of the need to be alert as we move around El Salvador.

First on the agenda was a trip to the Catholic University. We visited the campus chapel where there was a memorial to six Jesuit priests killed by the military in 1989 because it was thought that they were a part of the FMLN. On the wall in the back of the chapel were moving drawings of torture people experienced during the civil war.

From there, we ventured out onto the campus where each team conducted on camera interviews with university students in which they asked their views on education in El Salvador. The students were very forthcoming with their opinions - good camera material! Catholic University is a private institution; clearly the students are middle class or higher. Later, we will visit the National University, which is a public institution. It will be interesting to compare the views of students at the two schools.

Next, we stopped at the church where Monseñor Romero was killed in the middle of a memorial mass on March 24, 1980. It is a small chapel next to a small hospital that cares for cancer patients. Across the street from the chapel is the residence where Romero lived, preserved exactly as he left it on the day he died. The residence is impressive in its simplicity and humility - a single bed, a rocking chair, a small desk. His car sits in the carport just as he left it.

After a lunch break, we went to the Museo de la Palabra (Museum of the Word). They have changing exhibits on the first floor, as well as a permanent exhibit of the equipment used by Radio Venceremos, the radio station that linked the resistance fighters during the civil war. The museum director, a Venezuelan journalist known in El Salvador as "Santiago," was one of the major announcers on the radio station. On the second floor of the museum is a collection of documents, photos, film and other materials on the history of El Salvador, with a particularly rich collection of records on the civil war. While at the museum, we were fortunate to see a documentary on Radio Venceremos and to interview Santiago for the video project.

This is a living history trip - vivid, amazing and important.