MEMORIAL
MASS, BOCA DE CURVARADÓ, RIO ATRATO, COLOMBIA,
2002
Residents of peace communities had made over seventy wooden crosses,
each with the name of a friend or relative who had been killed in the
previous five years.
The crosses were presented and the names and dates read aloud during
the mass.
Click an image on the left to see a larger version
WOMAN PLOWING WITH OXEN NEAR THE COAST, SAN VICENTE, EL SALVADOR,
1991
Women often had to assume new roles to survive after their husbands became combatants or were killed. This woman was sharing tasks with a neighbor, plowing while her friend took care of the children.
MARKET
VENDOR PRAYS AT TOMB OF ARCHBISHOP ROMERO, METROPOLITAN CATHEDRAL,
SAN SALVADOR,
1986
THE PEOPLE BECOME ROMERO,
SAN SALVADOR,
1986
Archbishop Oscar Romero was shot while saying mass on March 24, 1980. Each year on the anniversary of his death there are marches and celebrations of his life. Shortly before he died, he told an interviewer: “If they kill me, I will return in the Salvadoran people.”
GLUE ADDICT, CENTRAL
SAN SALVADOR,
1993
Countless
thousands of children live on the streets of the cities of Latin America.
Some work to support their families by selling inexpensive items, while
others have no real homes and resort to petty theft or prostitution to
survive. This young man is addicted to sniffing glue, which will eventually
destroy his central nervous system.
PRESIDENT
DUARTE IN HIS HELICOPTER, USULUTAN, EL SALVADOR,
1986
José Napoleon
Duarte, a 1948 Notre Dame graduate, had been a popular mayor of San Salvador
before he was elected president in 1984. Mistrusted by forces on both
the left and right and manipulated by the American embassy, he was unable
to carry out his promise to negotiate an end to the war. He left office
in 1989 and died in 1990.
AN
OFFICER OF THE FMLN GUERRILLAS INSPIRES HIS MEN BY READING FROM THE BIBLE,
USULUTAN,
EL SALVADOR,
1987
The
reading was from the Book of Maccabees, which explains that the Hebrews
were able to battle invading Greeks because God was on their side and
also because they came out at night and attacked in small groups.
WOMAN
SINGING, BOCA DE CURVARADÓ, RIO ATRATO, COLOMBIA,
2002
As
a way of getting to know each other, members of women’s groups
shared songs and stories. This region is largely populated by Afro-Colombians,
descendents of slaves who escaped from the Spanish mines and fled to
the jungle.
THE OLD GUITARIST, DOMUS MARIAE REFUGEE CENTER,
SAN SALVADOR,
1985
This man was among thousands displaced by search-and-destroy operations in
the area of the Guazapa Volcano.
STUDENT
AT A POPULAR SCHOOL, SANTA CRUZ, USULUTAN,
EL SALVADOR,
1989
Since
the Salvadoran government refused to send teachers into areas sympathetic
to the guerrillas, residents often started their own “popular
schools,” taught by the most educated members of the community.
SOLDIER GIVES ORDERS UNDER FIRE, SAN RAMON, EL SALVADOR, 1989
The
guerrillas had attacked an army position a few blocks up the hill and
were firing down at soldiers below to cover their retreat.
THE MAN FROM COPAPAYO, CHALATENANGO, EL SALVADOR,
1987
He
showed us where he had lived before the Salvadoran Air Force and Army
had destroyed his little village. We came to a small cross, and he
told us this story: “One day we were attacked by mortars and
helicopters. Several people had just jumped down into a kind of bomb
shelter that they had dug here, followed by a woman with two small
children. Before her other two children could get in, a helicopter
dropped a bomb right into the hole, and it exploded and buried them.” He
continued, fighting back the tears: “The next year they came
back and killed my wife and children, but I don’t think I can
talk about that.” He finally began to sob, and crouched down
by the cross: “We have suffered enough... Ya sufrimos bastante.”
THE CORN PLANTER, SAN VICENTE, EL SALVADOR,
1991
As
he walked along, planting seeds in the holes poked by his stick, he
was mumbling softly to himself. I was told he was saying a prayer to
mother earth, asking forgiveness for piercing her skin but knowing
she would not be upset, as it was not done out of malice but only to
survive.
ROBERTO
D’AUBUISSON,
SAN
SALVADOR,
1989
Roberto
D’Aubuisson founded the ruling ARENA political party in El Salvador
and was the organizer of many of the country’s death squads.
He is believed to have ordered the murder of Archbishop Romero. The
United Nations Truth Commission report asserted that the death squads
were closely allied with the government security forces and funded
by wealthy Salvadoran businessmen. D’Aubuisson died of throat
cancer in 1992, shortly after the signing of the peace accords.
PRAYING IN THE CHURCH, SANTIAGO ATITLAN, GUATEMALA, 1992
At
the request of the local Tzutujil Maya community, the heart and blood
of Oklahoma missionary Father Stan Rother were buried under the main
altar after he was murdered in the parish house by a government death
squad.
STREET
VENDORS,SAN SALVADOR,
1989
BEDROOM OF
A DEAD BOMBER, CUSCATANCINGO,
EL
SALVADOR, 1989
On
election day in 1989 a young leftist member of the “urban militias” was
making a bomb in his bedroom when it exploded prematurely in his lap.
This image shows part of the debris scattered in the room, exposed
to the sun because the ceiling and roof had been blown away.
PEACE
COMMUNITIES RETURN HOME,
BOCA DE CURVARADÓ, RIO ATRATO, COLOMBIA,
2002
Six
years ago members of communities along the Atrato River in northwest
Colombia returned to their land after having fled from combat between
the FARC guerrillas and the Colombian military and their allies, the
paramilitaries of the AUC. The peace communities have declared themselves
neutral in the war and refuse to assist any of the armed actors in
any way. They have come under attack from all sides, especially by
the military and the AUC, who would like to steal their holdings of
fertile jungle land. The photograph shows community members returning
to their villages after attending a meeting to celebrate the fifth
anniversary of their founding.
STREET CHILD, SAN SALVADOR,
1993
This
girl and her sister work on the streets, selling soft drinks. She was
photographed at a refuge for street children run by the Fundación
Olof Palme, where children can get a meal, a chance to bathe, and free
medical care.
The exhibit
is located in:
The Galería
América@ND
230 McKenna Hall
Hours: 9-5
September 8- December 20, 2003