Escalating violence

A comprehensive article on the violence El Salvador faces daily.  Puts a lot into perspective.

The Maras - An escalating problem in El Salvador

Occupy

The Occupy protests have been huge in the US over the last several months.  While not a new tactic in the realm of nonviolent action / civil disobedience, it seems "occupying" a space has seen a resurgence lately.  It's, however, definitely not a new thing at all here in El Salvador.  Students at the National University are often up in arms about something, and take over the university grounds and shut the place down for several days until their voices are heard.  San Salvador's latest episode involves the national cathedral ... Read the following article (with the help of Google Translate if you're not a Spanish speaker) to get an idea of what's going on.  I do want to mention as well that the beautiful facade of the cathedral (as you can see in the background photo on my blog) has been destroyed in this round of occupation, and a new design of some kind will go up eventually.

Masked veterans take the Cathedral

January 16, 1992

What's so great about January 16, 1992?  It's the day the Salvadoran Peace Accords were signed in Mexico, putting an end to the bloody 12-year civil war.  But what does that mean for 2012?  A 20-year anniversary, but where are we 20 years after this supposed negotiation?  13+ homicides daily nation-wide, assaults, machismo, poverty, major structural violence.  What have the Peace Accords accomplished?  An end to the organized killing that was the civil war.

But small things are happening too.  Building the social conscience with the church youth.  Reinforcing historic memory ... so we are not bound to repeat history.  What can the youth of today, many of whom were born in the years following the Peace Accords, do to improve society?  (I wish I'd taken better notes yesterday at the conversation that was organized between the youth and various war veterans ... )  Stay in school, learn, develop new ideas ... so that there will never be a need to take up arms again.

More reflections on this historic day to come later ...