A Peasant of El Salvador, by Peter Gould and Stephen Stearns

          One of the saddest stories of any country in the world is the story of the wonderful, little nation of El Salvador. It is a volcanic, tropical place full of intelligent and kind people. Unfortunately, it is also a classic, tragic tale of greed, war and exploitation.

The Civil War in the Central American nation of El Salvador was fought between the US backed, military-led junta government and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, from October 1979 to January 1992. It was years of terrorizing and killing civilians, including priests and nuns; more than 75,000 people died during the war. The United Nations estimated that the FMLN guerrillas were responsible for 5% of the acts of violence towards civilians, while 85% were committed by Salvadoran armed forces and death squads. A Peasant of El Salvador, by Peter Gould and Stephen Stearns, takes place during that conflict.

It is a two-act play, set in 1975, which tells the story of Jesus a hard-working farmer. He is described as a man who “wears a straw hat, peasant white pants and shirt.” He believes that hard work, a loving family and an unwavering faith in God is all one needs to be happy. What he does not know, is that he will be a victim of the cold war between the U.S. and Russia, and the unbelievable greed of his own countrymen. The play is quite fair about the factors that were involved in that horrible war. His village, family and faith are slowly torn apart, but not just by the Americans. The play is honest about the greed of the 0.01% of families that owned 77% of the land, and how the military used ruthless tactics, learned from the Americans, against their own people.  

In one powerful scene, in act one, Jesus is looking for his daughter. The  officer tells him the nuns she was with were communists. Jesus is told to go home because no one is concerned about the death of  “a carload of commies trying to run a roadblock.” The reader, and Jesus, realize that the Salvadorian people were powerless. In the end, it was the greed of wealthy Salvadorians, and a soulless U.S., foreign policy, that tried to destroy one of the most resilient countries on earth. There is a terrible scene at the funeral of Monsignor Romero, a critic of the government, when government forces open fire on the mourners. This book has a lot of sadness packed into a few pages. At one point, I had to stop reading because it got so damn sad.

All wars in Latin America are part of our collective Latino consciousness, especially those whose remnants still negatively affect the country. A Peasant of El Salvador is a wonderfully intimate, forty-page, history lesson about a terrible war. It is a play that made me feel deeply for a sweet, beautiful, but unlucky little country.

Until next time,

Lucho