From El Salvador To Ann Arbor
FROM EL SALVADOR TO ANN ARBOR
AN INTERVIEW WITH FRANCISCO, IN SANCTUARY AT THE FIRST UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH
by Arlin Wasserman and Sue Reinhart (translator)
Just over a year ago, the First Unitarian Universalist Church declared sanctuary. After eleven months of work and the promise of financial aid and volunteered labor from over 100 people, Francisco, a Salvadoran catechist (Bible teacher) entered sanctuary.
Francisco arrived in Ann Arbor in June, after having lived in refuge in California since 1985. This summer two relatives and a close friend were murdered by the military in his village in El Salvador. Fransisco greatly feared for the lives of his family and friends. On August 7 his wife and children arrived in Ann Arbor.
When Francisco first carne to Ann Arbor, the carriage house of the church was a quiet place dominated by the hand-built loom upon which he makes a variety of Salvadoran handicrafts, primarily hammocks. Now it is a household full of the smell of the food his wife Angelina cooks, the shouts of their three children and piles of donated gifts. It is the first time the family has been together in two years.
While Angelina slept and the children played outside, Francisco spoke about his life and how he came to Ann Arbor:
[In Victoria, El Salvador ] my job was to work in agriculture. When l was older I was in a military patrol. I also participated in the church. In 1976 started to read the Bible to the campesinos. From 1964-1978 I was a cabo in the military reserve.
By 1979, l was a catechist. In 1980, when I left the city for various reasons, I was still in the military service. During the day I was in the patrols, but at night and on Sundays I worked as a catechist teaching the Bible.
[One day] the local commander told us everyone in my patrol were going to become the soldiers who watch over the town because of the popular revolutionary movement in the area. They said if we saw anyone suspicious we should arrest and eliminate them. But I didn't accept, that I didn't feel that I could tell the word of God and at the same time do things that weren't correct... the commander told me that if l didn't accept it meant I had knowledge of the popular movement. At that time I didn't know anything about the movements. I didn't accept it because I saw it as unjust.
The National Guard came for Francisco, but he was not at home when they arrived at his doorstep. Priests and catechists were already being killed so Francisco fled to stay with people he had met while teaching Bible studies in the countryside near Victoria.
Some people unknown to us came to the town. They talked to me about the people's struggle.What they talked about was similar to what God wants: peace and unity. They asked me to join them. I wasn't sure. In the end I accepted because they told me that the job I would be doing in great part was to speak about the Bible and to be in charge of agricultural production.
A short time after, the military (the National Guard) came to my new village. Each day they came they killed two or three people, killed cows, and burned houses. Then 7,000 soldiers came to wipe out the town. They forced everyone to go to the (Lempa River) on the Honduran border.
I thought Angelina was going to die because a bomb dropped right near her. She fell from the impact of the bomb. When I saw her I ran to her. She was eight months pregnant with our first child. I thought the baby might be dead too. Fortunately the child was born in good health. I got by the military and went to where the larger group had gathered.
The Red Cross, ACNUR (U.N. Commission on Refugees) and the Mennonites arrived at the Honduran-Salvador border and tried to stop the fighting.
The next morning the military came. I told Angelina they were looking for somebody. They looked at me, grabbed me and asked me my name. I said, "Francisco." They said, "Come with us." Angelina and some other women cried and yelled, "Don't take him." The women followed behind the soldiers. They said "Go back or we'II force you to go back."
They took me to a mountain with two other men. They wanted to look at my legs to see if l had a bullet wound. They told me, "We've caught you and we're going to kill you." The Honduran soldiers tortured us and then took us to the village of Vertud. The Red Cross, ACNUR and a priest demanded our freedom. After a very hard three days they freed us and I was reunited with Angelina.
ACNUR organized donations and volunteers and established a camp in Vertud.
Three years later (1985) I returned with my family to El Salvador with the hope that, as Duarte said, he would respect the dignity of the people. Unfortunately, my dignity was not respected. After five months, I was captured by the National Police. They held me thirteen days in a general police barracks. They hurt me very badly: physically and morally. After five days in the basement of the barracks, I didn't think I was going to live.
I never thought about coming lo the United States but everything that I suffered obliged me to leave my country completely. As I was being set free a military colonel told me that if l wanted to slay alive I would have to leave El Salvador. This is the reason why I had to abandon El Salvador.
Francisco, Angelina and their three children are now together. Francisco has even found full-time temporary work in landscaping through an advertisement in last month's AGENDA. The entire family is looking for people to meet and groups of people interested in hearing about their experiences and the situation in El Salvador today.
For more information, offers to volunteer, or donations call Arlin Wasserman or Lisa Danto at 769-9546 or Don or Bette Oswell at 662-0823.