This December it will have been ten years since the Peace Accords (Acuerdo de Paz Firme y Duradera) were signed in Guatemala after 36 years of civil war. As a campaigning group in the UK, we have always been really interested in what the UK government's view is on the issue of bringing the perpertrators of genocide in Guatemala during the civil war to justice.
In a recent exchange with the government, Tom Levitt MP asked two questions on the human rights situation in Guatemala. A GSN member followed up the responses by asking Tom Levitt MP if he could get clarification from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on a number of points. Mr Levitt got the following response (24-06-06) from Lord Triesman as the Minister responsible for Latin America.
His response contained the rather worrying typo that only 20,000 people were killed or disappeared rather than the 200,000 cited by the UN CEH report in 1999.
When the UK government says "they [Guatemala government] have accepted responsibility for atrocities, apologised and arranged compensation". Of course, as with all government- speak there is a grain of truth in this, with, for example, the setting up of the National Compensation Programme (Programa Nacional de Resarcimiento). But the process of compensation has yet to have reached anywhere near fruition- and is starting to lose its way. Certainly this is not enough to warrant Lord Triesman's rosy assessment.
The central point remains: the Peace Accords were signed nearly ten years ago and the Guatemalan government has never accepted, nor apologised for, nor arranged compensation for the crime of genocide. Because of this, but certainly not solely because of this, the cases against the perpertrators of genocide who remain in Guatemala, have avoided just punishment for their crimes. You need look no further than the latest debacle where Rios Montt was shielded from the Spanish investigation into his responsibility for genocide crimes last week (30-06-06), by the Guatemalan Constitutional Court.
Yeh ok you guys already know this. But our point here in the UK, is that the UK government has been careful to avoid describing the mass killings in Guatemala in the 1980s as genocide; it prefers the more generic term 'human rights abuses' in Guatemala (see Lord Triesman's response above, but also Douglas Alexander's response to Tom Levitt in Parliament).
We have, perhaps because of this, had difficulty in getting the All Parliamentary Party Group on Genocide Prevention to even consider Guatemala as part of its remit. We will continue to push the UK government for clarification on this point.
This is an excerpt of a documentary "Guatemala No Nos Tientes" (made about 15 years ago) about the student movement in Guatemala in the face of a repressive government. This video has been posted by Otras Voces. It is mainly in Spanish with subtitles in English.
Here we wanted to publish this good news about Rights Action's long running campaign in Honduras- just over the border with Guatemala. This was sent to us by Rights Action:
Since January 2003, Rights Action has been supporting and involved with efforts to free the Miranda Brothers, campesino-Lenca political prisoners in Honduras, members of COPINH, a major Rights Action partner group in Honduras. Finally there is good news. THANK-YOU to everyone and every group that has helped out with funds and activism.
HONDURAS: AFTER THREE YEARS OF FALSE AND ABUSIVE IMPRISONMENT, SUPREME COURT ACQUITS POLITICAL PRISONERS MARCELINO AND LEONARDO MIRANDA FALSELY CHARGED WITH MURDER
by Sandra Vagabunda, www.rightsaction.org, caminando27 [at] yahoo.es
It is time to take a moment to celebrate some good news for a change!
The Honduran Supreme Court of Justice has acquitted Montaña Verde community leaders Marcelino and Leonardo Miranda of murder, a fabricated charge for which they had been sentenced to 25 years in jail. This is a final decision.
The Miranda brothers release awaits the official certification of the Supreme Courts Secretariat and the case files journey back down through the court system to the Appeals Court in Santa Rosa de Copán and then to the courthouse in Gracias, the town in which Marcelino and Leonardo have been unjustly imprisoned since their illegal detention and torture in January 2003.
With great joy, Rights Action joins the Civic Council of Grassroots and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) in celebrating the news and recognizing the many many actions, letters, telephone calls, faxes, emails and messages from many many people that have all contributed to this victory.
We would like to share COPINHs message to all of you:
This acquittal would not have been possible were it not for all the local, national and international solidarity and pressure. Thus, in the most fraternal way, we thank all the individuals, organizations, churches and other networks and groups that have supported the campaign for the Miranda brothers freedom.
COPINH is asking that solidarity with Montaña Verde and community leaders be maintained until all falsely accused community leaders are released and until the communities of Montaña Verde receive legal title to their communal ancestral lands.
Meanwhile, Rights Action shares with you our celebration of this extremely important victory. It is a victory of Marcelino and Leonardo themselves, their families, the communities of Montaña Verde, COPINH, and each and every one of us.
It demonstrates the power of our collective activism, made up of every individual letter and action. We invite you to reflect and celebrate on this victory and on the importance of relentless efforts for justice in this and other cases, even as we all struggle for justice on a global scale.
Rights Action will continue to support COPINH and Montaña Verde in their struggles for justice, land, the environment and locally-controlled community development. We will also continue to inform you of the continuing attention and actions needed for the release of the Miranda brothers and of other Montaña Verde community leaders (Margarito Vargas currently in jail, Tiburcio Bautista also falsely accused of several crimes, including the same murder).
Over a hundred organisations have signed the letter below expressing their hope that the arrival of the Spanish investigation team represents a step forward in the fight against the prevailing impunity in Guatemala.
Reuters have picked up on the story in the UK, reporting on the current uncertainty surrounding Spanish judge, Santiago Pedraz's (left - abc.es), authority in Guatemala to question Efrain Rios Montt and others in connections with genocide charges. The Rigoberta Menchu Tum Foundation is confident that the last minute legal blocking tactics (Prensa Libre) by Rios Montt and Mejia Victores on Friday (23-06-2006) will amount to nothing. We'll see- there's likely to be several more twists in this tale of Guatemalan justice before the impune get their day in court.
OPEN LETTER
The undersigned organizations and individuals, in solidarity with the survivors of State terrorism involved in the struggle against impunity in Guatemala, express the following:
With the arrival of the Spanish Investigative Commission comes the responsibility on the part of the State of Guatemala to ensure the safety of all those involved.The international community will accompany and monitor this process.
To the President of the Republic of Guatemala,
To the President of the Supreme Justice Court,
To the President of Congress,
To the Attorney General,
To our accredited diplomatic representatives in Guatemala,
With great satisfaction, we received the October 5th, 2005 decision of the Spanish Constitutional Court confirming the legitimacy of the Spanish Justice System to investigate and prosecute for genocide and crimes against humanity committed in Guatemala, regardless of victims’ nationality. This decision represents a transcendental advance toward establishing “Universal Jurisdiction” and, as such, is an important step in the struggle against impunity in Guatemala.
The atrocities that took place in Guatemala during the internal armed conflict are well-documented in the report of the UN Commission for Historical Clarification. They include at least 626 massacres committed by State forces as well as acts of genocide. We are saddened that the Guatemalan Justice System has been incapable of convicting those responsible for these crimes despite the many cases filed and evidence presented by the survivors and other human rights activists. Furthermore, we are concerned that continual attacks suffered by human rights activists will remain uninvestigated. To date, not one suspect has been charged.
Ultimately, we ask the State of Guatemala to demonstrate its commitment to human rights, the fight against impunity, and the enforcement of the Rule of Law, by actively supporting the investigation carried out by the Spanish Commission starting on June 24th as it gathers testimonies related to crimes of genocide, torture and terrorism that occurred in Guatemala.
In particular, we ask that the State comply with requests for the protection of the physical and psychological security of the human rights defenders involved including those who will present testimony. It is therefore essential that attacks against activists be investigated and that those found responsible be convicted. The work being done in the political arena toward justice and against impunity must be respected.
We ask our accredited diplomatic representatives in Guatemala to fulfill their mandate to oversee that human rights are respected and that they demand that the Guatemalan State follow through with its responsibility to protect human rights defenders and to investigate any attacks against them.
We would like to reiterate our commitment to accompany the struggle against impunity, and we will continue to oversee the security of those human rights defenders involved in legal processes for human rights violations committed in Guatemala and, in particular, those who are providing evidence to the Spanish Investigative Commission.
We thank you for your attention and hope that, in fulfilling your duties, you assume the responsibility to ensure that the respective entities take the necessary measures to guarantee that this judicial process be carried out free of violence against human rights defenders in Guatemala.
As of 29 June, 89 organisations, 979 people from 29 countries signed this open letter. You can see the letter in Spanish is attached with signatories.
Jenni Murray writes this article in praise of the work of Marielos Monzón in the New Statesmen. I'm sure this article was in the print edition around the time Marielos appeared on the Woman's Hour programme last year during her visit to the UK. I think the article just gone into the online version because I can't see any new info added to update the situation with Marielos as of last year. For background info see our blog post on this when Marielos visited last October to receive a prestigious award from Amnesty International.
Found this interesting documentary in development called 'Voice of a Mountain'. It's written Michael Field and shot by Tyler Rumph.
According to their website, "Voice of a Mountain is a story of the lives of rural Guatemalan coffee farmers who took up arms against their government in a civil war that lasted 36 years. This documentary explores Guatemala's dark history from the perspective of those who saw armed revolution as their only hope for change in a poverty-ridden nation under years of military dictatorship. Ex-combatants talk about the bleak reality of the country that led to their involvement in the war, and the response of genocide from the Guatemalan government against its people. The documentary gives insight into their motives for joining an armed conflict as interviews reveal personal accounts of struggle, hope, tragedy, and the fruits of their resistance."
GUATEMALA: KILLER'S PARADISE: By Jane Pelly de Jocolt (rightsactionuk [at] yahoo.co.uk) Some of you may have seen the chilling documentary 'Killer's Paradise' Shown a couple of weeks ago on BBC 2 about the continuing rise in the murders of women in Guatemala . The facts are chilling; in 2005, 665 murders were registered by the National Police in Guatemala City and its sprawling satellite city Villa Nueva. This is just the tip of the iceberg; elsewhere in the country no one is counting despite the attempts of the Red de no Violencia, a network of grass roots women's organizations, to keep track of the numbers of murders recorded in the press.
Victims are typically women aged 16-30, from poor barrios. The documentary follows the cases of several women and doesn't spare us the details of the appalling torture and rape that many of them suffer: Claudia Madrid, aged 21, shot in the street, leaves a husband and two children; Claudina Valesquez, 19 year old law student, shot in the street; Stephanie Lopez, aged 13, tortured with multiple stab wounds; 20 year old Titina, a law student kidnapped and then brutally murdered... the list goes on.
THE SO-CALLED "PEACE ACCORDS"
These assassinations take place in a country accustomed to violence, Where impunity is the norm. In 1996 after 36 years of civil war it was hoped that the signing of the Peace Accords might start to bring about changes, but after 3 decades violence and impunity continue to manifest themselves throughout society. The National Police are unequipped or unwilling to deal with the crimes (no national data base, no DNA testing etc); the justice system is totally ineffectual, witnesses are too afraid to speak out; many believe that the police are themselves involved. Of more than 2000 documented murders of women during the last 4 years only a handful of the perpetrators have been brought to justice.
The words of the grieving mother of Stephanie Lopez reflect this climate of fear: "I don't want anyone to investigate my daughter's murder, I have other children to think about".
THE IMPUNITY OF GENERATIONS OF KILLERS
Explanations behind the ever increasing levels of violence are complex and varied but perhaps at the heart of the problem lies the impunity that continues to be enjoyed by generations of killers. Of the hundreds of massacres carried out during the civil war involving many women and children, only a handful of the lowest ranking killers (civil defense patrollers) have been brought to justice.
By any reckoning levels of violence in Guatemala are high; the number of men violently murdered is 8 times that of women, but the gap is closing.
Many blame the maras or street gangs made up of the young, poor, unemployed and desperate, fuelled by drug trafficking and common crime. Recently their numbers have been swelled by gang members deported from the USA.
Domestic violence, both physical and psychological, is widespread and not classed as a criminal offence. Abuse of women is both private and public spheres is common. Indigenous women suffer particularly; in traditional Mayan communities a rapist is spared punishment if he marries his victim. Young women over protected by strong catholic and evangelical beliefs are hopelessly ignorant about sex and vulnerable to exploitation, prostitution is widespread.
More chillingly a recent report by FIDH (Federacion Internacional de Derechos Humanos) believes that clandestine organizations who have worked behind the scenes for decades, proping up unpopular governments, the wealthy elite and keeping popular protest in check, may well be behind this plague of violence.
HR defenders are all too familiar with their unmarked cars with polarized windows that many say have been seen at the scene of these crimes.
It would appear that these organizations want to send a message of terror and intimidation to all women.
EXTRAORDINARILY BRAVE GUATEMALAN WOMEN
Against all the odds there are extraordinarily brave Guatemalan women who put their own lives on the line to provide attention to victim's families, to draw the media attention to the situation, to provide physical and psychological attention to survivors of violence and to pressure the government into doing its job.
The documentary briefly mentions the work of the women of the grassroots organization Ixqik, in the department of the Peten, who are working to train a regional network of promoters who will provide support and access to legal attention for victims and their families in remote rural communities. Many women's organizations have long worked on empowering women to enable them to say no to violence. In Guatemala City AMES - Associacion de Mujeres en Solidaridad campaigns with other members of the Red de no Violencia and provides support to victims.
Every year grass roots organizations join together to march to the central park in Guatemala City where they create a moving memorial to the dead with photos, candles and flowers. Their slogan is: "Por la vida de las mujeres - ni una muerte mas" (In defense of women's lives; Not one more death).
The following is a transcript of parts of the documentary.
KILLER'S PARADISE IN GUATEMALA By Olenka Frenkiel, BBC This World, May 3, 2006
The number of women killed in Guatemala is soaring, but not a single murderer has been convicted. A BBC documentary team traveled there to find out why.
Claudia Madrid, aged 21, lies dead in the gutter, shot while walking with her children. Investigators walk past her husband in the morgue as he waits to identify her body. They will never question him. "It's the fashion here to murder women. They never investigate such third class crimes," he says.
He smiles.
Two refuse sacks containing the body of a woman cut into 19 pieces are found in the street. Her decapitated head lies in the road. Police remove her limbs from the plastic bags to show the press. If no one comes to identify her she will be classed XX, and buried in an unmarked grave.
[More than 2,000 women have been murdered in the last four years]
'RED NAIL VARNISH'
The swollen naked body of another woman lies in a dried up river bed. Her mouth hangs open. Her eyes and a gash in her skull have been pecked by vultures. An investigator says: "She was probably a prostitute." He points at her hands. "red nail varnish," he says. In Guatemala , the victim is always to blame. Another XX.
CAUSE OF DEATH
Fifteen million people live in Guatemala and two women are murdered there every day. Even more men are murdered, but the gap is closing fast. In 2005, 665 women were killed - more than 20% up on the previous year. No-one really knows why because the crimes are rarely investigated. Not one of the 665 murders last year has been solved. Are these gangland killings? Crimes of passion? Domestic violence? Serial killers? Probably all of these. Norma Cruz, a human rights activist explains: "There is no fingerprint data base, no DNA testing, no profiling of the victims, or of the murders themselves. There is no ballistics database, no cross-referencing."
SYSTEMATIC IMPUNITY AND GENERATIONS OF KILLERS
No-one knows anything and killers are roaming free, protected by systemic impunity. The justice system is corrupt and police are afraid to investigate. Witnesses are afraid to testify and bereaved parents are afraid to agitate for action. Even the interior minister himself speaks darkly of the "parallel powers", those really in charge.
In the 1950s it was the United Fruit Company which had such clout in Guatemala that the US backed a military coup to protect their profits from land reform. Today it is the spoils from drugs which are protected by corrupt institutions at the top, and brutal street gangs below.
In 36 years of civil war, 200,000 people were murdered and women were routinely raped. Today the graves of entire massacred villages are being exhumed, yet no one has ever been held responsible for these crimes. Three generations of killers have murdered with impunity.
Peace was agreed in 1996, leaving the country awash with guns and those women who have ventured out of their homes to study and to work have now become targets.
BLOOD-STAINED CLOTHES
One man, a dental technician, collapses in tears when he speaks of his 20-year-old daughter. When neighbours ran to tell him kidnappers had forced her into a car, he begged the police to put up road blocks to help save her. They told him nothing could be done for 24 hours. By then she was dead. Her body was found, mutilated, bitten and shot many times. "I don't want to live," he told Norma Cruz, "I wish someone would shoot me."
"There is total indifference from the authorities to these crimes," says Cruz. Months later, in the home he and his family have abandoned in fear, he finds the blood and saliva-stained clothes his daughter was wearing when she was killed. Evidence that could have been vital in a prosecution is routinely contaminated and returned to the families, or buried in the coffin with the victim.
HISTORY OF ATROCITY
The President of Guatemala, Oscar Berger, listens as I present him with the latest statistics showing another steep rise from the previous year. "Despite these cruel figures," he says, "I am optimistic. We have reformed the police and we have more radio patrols," he answers, castigating me for my pessimism and denying that the justice system's failures guarantee impunity, not just to this generation of killers but to all those who went before.
He would like the world to believe that the atrocities of Guatemala's past are history. But the killings will not stop unless the justice system works. And there can be no justice for today's killers in Guatemala as long as those of previous generations, politicians and military men, continue to benefit from this culture of impunity.
["Killer's Paradise" was broadcast on BBC, May 4, 2006]
"Although access to primary education in Guatemala has increased in recent years, particularly in rural areas, levels of educational attainment and literacy remain among the lowest in Latin America. Problems include late entry, grade repetition, and early dropout.
Inequalities in school access and grade attainment linked to ethnicity, gender, poverty, and residence remain. Age trends show that Mayan females are the least likely to ever enroll, and, if they do enroll, to start school the latest and drop out earliest."
The report pulls together evidence for the something that is often asserted anecdotely: that Mayan females are least likely to enroll or progress through Guatemala's education system if they do enroll. The report looks at the reasons why this should be the case. It's dissapointing that it does not spend more time looking at the reasons for this low enrollment- because here in surely lies at least part of the solution. It does however highlight the following reasons:
Sick/incapacitated, unable to pay monthly fee, housework, work, lack of money, finished studies, not interested, require special school, have to repeat grade, temporary migration, distance/transport, there is no school, school does not offer that grade, age, and other.
According to their results between 39-50% of Mayan females aged 7-12, cited lack of money as the main reason for not going to school. Having worked in this area myself the reasons are a lot more complicated than simply a lack of money. For example, not having a valid birth certificate, lack of parental support, scholarships that end halfway through the pupils education, etc. It will interesting to read the book 'Doubly Disadvantaged Girls' this report is feeding into when it gets published.
The National Statistical Institute (INE) collected these data between 1999 and 2000. The sample is nationally representative and consists of 11,170 households, 3,544 urban and 7,626 rural.
A man carries banners during an anti-mining protest in Guatemala City,
June 14, 2006. Protesters from San Marcos, near the Glamis Gold mining
project, protested against the effects of the mines on the villagers.
REUTERS/Daniel LeClair
In recent days Guatemala has been drawn into the machinations of international relations. Guatemala's putative membership of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), according to various members of the UK press (The Guardian, The Independent, BBC), has been at the asking of Japan in its quest to overcome the current anti-whaling consensus at the IWC. Reuters reported though that Guatemala was not going to attend the meeting of the IWC:
"Guatemala, for example, is a new member expected to side with Japan,
but it dropped plans to attend due to a sudden outburst of public
opposition to the government's intention to back whaling, said
Greenpeace International spokesman Mike Townsley."
What this episode has done, is shine the light back on how wealthier countries use their development budgets to buy influence pretty much as a matter of course. Japan gave £11,728,532 to Guatemala in 2005. The week before Roger Burbach was commenting in The Guardian on how:
"The Bush administration is backing the candidacy of Guatemala in its
campaign to stop President Hugo Chávez from winning a seat for
Venezuela [on the UN Security Council]. Five of the 10 rotating seats on the security council are
opening up in October, and one of them traditionally goes to a Latin
American nation."
Is it unrealistic to ask where is the discussion of Guatemala's own national interest? Some will say this game of power and influence is just the harsh machiavellean reality of international relations. Others that it demonstrates how little big nations ever bother to concern themselves with smaller states foreign policies. No-one will dismiss the Guatemalan whaling lobby again though that's for sure.
We just received the following great news from Guillermo Chen Morales, Director General, of Fundación Nueva Esperanza, Río Negro in Guatemala.
Dear friends,
We would like to share with you the success of the Foundation Nueva Esperanza and our secondary school which are: an opening of our new classrooms, our new scince lab and the library. This achievement is for all young indigenous people of Rabinal. Best wishes.
The following pictures are from an article that appeared recently in Nuestro Diario:
The opening of the institute (our equivalent of sixth form college) represents an incredible achievement for the community of Rio Negro in Rabinal. For more information about many of the issues faced by Rio Negro check out Advocacy.net.
Peace Brigades International produce a really great informative bulletin with news on many key human rights issues in Guatemala today. It's a great resource based on extensive research and first hand interviews with key actors in Guatemala. It's made available on this blog with permission from PBI.
- Campesino labour rights violations in San Marcos - Epidemic of violence and signs of social cleansing - Water: source of life, source of conflicts - Interview with Jorge López of OASIS - An update on the PBI's activities in Guatemala
PBI is an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) which protects human rights and promotes nonviolent transformation of conflicts. At the request of threatened social organisations it provides international accompaniment and observation. The presence of international volunteers backed by a support network helps to deter violence. In this way, PBI creates space for local activists to work for social justice and human rights.
An article has just appeared in The Herald "We’ve got the whole word in our hands" by Neil Cooper, about the Birds of Paradise's new play on Guatemala- 'The Mouth of Silence". It is well worth a read and brings out interesting points about the politics of language in Guatemala and the UK. It's a really thought provoking comparison:
There's a very quiet commotion going on in a rehearsal room in Glasgow's west end. Birds of Paradise, the "inclusive" theatre company, is holding a photo-call for a new production, Mouth of Silence, which, on the 10th anniversary of Guatemala's liberation, looks at the civil war that tore the country apart.
In Guatemala, 22 languages are spoken - and, as you can imagine, in any sort of negotiation things tend to be lost in translation. Here, in Glasgow, sign language is also being used to allow the company to communicate with signer and actress EJ Raymond, who is deaf. In addition, there is a telephone call about the school visits that accompany Mouth Of Silence. It's to do with a phrase that appears on the show's flier, which the young people don't understand. What does it mean, they want to know, when it says that the production will be "inclusively signed"?
"Language," says poet and Mouth of Silence writer Gerry Loose, "is a huge issue. Or rather, the control and use of language is a huge issue. It's about who uses the language and who controls it and in what way, who uses it to become the dominant force. You can see that in Guatemala, where, with 22 indigenous languages, you're constantly needing an interpreter and the full opinion never really gets put out there. It's always deflected and dissipated by the linguistic manipulation of whoever's in charge. So, if there are 22 languages, who are you going to speak to to get the real lowdown?"
Given the many complexities of Guatemala's past, it's interesting that those in control of the history books aren't making more of a song and dance about the anniversary. Even during the rise of global activism in the 1980s, Guatemala was left to get on with it, and became something of a forgotten, if not lost, cause.
Birds of Paradise artistic director Morven Gregor says: "Guatemala is a relatively small country, and has always been overshadowed by other events, especially after the horror of Rwanda. But, even in the 1980s everyone knew about Nicaragua and El Salvador, Argentina or Brazil, but not Guatemala.
A lot of that was down to America being such a player in what happened in those countries, whereas, in Guatemala, it was their own government who was doing it. People ended up having to live in exile for 15 years, and the play looks at what it's like to go back."
Mouth of Silence, though, categorically isn't a polemic. "That's very easy to do," Loose shrugs, aware, too, of how language can be abused at the other end of the political spectrum. "But I'm never convinced by stories that are introduced to reinforce an agenda. You make it personal, and look at a small group of individuals over time. It's a well-trodden path," he points out.
Loose stresses the solidarity and historical parallels between Guatemala and other countries. When he visited Sudan, for instance, he witnessed first hand "an indigenous people who have very little grasp of the alleged official language of the alleged official country in charge - China. I've also seen it, curiously enough, in the United States. In Mexico, in the Chihuahua desert, one step up from the bottom of the heap are the Spanish-American speakers, while on top of the pile are people who speak English, and who use it as a tool to put people down."
According to Loose: "The parallels in Scotland are quite clear. It's often said to be a nation of three languages - Gaelic, Scots and English - but it's English that's in charge, if you like, and huge amounts of Scots and Gaelic speakers are marginalised. There are, of course, other languages that are hidden, as they are in Guatemala. For instance, there are more Urdu speakers in Scotland than there are Gaelic speakers. When you think about that it puts things in perspective, so the prime concern for me is to bring out not just the politics of language, which is a subtext within it, but to give the protagonists within the play an active voice given that subtext."
This is all quite ambitious for Birds of Paradise, the 12-year-old company taken on by Gregor a couple of years ago following a period in which the company was run without an artistic director.
Since her arrival, an ambitious programme of work has included last year's Brazil 10, Scotland 0, a forging of ties with the RSAMD, and a new scheme, Agents of Change, which advocates a voice for inclusion in a mainstream arts network.
"In 20 years," Gregor maintains, "inclusivity shouldn't even be an issue. It's taken one of those funding dances to be where we are now, hopefully producing one national tour a year. We're interested in using voices that are often ignored, and we can do anything."
As if to prove it, Mouth of Silence is set to be performed outdoors, in The Hidden Garden, a city retreat behind Tramway. The setting ties in with Loose's poetry, which is influenced by the environment. Working in a manufactured rural setting at the heart of a former industrial and otherwise urban space is a delicious contradiction which Loose relishes.
"I don't see the different areas of my work as distinct from one another," he asserts, "because the determination of power structures and language have a precise and exact parallel with the power structure of who owns the land. Who controls the language also controls the land, and culture, horticulture and agriculture are not distinct. That's the pillar on which my work stands. Also, building gardens is creating something that is positive and peaceful, and is a clear statement that there is an alternative. That's what the play's saying: that there's a real alternative to conflict, there's a real possibility to end armed warfare. The alternatives are there, and that's all tied up in how language is used."
Mouth of Silence is at the Tramway, Glasgow, June 22-24, then touring. For more information about the play in Morven Gregor's own words, check out the previous post on this blog.
UPDATE: There have since been two other great reviews in the Scottish press (Glasgow Evening Times and The Herald) for the play 'Mouth of Silence'.
Post by Tim Hollins - (Final fifth post in a series)
You can read all the posts in this series here: 12345
Tim Hollins is a long standing supporter of GSN and has been active in promoting solidarity in the UK with Central America. In the following series of articles, Tim gives an account of 15 years of grass roots solidarity with the former refugee community of Nueva Esperanza, El Salvador. It is not intended as a “model” for others to follow, but merely as a record of some of the successes and difficulties that have been encountered in this period, and some reflections on what makes solidarity effective and some of the traps that lie in wait...
Ethical/ Eco trip to Nueva Esperanza (“New Hope”) El Salvador
So how did this idea come about? Whose idea was it? Read on...
We (Mogs/Maureen and Tim) were sitting on the veranda of the Community Centre in Nueva Esperanza, sipping a cool beer (there’s electricity now) and chatting with Tonio, Ismael, Mina and Soledad, of the “junta directiva” – executive council – of the community. It was a stiflingly hot evening (35 degrees, sweat dripping off our noses as usual), and the chat wound round and round, up and down, back and forth, while the song “No basta rezar” (“It’s not enough to pray”) drifted over from the youth band rehearsing next door.
The chat went from Ismael and Mina meeting as young fighters in the FMLN guerrilla army during the war, Tonio’s brother who struggles to survive elsewhere in El Salvador as a member of a coffee growing co-operative, the outlook for this year’s cashew and maize harvest, to the different ways in which Solidarity from outside had supported the founding, construction and ongoing sustainable development of this community of ex refugee and ex combatant families, as well as providing emergency aid during the floods of Hurricane Mitch and the destruction of the series of earthquakes in 2001.
One idea stuck out – “we don’t want to be receiving aid and gifts all the time. We want to be self sufficient, to earn our living as families and as a community. We need to develop more real projects that provide real income, real jobs.” Just as the Cubans have done, we discussed the merits and pitfalls of visitors / tourists from developed countries coming to visit, paying their way and more so, the surplus (profit) providing funds for health, education, cultural and other projects. But we have all heard horror stories of “eco-tourism” that is little more than a rebranding exercise for exploitation, which ends up harming or destroying the environment and culture it has come to enjoy.
The conversation took wing, dipping and soaring, as our totally different life experiences, needs and ideas criss crossed over and under each other. We all knew that this was to dance with the devil – to try to create funding through more visitors. To invite a wider circle of visitors to experience the extraordinary warmth, the inspiration of seeing at first hand community development in the hands of campesinos/as who despite a continual minefield of problems, both internal and external, have managed to find their way forward over the last 13 years. Maintaining their vision of a community where social justice and development go hand in hand.
We were told of journalists from the US – good people so they thought – handing out dollar bills to children, laughing as they scrambled in the dust. Of a couple of fat gringos banging on Soledad’s door late at night, asking where they could get a bottle of rum and where the brothel was...
We had seen at first hand a solidarity delegation (from Spain as it happens) treating their generous hosts practically as servants rather than as equals, exploiting the welcome extended to all. And the bus load of Europeans coming in for the night, then leaving a couple of hours later, telling Ismael “We can’t possibly stay here, look at the conditions, look at the poverty – we’re going back to the hotel in the city.”
All this had already happened. It made us aware of how difficult a step this kind of venture could be. Yet the experience is superb – overwhelming almost – and we still wanted more people to come and have this inspiration for themselves. And so did they! We decided to put together a joint proposal for the directiva. To cut a long story short, the first “pilot “ group went ahead in 2003 – a great success!
We took four visitors – all first timers to Central America – each of which found their own points of interest, their own most memorable moments – from horse riding through the jungle, to a boat trip down the river to the Pacific coast. Or sitting in a hammock with a cold fruit juice while Raul and his friend Raul (!) sang songs old and new and played their battered guitars. Or was it the series of meetings, some to explain to us how different aspects of the community its school, its farming, etc. worked, others which just happened to be programmed, and which we were able to sit in on, and see real “participatory democracy” at work. Then again perhaps it was the chance to sit and chat (through us as translators) in people’s homes, and get up very close and make real contact with local society – in fact to be a part of it for a couple of weeks.
On a purely practical note, the community housed, fed and watered the 6 of us for two weeks, and took us out in vehicles for 6 or 7 different trips out during our stay. And they made a healthy profit on the trip, which was able to be invested in some teaching materials for the school, new software for administration, and the construction of a new building to house a kitchen and eating area for visitors.
So that’s how it came about – a real partnership, a joint idea, a practical solution to a never ending problem – how to fund community development when there is no funding to apply for...
Above all it’s a trip in the spirit of solidarity and equality – not “helping poor people” but bringing what we can (funding and human solidarity) to the tasks that face them in this massively unequal world. They find the ways to do things, we can support them as they work (and work hard) to become sustainable.
If you decide to come on a trip (and we hope you will want to!) you will be playing a small but important part in the development of a small but important community in a small but important developing country. It is one way to help even out in a tiny way some of the inequalities of the world we live in.
Oh, and you’ll have an absolutely amazing experience!
You can read all the posts in this series here: 12345
Post by Tim Hollins - (fourth post in a series) 12345
Tim Hollins is a long standing supporter of GSN and has been active in promoting solidarity in the UK with Central America. In the following series of articles, Tim gives an account of 15 years of grass roots solidarity with the former refugee community of Nueva Esperanza, El Salvador. It is not intended as a “model” for others to follow, but merely as a record of some of the successes and difficulties that have been encountered in this period, and some reflections on what makes solidarity effective and some of the traps that lie in wait...
Popular Education
It is worth mentioning some of the principles of so-called 'popular' education. This has its roots in the work of Paolo Freire, seeing education not as an end in itself but rather as an agent for political and social change. In El Salvador the roots of the popular education movement are (like so much) in the armed struggle of the 1980s. The young people who went to the hills to fight (in defence of their communities and organisations, and to achieve revolution) were an incredible social mix – from the sons and daughters of the poorest campesino families to students, trade unionists, nurses, teacher, priests etc.
The levels of education varied massively – and as part of the goal of transforming society, those with education set about organising classes for those with none. Of course this was during quiet periods – at any moment combat, bombardment, escape, death were liable to intervene. With virtually no resources, systems evolved to teach literacy, numeracy, ideology, to those who had none (and agricultural skills and campesino culture in the opposite direction). All of this was based on the reality of peoples’ lives, starting from their own experience, showing that these skills would be a part of liberation itself.
Today 'popular' education has evolved considerably, developing into part of the state education system. Indeed one of the long running debates within Nueva Esperanza has been the need to engage with and eventually become part of the formal state sector, whilst attempting to maintain something of the original ideals of a school that would educate their children about the realities and injustices of their lives – and indeed the wider world. Ideologues would have the children educated as revolutionaries with no relevant qualifications; pragmatists would accept all the Ministry’s demands so that there would be formal recognition of the children’s achievements. The reality has been an uneasy compromise, with a change of school name (from “Heroes and Martyrs School” to “Nueva Esperanza School”), an acceptance of the local national curriculum and state recognition of all achievements, whilst attempting to maintain a progressive view of community life, and the rights and responsibilities of each community member – child or adult.
As another example of this tension, the Ministry has provided a series of external teachers to work in the school. These have ranged from the naïve to the down right hostile. The fact that the current head teacher is a member of the community shows that they have generally been successful in wresting decision making power away from those who have been appointed from outside.
Eco Tourism
During a visit in 2001, the two founder members of the support group had a fascinating discussion with members of the junta directiva about the ways in which projects could be funded without the involvement of NGOs who often have their own agendas to serve. Eventually the idea of organising visiting groups from Europe and the US emerged – they could have a wonderful 2 or 3 weeks experience of campesino life, and pay a premium above the costs of hosting them to the community to generate a profit. We organised the first pilot trip in 2003, and the second in 2005. Both were successful in their overall aims, were received very positively by the community, and the participants (4 in the first trip, 7 in the second) all had a wonderful experience. This whole project also probably deserves a history of its own, suffice it to say that at the time of writing the third trip (in 2007) is at the pre-planning stage. Again the principal of organisation and the project being community led is vital – imposing our views will not work, working closely together (even using phone calls to discuss arrangements directly) and being sensitive to the needs of the community creates viable solidarity based on mutual self respect.
Conclusion
In 2006 the school in Nueva Esperanza flourishes. To a great extent this has been due to the support of international solidarity (whether from the UK, Germany, Canada, Puerto Rico or elsewhere) – teachers and parents will always say “without our international supporters there would be no education here.” Contributing to the wages of the community teachers over a period of 15 years has allowed them to dedicate their lives to not only teaching year by year, but also to becoming trained, recognised and qualified, to the point where all bar two of the community teachers receive a state salary, and these two receive a community wage very close to the level of the state salary. Without this regular financial support, growing slowly but surely over this period, all of them would eventually have had to abandon teaching, to seek work to support their own young families. With the support, they have been able to provide stability, experience and expertise to develop the school, its resources and its ethos.
Of the original 12 teachers, 10 have worked consistently over the period, only one has dropped out of education. Recently the school achieved 9 out of 10 in the (state run) equivalent of an OFSTED inspection (they have those too!)
We have only provided the support and the confidence. They have done the work. They have had to build and develop a school in a chaotic post war situation, in a country where rural education was viewed with suspicion where it existed. They have had to survive the devastating consequence of a series of natural disasters, each one a potentially crushing blow. They have had to deal with an openly hostile Ministry, and overcome every obstacle put in their way, eventually achieving the recognition of incredibly high standards though sheer will power and refusal to accept the insults and hindrances. They have had to believe that the goal was always just, and that nothing could deflect them from it.
And of course they will have to continue to strive for their ever present aim – a transformed society where social justice is a given, where education for all is a human right, and an educated campesino class will never again be treated in the same ways they were before the war. A society where new skills will contribute to the ongoing development of Nueva Esperanza, the Bajo Lempa region and indeed the whole of the country of El Salvador.
You can read all the posts in this series here: 12345
The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre has just completed a massive piece of research into the amount of people still displaced in Guatemala since the peace accords. You can read the full report here. Here is a brief taste:
"The signing of a peace accord in 1996 marked the end of the
36-year-old civil war in Guatemala but not the end of the structural
injustices that triggered it. Key commitments, such as the resettlement
of the displaced, redistribution of land and compensation for the
uprooted people and other victims of the conflict have as of June 2006
only to a very limited degree been implemented.
Ten years after the
formal end of the conflict, there are no official figures on the
remaining internally displaced people. However, estimates range from
250,000 to one million, according to a local IDP organisation.
Indigenous people, who made up the overwhelming majority of the IDPs,
have increasingly resorted to occupying large land holdings; these
occupations have been violently repressed by successive governments
since 1996, particularly after the installation of President Oscar
Berger's government in 2004."
The following is an appeal in Spanish by many organisations GSN has supported through accompaniment, about the latest situation with the compensation of the victims of the Guatemalan civil war.
In particular, this appeal makes many vital points, such as: the failure the present Government to use the budget reserved for compensation, the creation of more inefficient bureaucracy to supposedly act in favour of the victims and the deliberate attempt by the Guatemalan government to undermine the unity of the organisations representing the civil war victims. more»
17 year-old Mayan, Miguel, is living rough in Guatemala City trying to scrape together a living through street-trading to support both himself and his mother, Dominga. She is up in the Guatemalan highlands, fighting for compensation for atrocities suffered during the 1980s civil war.
Miguel’s twin sister Jacinta is cleaning houses on the other side of town and falling in love with her employer’s son, the glamorous Rafael, whose mother just happens to be the very state prosecutor opposing the highlands activists. In the meantime, a group of rather cynical Western journalists chart the progress of the court case, and a group of ‘magical realist’ goats provide a running commentary.
The tale told in Spanish and English is one of moral ambiguity that poses questions about the extent to which principles can be compromised for the sake of family loyalty, survival and power. Despite all this, it is also a comedy in which love triumphs!
Book through the box office 020 8567 5184 The Questors Theatre, 12 Mattock Lane, Ealing W5 5BQ
Post by Tim Hollins - (third post in a series) 12345
Tim Hollins is a long standing supporter of GSN and has been active in promoting solidarity in the UK with Central America. In the following series of articles, Tim gives an account of 15 years of grass roots solidarity with the former refugee community of Nueva Esperanza, El Salvador. It is not intended as a “model” for others to follow, but merely as a record of some of the successes and difficulties that have been encountered in this period, and some reflections on what makes solidarity effective and some of the traps that lie in wait...
Is it a Revolution?
Well, it’s not the crushing euphoric triumph that the FMLN used to dream of during the 80s, on the lines of Cuba and Nicaragua. The extreme right – ARENA – continue to hold political power, despite the space opening up for the FMLN to make serious inroads into power as a political party. In some ways the social change is more deep rooted than in Nicaragua, since it does not rely on governmental power, but rather grass roots organisations and communities.
It is never easy to struggle 'against the tide', and for each step forward there is half a step backwards. Nevertheless the vision (some would say unrealisable) of a just society remains intact. Their belief that by organising their own lives as best they can they are stronger than by bowing down to the forces of globalisation – all this means that in some way, there is revolutionary change happening in El Salvador. They say things like “we built a water system so we have clean water – that’s a revolution – we have a school, a clinic, above all we have land to farm – that’s a revolution”.
Practical Solidarity
Back to the funding of education. The school expanded dramatically (with buildings funded by Canada and Puerto Rico) and now has over 300 local children – half from other local communities. We continued over the period of the 90s to attract new monthly donors, some friends of friends, some who had visited the community. The monthly total crept up from £50 to £150, on to £200 and finally settled at around £300 per month.
There were several advantages of this system of monthly regular standing order donations. Firstly for the community it was a regular and predictable source of funding for education – enabling planning and prioritizing on their part. We felt it was inappropriate to require or suggest certain activities – purchase of materials, payment of wages etc. believing firmly that they needed to have the freedom to invest according to their educational priorities as they saw them. All we did insist on was a regular update / set of accounts showing how the monies sent had been invested.
This too was not without problems. Whilst putting the onus on the school and the community to make democratic decisions, there were at times internal conflicts – should they raise community wages (approx £40 per month in the 90s) or purchase equipment? A couple of times we were asked by email what we felt was the best use of the funding.
We felt unable (and in truth unwilling) to get involved in these decisions, since it would have meant siding with one side of the argument and against the other. In the end agreements were reached within the community, and the school always made it through to the next year, all the while making a significant contribution to tackling illiteracy – by preventing it’s start in school years. With very high academic standards, the school was soon turning out a number of graduates able to enter state university (funded by solidarity grants from Germany, Spain and elsewhere). By 1999 the community had fundraised for, built, staffed and had registered an “Instituto” (6th Form College), so that young people from the whole of the zone of the Bajo Lempa could study “bachillerato” (A-level equivalent).
It is worth noting at this point that there is a policy adhered to to this day that every child attends school for free – there is no charge for attending. Despite this there can be problems for some families, who feel that a child working for some small income is more important than continuing education. A recently established hardship fund (again using funds donated from international groups) allows small grants to be given to the poorest families to buy shoes, clothes, pencils, etc. Some of our funding was used to help the teacher (by now in their 20s) to train at the University at weekends. After 6 or 7 years of part-time study during the late 90s, all 10 of them graduated. They had been promised state salaries as soon as they were qualified from World Bank funding.
However this took several years of argument to appear. In 2003, one of the former refugees, Deysi, was appointed head teacher, and others were awarded state salaries – the goal of self sufficiency was at hand. As with all stages of the process, this was not an easy achievement – at every stage the Ministry of Education has sought to denigrate the efforts of campesino educators (not just in Nueva Esperanza, nor even the zone of the Bajo Lempa, but indeed throughout the country). The “mainstream” state assumption is that firstly this kind of popular education is backward, since campesinos are by definition culturally & educationally backward (why bother educating stupid semi-humans?) and also subversive, since they’re clearly a bunch of heathen communists brainwashing children into becoming godless followers of Che Guevara.
The reality (as we have seen) is that so called 'popular' education (i.e. stemming from the people’s needs, rather than imposed from the needs of the landowning class) is incredibly successful (academically and socially), in an area where in previous generations illiteracy and virtual slavery in a feudal economic system were the norm.
You can read all the posts in this series here: 12345
Post by Tim Hollins - (second post in a series) 12345
Tim Hollins is a long standing supporter of GSN and has been active in promoting solidarity in the UK with Central America. In the following series of articles, Tim gives an account of 15 years of grass roots solidarity with the former refugee community of Nueva Esperanza, El Salvador. It is not intended as a “model” for others to follow, but merely as a record of some of the successes and difficulties that have been encountered in this period, and some reflections on what makes solidarity effective and some of the traps that lie in wait...
One huge dilemma was how to manage the money – how could we discuss how they would invest it? Corruption is endemic within Central American societies, and solidarity is not immune. However the community’s decision to put women in charge of all project management (“they’re more honest than we men – they won’t go and drink it away like we might …….”) gave us confidence. In the end, it was a blind leap of faith – and it paid off.
The community eventually replied that young people from the community had taken on the job of setting up the school – under the trees. They would use our pitifully small sums for resources and pay a small community wage for each hour taught. They were well under way.
More slide shows, more letters, more arm twisting, £42, £52, £55, £70 a month. Within 18 months we made a return visit, and spent three weeks marveling at incredible progress, a vision intact and developing, and discussing the development of education with the young teachers, parents, and Junta Directiva (Executive Council). Suffice it to say that this gave us further inspiration to come back to Britain and carry on fundraising. Coincidentally during this visit we met a young Australian teacher, who’d been traveling in the region, and who had decided to stay and work in the school.
Good idea? Bad idea.
She had the best of intentions, however was totally unable to see that Australian solutions to Salvadorean problems were inappropriate. She would argue forcefully that “they were wrong and she was right”. When they disagreed she accused them of incompetence! In the end she had to go. This confirmed to us that our efforts were probably better employed raising solidarity in Britain, rather than staying to work in the community.
Back in Britain again, we continued with the slide shows, and the writing of news updates. Another example to learn from: friends in Birmingham had been supporting a rural school in Uganda with a monthly donation. They had heard nothing for 18 months, were not even sure if the school still existed. In the end, they cancelled their support, and doubled their contribution to Nueva Esperanza – “at least you keep us well informed of how they are getting on, you go and visit and bring back news, we trust your information – and your spirit of solidarity.”
After 3 years we were up to £150 a month, a few had dropped out under financial pressures here, but more had signed up to take their place. There was no substitute for the hard graft of looking for potential donors wherever they might be, and “giving them the pitch”. For every one who said yes, there were five who said, 'maybe, maybe not, don’t think so, no'.
Resolving Crises
In 1996 we hit our first crisis. The community, like many others, had suddenly been landed with a huge bill to “buy” the agricultural land they had been granted as the land reform part of the peace process. At the very same time a German organisation had just donated enough for the running costs of the school for a year. We proposed diverting our funds from education to land purchase. An emergency meeting was called, the teachers didn’t turn up. Tensions within the community between former refugees and former combatants were boiling over, the debate became fierce, our naïve thought to help in the crisis became a source of recrimination, the teachers sulked, and there was even a hint of violent consequences from the ex guerillas… An uneasy agreement was reached, (without the teachers), the matter settled for the time being, we escaped back to Britain, likening the experience to being caught in the middle of a bitter argument between Sinn Fein and the IRA…
On the same visit we had read (in Spanish) the recently published book of oral history of the members of the community “De La Memoria Nace la Esperanza”. We read it at one go, and immediately thought we ought to publish an English translation. This side project could have a whole article devoted to the twists and turns in a whole new area – publishing – about which we knew less than zero. Suffice it to say that “Like Gold in the Fire” was finally published in June 1999, and launched at the Central America Solidarity conference that year. Our involvement in ESNET (El Salvador Network) and previous conferences led to the conference organising committee agreeing to invite one of the teachers (now back to being best friends!!) to participate in the 1999 Conference. Santiago Vasquez Sanchez was elected by the community to come to Britain for a two week speaking tour which led directly to a number of new monthly donors.
Music and Culture
Our good friend Katherine Rogers, at the time a recent music graduate, first visited the community and region (The Bajo Lempa – Lower Lempa) in 1996, and also immediately decided to commit to solidarity. She founded “Music for Hope” later that year, raising funds to support youth music, drama and community leadership. Again this amazingly successful project has its own history. A youth band from Nueva Esperanza, who called themselves “Lluvia de Esperanza” (Rain of Hope) toured Britain in 1999 as part of a wider cultural project, and together we recorded, published and sold a great CD of their music live.
Natural Disasters
Late October 1998. News bulletins. Hurricane off the coast of Honduras. Next day, Hurricane Mitch over Honduras, next day Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua devastated, large parts of El Salvador flooded as massive rain waters poured through the rivers. Nueva Esperanza and the whole of the Bajo Lempa region flooded to a depth of 5 feet – all crops lost, most animals drowned, all wells polluted.
All solidarity networks sprang into action, raising monies as we’d never done before, using email to send and receive huge quantities of information instantly. This three month long emergency strengthened our links to the community (“you helped us out again when we’d lost nearly everything”), it’s a friendship through thick and thin.
January 2001. Severe earthquake.
Many dead, (though not in the zone of the Bajo Lempa) structural damage. Fortunately it struck on a Saturday morning when most people were out and about, not sleeping. More emergency fundraising, concerts, events. The link became even stronger – “You helped us out yet again. We hope one day we’ll be able to help you out...” Of course they do, all the time, they give us inspiration when things seem hard to get going in Britain, when politics looks depressing. They have never accepted defeat, just got organised again, and struggled on to the next victory.
In 2005, further flooding led to loss of crops and animals, again fundraising was the most practical method of support, allowing the community to prioritise and survive the immediate crisis, whilst investing for the future.
You can read all the posts in this series here: 12345
Post by Tim Hollins (first post in a series of five) 12345
Tim Hollins is a long standing supporter of GSN and has been active in promoting solidarity in the UK with Central America. In the following series of articles, Tim gives an account of 15 years of grass roots solidarity with the former refugee community of Nueva Esperanza, El Salvador. It is not intended as a “model” for others to follow, but merely as a record of some of the successes and difficulties that have been encountered in this period, and some reflections on what makes solidarity effective and some of the traps that lie in wait...
Background
The modern day community has its roots in the outbreak of civil war in the late 1970s. Campesino communities throughout the country began to organise to demonstrate around simple demands : fair pay for hours worked, land reform. In Nicaragua the Sandinistas were engaged in overthrowing their corrupt right wing (pro US) government, the Cuban Revolution was already nearly 20 yrs old. Protest in El Salvador was met with state repression, repression with armed struggle. For a detailed account, read “Like Gold in the Fire”, published by the support group. Suffice it to say here that the villagers from San Miguelito escaped the brutality around them for a nightmare refuge, followed by exile in newly liberated Nicaragua.
The two founder members of the support group, Maureen Russell and Tim Hollins first met these refugees 10 years later, in 1990, in Managua, Nicaragua, through political work for the FMLN coordinated by Armando Martinez, a disabled ex-combatant. Within a few months Armando’s role changed to general coordinator (along with his cousin, Gloria Nuñez) of the repatriation of some 350 refugees, (approximately 80 families), who were demanding the right to return to El Salvador as a Community. It was an extraordinary experience to meet these amazing people who were so resourceful in solving endless problems through discussion, plans and action, - in short through organisation.
Repatriation
The Repatriation Committee asked the group of internationals for support in their campaign, and we raised funds, supported marches and occupations, protested by fax to the UNHCR in Geneva. After countless difficulties, all eventually overcome, the repatriation was arranged, and the internationals were invited to the airport to see off the families on their odyssey. The invitation to visit the new community, now named “Nueva Esperanza” – New Hope – wherever it ended up! – was warm and genuine, and we decided to journey into the war zone to see how they were getting on, some six weeks later (June 1991)
First Visit
Having sneaked through the army checkpoint when they were at lunch, we found ourselves lurching down a quagmire of a “road”, eventually making it to the land being cleared by machete. Everyone was working, building champas (improvised sh
