World El Salvador San Salvador

John & Jan Visit the Americas

El Salvador - San Salvador. Jun 18, 2008

Caught the 5.30am bus from Esteli to San Salvador from the Texaco garage on the Pan American highway just north of the town. Sad to see four young boys sleeping under cardboard but a small donation of our last Cordobas brightened the start of their day.

Our journey took us through Honduras and into El Salvador, arriving in the capital San Salvador.

El Salvador is recovering from a brutal civil war which lasted from 1980 to 1991. The catalyst for the war was the murder of Archbishop Romero, gunned down by an army death squad after publicly requesting that the US stop supporting the El Salvadorian military government.

The government/national guard was sponsored by the United States, the guerillas (known as the FMLN who were pressing for land reform for peasants) received aid and arms from Cuba and Russia amongst others.

Over 70,000 died in the conflict, mainly civilians.

The civil war was notorious for acts of torture, massacres and brutality mostly commited by the army.

Our stay in the city (which has the unenviable reputation of being one of the most violent in the world - there was 3,928 murders in El Salvador in 2006 - most of which were gang related - the Soyapango suburb being notorious within the city itself) included a visit to the war memorial where the names of those that disappeared or were murdered (men, women and children) together with sites of massacres are carved into some 40 granite blocks. A sobering memorial established by the Commission for Truth and Reconciliation after the war.

Keeping up the cheerful theme, we paid a visit to the military museum where we were escorted by an army officer who fought in the war. Interestingly the museum has exhibits from Iraq (where the El Savladorian government has a small contingent), the Pope Mobile (used by John Paul II during his two visits to the country) as well as arms from the civil war which included two US helicopters from the Vietnam conflict. A rather grim end to the day at the University which was the site of the killings of six Jesuit preists and their two housekeepers by an army death squad. Very graphic photographs of the dead bodies served to illustrate the brutality associated with the conflict. The University also housed various exhibits relating to the murder of Archbishop Romero (such as his bloodstained bible).

The centre of San Salvador houses a pleasant cathedral but otherwise is choked with traffic and dominated by numerous street markets and decaying buildings. Much of the money in the city, including large shopping malls and global restaurant chains, is located in the suburbs. Unused to seeing tourists we were the subject of much curiosity. The people however were very friendly and welcoming.