Post-Conflict Developing Nation

I had planned to spend this post describing more of our vacation in Honduras.  And eventually I will.   But I am going to do something different instead.

I just finished reading a book by Joan Didion (one of my favorites even when I don't quite understand what she is trying to tell me) called "Salvador."  It is about a trip she took here in the early 80s, when the civil war was going strong.  She visited in 1981 and 82, and wrote the book in 82.  The war lasted until a peace accord was signed in 1992.  So all the things she wrote about  happened over 30 years ago.

She talks about being in San Salvador when it had been a city under siege for two years already.  The press did not even bother to mention an evening when seven dead bodies were discovered in the city - it wasn't enough dead bodies to warrant mention in the papers.  People talked about being "disappeared" and never heard from again, and there were death squads that carried out tons of grisly murders.  No one went out at night, and the place was an armed camp, with everything surrounded by high cement walls, concertina wire, electrified fences, and armed security.  She talked of a sense of foreboding, of dread, and never feeling safe. 

I go to San Salvador all the time.  It still looks a lot like that - the concertina wire, the fencing, and of course, the armed security.  But there is no feeling of dread, or fear, or foreboding.  In fact, everyone seems to be pretty cheerful.  As tourists, we are constantly told not to walk around at night in any part of the city, not to wander the central market, hold close to your handbag, and so on and so on.  I have been to the central market, and it isn't any different than the markets in Mexico or even Taiwan, for that matter.  I saw pickpockets in  Amsterdam, that is just something that happens in any big city. 

Now I have no intention of minimizing the really serious problem they have here with gang violence.  They are losing too many young men and boys to it, and there are neighborhoods that exist in kind of a war zone because of it.  We have heard about shakedowns and protection rackets, inter-gang killings, and stuff like that.  I have noticed some political looking graffiti - but I can't understand most of it and none of our English peaking drivers are able or willing to translate it.  So things are by no means perfect here.  There are lots of people who seem to be pretty poor, especially by US standards.  They live in cinder block houses, with outdoor kitchens and no indoor plumbing, and sometimes dirt floors.  They eke out a living selling food and produce by the side of the highway, or driving cabs, or farming.  But there is a sense of optimism, at least among the people we run into.

I think it is hard as a tourist to get a good idea of what changed in this country after the war.  Everyone I talk to is pretty vague as to exactly what was accomplished and how people are better off.  Apparently there was some land reform.  Supposedly elections are now free.  All these different police and security agencies have been abolished in favor of one national security agency.  And of course, there are no more death squads and no"disappearing" of people in the middle of the night.  It seems, however, like everyone finally got tired of fighting and decided to end it, giving the opposition parties a voice in the government and and granting amnesty to all those accused of war crimes.  I haven't been able to find out much else. 

I did notice that El Salvador seems to be better off economically than Honduras was.  And the people here do seem to be content, albeit unhappy about the general state of the economy, just as those in the US and Europe and Mexico are.  But we see lots of "Help Wanted" signs here, just as we did in Mexico.  We have met several Salvadorans who are US citizens, but have returned to El Salvador for many different reasons - ranging from bad divorces to running a family business to starting a new life where they actually find more opportunity, even if the standard of living is lower.

So I guess my point of all this is that even though things were horribly grim 30 years ago, it did get better.  Maybe lessons were learned.  Maybe people aren't so bound by ideology, but rather by common sense, and a desire for everyone to have the best life possible for them.  I have learned that revolutions have a tendency to turn on themselves at some point, and act like a snake eating its own tail.  It is an exciting time to be here.

"Let the world change you and you can change the world."  (Ernesto "Che" Guevara)