Esperanza analyzes the changes she saw in El Salvador following the Peace Accords.
- Chapter:
- Chapter 7: Peace Accords & Post-War
- Interviewee:
- Esperanza
Transcription
First of all, we experienced a change in terms of calmness. It’s a big deal when you go to bed hearing an airplane coming and you don’t know what effect that airplane is going to cause. Ending the war meant no longer hearing the machine-gunning and the operations, that they wouldn’t detain us in the military posts, and that we would have the liberty to go anywhere to get what we needed without anyone stopping us. During the war we didn’t have that freedom. We had to wait in line at the military post for at least half an hour so they could search us from head to toe and check if we had a load. So it was a great relief! The other thing was our freedom to assemble, to get together and to loudly express what we thought. Also, healthcare. We were going to have access to the clinic here. The school. We had to do some work on that because we only had up to sixth grade, and we didn’t have teachers for grades beyond that. Father Nicolás supported us too. He was a school teacher here and supported the students who were completing the sixth grade. After that, we saw the need to find new teachers with the ministry’s support so we could have higher grades. Apart from that, there were bigger social changes related to freedom, like being able to be part of a party, and we didn’t have that before. I think we have done a lot although there is still a big load to carry.