Celestino reflects on one of the most moving moments of his life – the resettlement of the community of San José Las Flores.
- Interviewee:
- Celestino "Ebaristo"
- Places:
- San José Las Flores
Transcription
That was one of the beautiful things I’ve seen, when people returned and we managed to legalize our resettlement in San José Las Flores. That was our first resettlement, our first legalized community, and the church also confirmed it. When we experienced that joy of seeing people return, we saw them come with mattresses and all their things, and we went out to meet them. That was one of the times I cried with joy. It was such a strong emotion. I talked to every person I met,
“Hello, comrade, here we are!”
It was something we never thought would happen. But... It was a nice welcome, joyful, we felt a lot of enthusiasm. And we started over. The church played a very important role. There was a nun who lived with the people over there and I was so glad to see her come back. She had faced the army, and when people got captured she had gone out with them. Sister Teresa. A true sister. And then there was Father John. He and I had already met, and he was walking at the front of the group that came back that day.
"Hello!"
Well, but the next day, the army was in San José Las Flores threatening us, threatening, threatening. We had to implement a strategy to keep people calm. Their objective was to make us despair, but the people stayed strong.