Morazán and El Mozote

Last night, we returned from a two-day trip to the northeastern province of Morazán. It was in this area that much of the guerilla activity of the civil war occurred. As one of our hosts, Sebastián, who lives in the area and who was a guerilla fighter in the war, explained to us, a trip to Morazán is never for tourism; it is, instead, to immerse yourself in the history of 20th century El Salvador.

We began at the town of El Mozote, the site of one of the most horrible events of the war. The U.S.-supported army rounded up men, women, and children on the pretense that they were going to be fed. Instead, the officers separated the three groups and systematically exterminated each one, burning them inside buildings, raping the young women and then killing them, or simply shooting the people and then burning the buildings to "hide" the evidence. Despite the work of an Argentine forensic team that worked the site after the war, it is unknown exactly how many people were killed, although estimates range between 800 and 1000. The church, which was one of the buildings in which people were burned, has been rebuilt, and the memorial to the victims is close by. On one side of the church is a memorial garden, and the names of the children who died are listed on the wall of the church under a tile mural expressing hope for the future of El Salvador. On the other side of the church is a more traditional mural, focused on Salvadoran families. The memorial itself features an outline of four figures - two adults and two children - behind which is a wall with the names of families victimized in the massacre. We took a fair amount of footage in and around the memorial, and each one of us paused for a few private minutes to ponder the meaning of the place.

In the afternoon, we spent a delightful hour or two at the Rio Sapo (literally, "frog river"), next to several waterfalls. We shot some B-roll, and captured some sound. But more importantly, we were able to wander around, enjoy the view and the natural environment, and take some photos. Much of our trip has involved rushing from one spot to another and shooting under a time schedule, so this was a rare chance to kick back and enjoy the site without having to rush.

We spent the night at a hotel - really a set of rustic cabins built on a hill, with a panoramic vista of the area, surrounding a main dining room. The owned of the hotel is a North American who married a Salvadoran woman, and who donates a portion of his profits to schools in the area. Two of our hosts - Sebastián, mentioned above, and Alfonso Avelar, who has traveled with us - play the guitar, and Sebastián's son plays the drums, so they provided us with some music and song. Student Alex Hernández, who was born in the U.S. but whose family has a farm in the area, was able to spend some time with his relatives. He had visited the area numerous times before, but he had never been to El Mozote.

Our first stop in the morning was the civil war museum in Pequín. The museum displays many photos, as well as articles, such as guns, radios, transmitters, and other items, used in the war. Perhaps our favorite display was a photo of one of our hosts, Evelyn Huezo - a now middle-aged woman, trained as a social worker and employed as such by the Salvadoran police, who heads one of two non-profits that work with Manos de Esperanza. In that photo, a young Evelyn holds a rifle in one hand and has an ice cream cone in the other. The remains of a helicopter that exploded, killing a key army general, are at the museum, as well as one of the transmitters for Radio Venceremos, the radio station that provided information to the guerillas. We enjoyed the recreation of the station itself, in which paper egg cartons lined the walls for sound insulation.

Before we left the area for San Salvador, we stopped an a primary school where Manos de Esperanza again donated notebooks and pencils. We were able to interview on tape a number of the children, and the director, or principal, of the school. We also got more footage of Manos' donation of supplies to the children. It continues to amaze us how Salvadorans do so much with so little. The schools we have visited are modest at best, but somehow, they manage to continue educating children.