Beyond Displacement: Campesinos, Refugees, and Collective Action in the Salvadoran Civil War

5. Salvadorans to the Soul: Citizen Refugees and La Lucha

138 5 Salvadorans to the Soul Citizen Refugees and La Lucha Anew trend emerged in the refugee camps of Honduras by 1982: the Salvadoran campesinos’ self-documentation or the recording of thoughts and opinions about themselves, their experiences, and their goals and objectives. As previous chapters illustrated, many Salvadorans who eventually fled to Honduras had participated in consciousnessraising initiatives prior to flight: agricultural cooperatives, mutual aid groups, community councils, CEBs, and peasant leagues. Although records of some such initiatives exist to this day—accountings of specific cooperatives, for example , and the paid advertisements of the UTC—there is a serious paucity of documentation from individual campesinos. Illiteracy, lack of material resources , and the daily demands of tending to crops and putting food on the table meant that during the prewar period most northern Salvadoran campesinos were either unable or chose not to document their experiences. Circumstances changed during the 1980s, however, and while in exile in Honduras many campesinos became able and willing to express themselves in writing. This was due not only to the new literacy skills gained through the popular education system (discussed in more detail in chapter 6) but also to the various new “freedoms” that Salvadorans enjoyed while in Honduras in spite of the many heavy restrictions of life in the closed refugee camps. As has been noted, their exclusion from Honduran labor and agricultural markets forced them to rely almost exclusively on international donations of food and other supplies, which meant that they did not have to work in the same way or to the same extent as they had done at home. This, in turn, meant that Salvadorans had more “free” time and space to dedicate to other activities, including
literacy training, community organization and development initiatives, the arts, and other forms of self-expression. As a former Mesa Grande refugee explained , although “to a certain degree we were like prisoners [in the refugee camps and] we had no freedom, we did have freedom of expression and organization .”1 In short the Salvadorans’ seclusion in closed refugee camps contributed to their ability and willingness to put their experiences and opinions into words. Constant international attention made a crucial contribution to the Salvadorans ’ self-documentation. Citizens from all over the world worked alongside Salvadorans in Honduras, and journalists, church workers, human rights monitors, and representatives of foreign governments also made regular visits to the refugee camps. Whereas at home in El Salvador campesinos felt silenced or simply ignored, in Honduras they were often the center of attention. People arrived with notebooks, cameras, and tape recorders in hand; they actually wanted to meet the refugees and hear their stories. The international refugee aid regime, moreover, placed a high value on the written word. Representatives of the UN, for example, demanded regular written updates on UN-funded projects in the camps and required refugees and aid workers alike to submit typewritten , formal proposals when requesting funds for new projects. Likewise, journalists and other visitors to the camps not only sought firsthand accounts through oral testimonies and interviews but also collected as many refugeeproduced documents as possible.2 And so Salvadoran campesino refugees began to document their experiences , both orally and in writing, for their new global audience. They kept logs and calendars in which they recorded incidents of harassment and abuse. They produced newsletters, magazines, and daily news shows. They posted signs and banners throughout their camps, condemning mistreatment and publicizing their opinions and stances. And musicians and word artists created songs and poetry to perform for visiting delegations. Through these various methods of documentation, as well as their accompanying actions, the refugees presented their community as a community to outside observers. As explained in chapter 4, they “staged” themselves for the international aid network with the intention of gaining allies in their struggle to protect and defend their community in exile. Just as the refugees’ self-documentation galvanized international solidarity consciousness about victims and refugees of war, so too did it galvanize politico-cultural consciousness among the Salvadoran campesino refugees themselves. An illustration in a 1982 manual used by camp schoolteachers (refugees themselves) offers a vivid outline of this process (see fig. 9). The line drawing depicts a Salvadoran campesino crossing a rapid-flowing river. On the S a l v a d o r a n s t o t h e S o u l 139 first shore, labeled analfabetismo ignorancia...