Yesterday I traveled
to Perquin, Morazan, El Salvador to visit the Museum of the Revolution.
Perquin was an area that was a stronghold of the guerillas during El
Salvador's civil war from 1979-1992. Driving up to the region, the area
is about an hour away from San Miguel, the closest major urban area.
Since it is winter time in El Salvador, the mountains are a lush green.
The roads are narrow if coming from San Salvador, but the
scenery is gorgeous. There are two museums in the region. One is
dedicated to showing how the guerillas lived in the area. There are
makeshift bridges, underground ventilation system for smoke, and hideout
tunnels. The facility holds various types of equipment found from the war
including parts of U.S. airplanes that were taken down in the region,
ammunition and rifles, and gear of La Guardia Nacional.
The other one is the Museum of the
Revolution. This museum had a lot of information about the war, solidarity movements abroad,
specifically in the U.S. and Germany, and Radio Venceremos, which was the
guerillas' radio station. At the museum, I encountered people
from the U.S. as well as Canada. Although the museum is small, it was
interesting to see how well visited it is by people from El Salvador and
abroad. There were two exhibits that caught my eye. First, there were testimonials from survivors of the Massacre at El Mozote.
This massacre is an example of the mass killings that took place during the war. Men, women, and children were murdered by El Salvador's National Guard. The Guard left the bodies to rot, some which were found being eating by vultures and dogs. This is one of the most well known massacres of El Salvador's civil war and exhibits the inhumanity being carried out by an army and government being funded by the U.S government. It is noted that the U.S. government sent approximately $1,000,000 daily to support El Salvador and their fight against the guerillas. But the guerillas are not without fault. The exhibit also has a luxury car that was given to high level officials of the FMLN, the guerilla party of El Salvador, by the Mexican government for use during the war. My cousin accompanied me on this trip and his reaction upon seeing the car was "Imagine how the poor people felt when they saw Schafik riding around in this car while they were sacrificing themselves by fighting?" I don't know much about Schafik other than he was a prominent leader of the FMLN and of Palestinian descent. But my cousin's reaction does require some reflection, since the oral historian of the museum mentioned that many of the FMLN leaders left El Salvador with millions of dollars in their pockets, some moving to the U.S. and Britain. I also thought that another interesting note on the museum is that is funded heavily by the Irish government. Not sure why but it might be interesting to find out.
Here are some pictures of the museum:
And since I am currently in El Salvador to study masculinity, I could not help but notice the presence of women and the use feminine in the guerilla movement. Here are some of the pictures I caught of women in the museums. Often times when we think of guerillas, for example such as Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, we have this image of men smoking cigars, carrying weapons, and wearing military fatigues, an exhibition of masculine markers of some sort. These pictures are an example of women's involvement in guerilla struggle and a recognition of women fighting alongside men.
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| "Liberty for the women political prisoners of Salvador" |
But despite the involvement of women in the guerilla movement, women were still seen as nurturers and mothers, as depicted in this propaganda piece of the FMLN. This poem feminizes El Salvador, but most importantly uses a woman to portray the FMLN who will provide the life the country when it becomes free.
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Translation: "My small homeland my pretty mamacita you will see how pretty you will be when you are free. well brushed, new dress blushed cheeks you will be beautiful you will be big my small homeland." |
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