Eduardo recounts his experience of being interrogated by the National Guard about his relation to Facundo Guardado, a famous guerrilla commander with the FPL and FMLN, and his release after a few hours.
- Interviewee:
- Eduardo
Transcription
The National Guard stopped me in San Martín. Near Soyapango, that's where I was headed. Four guardsmen stopped me. They didn't arrest me, but I was in their hands. I was carrying a flask of water. They stopped me and asked, "Where are you from?"
I said, "I'm from the department of Chalatenango."
"What family are you from?"
I told them my name, "so and so," I said.
"What are you doing here?"
"Visiting family."
But they were after a man named Facundo Guardado.
"Maybe you've seen him."
I'm a cousin of his on my dad's side, so they said to me, "Do you know him?"
"Yes, I know him," I said.
"Is he from Arcatao?"
"Yes, he's from Arcatao," I told them.
"But are you relatives?"
"No, we're not relatives." I said. "We're just friends," I told them.
“Well, it's too bad that you’re not related,” they said.
"No, we're not relatives, we're both named Guardado," because there are a lot of Guardados. There are some who have the same last name but we’re not relatives.
"Well, OK."
But they detained me for about an hour, interrogating me, and afterwards I went straight home.