Perquin - the Guerrilla Town
To get a feel of the Civil War, all of my research pointed toward the mountainous, pine tree-obscured wilderness of Northeastern El Salvador. I'm a historical tourist, if you couldn't tell, and I'd already been to a couple museums and a guerrilla encampment in my search on discovering what's left of the conflict. El Salvador isn't a wealthy nation. Setting aside funds in remembrance of the conflict haven't been prioritized by the government, so it's typically left to donors, locals, and tourists like myself to fund any monuments, museums, or sites dedicated to the war. Many are in disrepair.
I was told repeatedly, time and time again, that the regions of northeastern El Salvador would be the place to go. I aimed my 2 wheels in that direction, aiming for the city of Perquin in the dead center of the territory.
The Hill - Cerro de Perquin
The small mountain town of Perquin (Pair-Keen) was founded by Lenca native tribes well before Columbus' first contact. Going into the 20th century, it was one of the poorest regions of the country. When the Civil War popped off, the region around the city was remote and perfect for smuggling weapons, supplies, and support for the FMLN against the military dictatorship they were fighting against. A lot of support came through this region, across the Honduran border, from places like the Soviet Union, Cuba, and Nicaragua.
The people of this city had no choice but to support the FMLN. The right-wing government was backed and trained by the United States that had a zero-tolerance policy when it came to even LIVING in enemy territory. Bombing runs came through the region frequently. I've seen a couple of the craters left behind by bombs dropped from the military's planes.
A hill that overlooks the town was an FMLN stronghold. When you climb it, you'll find several barriers set up and aimed downhill in the event of a ground assault. There's no doubt the people of Perquin would have to run uphill for cover, as the military had massacred people all over the country, regardless of gender or age. If you were a civilian caught in the wrong territory, you were a target.
Behind the barriers were trenches. On the way up the hill, a crater from a bomb is labeled, with a couple trees growing out of it, no doubt younger than 30 years of age.
Museo de la Revolución
At the bottom of the hill was a Museum and a private property that held a guerrilla camp. The owner was a former FMLN Guerrilla that had a new purpose in life: teach the youth and the world what had happened here. The old fighter had a great way of speaking on the conflict. Not exactly what he said, but how he said it. He used simple Spanish very slowly in a story-telling format that was easy to understand, almost as if he was speaking to children.
He told us that the resistance to the government started off as a movement to better the lives of citizens of El Salvador. Democracy was no longer an option and any criticism to the government was met in violence. The movement was hijacked by leftists, many of them communists, who put a Communist from the 1930s as the name of the movement- Farabundo Marti. The leftists themselves, if they took power, would've preferred an authoritarian leftist government much like Cuba, Venezuela, or Nicaragua today. The peace accords were the best result imaginable after the chaos, where Democracy took hold in the aftermath, leaving a more level playing field.
The museum guide told us what each of the rooms represented. We saw a room with information on the conditions that created the war in the first place. We saw personal accounts of guerrilla fighters and how many of them had died. Another room held many posters in many languages, from English to German and Catalan, talking about the war in El Salvador and how they could assist. Many were protest posters against the government in El Salvador from the states. At the time, it was even well-known in the US that their tax dollars were going to bombing civilians and death squads.
The 3rd room held weapons, communications devices, medicine, and other artifacts from the war. A 4th room held even bigger weapons, such as mortars, rocket launchers, and high-caliber machine guns. As we went outside, a local school stopped by for a field-trip. There were kids as young as 6 running around and checking out the artifacts. Our guide used his same story-time voice with the kids as he used with us.
Outside was a crashed helicopter. Long story short: A colonel in the military government had committed many atrocities during the war, many of them local. His name was Colonel Domingo Monterrosa. Monterrosa made it a mission to stop a radio team that was broadcasting pro-FMLN propaganda and interviews from FMLN territory. Upon finally finding the equipment after the team had abandoned their post, he brought his new trophies inside a helicopter with him to be airlifted out of the region. When doing so, the radio equipment had exploded, as it had been booby-trapped with explosive devices. The wreckage of the helicopter was on display.
On the back of the property was another crater from a bomb dropped by the military.
In the neighboring property was an FMLN guerrilla camp, where there were trenches, a hospital, and hiding holes for guerrillas and more than likely civilians in the event of an attack by the government. A lot of artifacts were on display, including many bombs that had been deactivated.
A recording of the FMLN Radio was playing on repeat. I took a second to listen. It talked about how there was a battle in some part of the country where their courageous fighters had claimed victory over their well-funded, better-equipped foes. The radio program would regularly interview the survivors of massacres and even captured enemy prisoners. International media organizations that were covering the Salvadoran Civil War would listen in on the Radio Program for information on the conflict.
Perquin is still here
Museums take work. It's not just the standing and walking, it's all of the reading and mental energy it takes to learn. Learning takes mental energy. It can cause fatigue. After getting my fill of the museum, it was time to eat.
I walked through the extremely steep streets of Perquin to a local restaurant. While I was there, a man arrived that was using a cane to walk. He had an extremely crooked spine and walked with a limp as if one of his legs was false. He actually got to talking to me by asking where I was from. After speaking a bit, he said his name was Jose and he used to be a Guerrilla fighter for the FMLN.
I didn't know what to say. I was amazed and had so many questions, but I didn't know how to open the door to them. I don't know how to talk about these things. Would any questions make him uncomfortable? I had no idea how to proceed. I was also mentally fatigued and not entirely ready to break the ice with my many questions:
"Did you see combat? Did you lose anyone? How do you think the war ended? How is the FMLN to you now as a political party? Were you wounded in the war? Do you still speak with others that were your brothers and sisters in arms?"
I thanked him for his time as he got his food to go and he waddled out of the restaurant.
On my way back to Lechuza I made a detour into the local cemetery. Right in the front entrance, a headstone yielded an FMLN flag right at the entrance. Born in 1971, dead at 19 in 1990 at the height of the leftist's final offensive of the war.
His gravestone read "we had, we have, and we will have a reason to create a revolution."
The cemetery undoubtedly yielded the remains of many people killed during the conflict, or even killed by gang violence since peace began.
This was only the beginning of digging into the history of the Civil War. My next journal entry will show something much darker- something that brought me to tears. The Massacre at El Mozote.
-JT
6/22/2023