In the middle of the night, 6 Jesuit priests and 2 women helpers were murdered by the Salvadoran army. The priests were killed for speaking out against the abuses of the army which had been waging a war backed by the U.S. for the previous 8 years. They were dragged out of their rooms, shot in the head, and left on the grass. The army blamed the guerilla group (FMLN) despite the fact that army battalions surrounded the campus. Despite much research and evidence indicating involvement of senior military leaders and politicians, only 2 junior military men spent any time in jail (about 18 months) prior to amnesty being granted for war crimes by the Salvadoran legislature (run by ARENA party) in 1993.
Today we experienced the Salvadoran resonance that started from that event. To Salvadorans, the shootings of the priests and women are a deep connection with their own lives and with the suffering and death of Jesus. We are here on the twentieth anniversary of the murders and were able to witness an annual pilgrimage and procession to honor the memory of all men and women who are martyrs in El Salvador.
We visited the Romero Center on the campus of UCA where the artifacts and memories of the priests are preserved. We saw their clothes with bullet holes, their tombs in the chapel, and the rose garden planted where their bodies were found. Outside of the Center, we saw groups of college kids creating elaborate alfrombras (murals using salt, and colored rice flower. It amazed us to see the dedication and effort required to make pictures on by putting colored salt on the paved surface. After the sun went down, 10-15 thousand people came out to make a procession, walking the course around the university and along the pathway of the alfombras. Steve had the honor of carrying a palm branch with the face of Joaqúin López y López.
After this was an enormous mass, celebrated by the cardinal of Edinborough Salvador. Of note, the major media sources did not cover the march, apparently viewing the murders as old wounds better left alone.
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