Élida provides an account of the long walks she and others had to take from Arcatao to Chalatenango in order to obtain food supplies, and tells about the first religious procession community members participated in after resettling Arcatao.
- Interviewee:
- Élida
Transcription
We had to leave Arcatao and walk to Chalatenango to bring food supplies. The Sumpul River bridge wasn’t fixed after being destroyed. There was only a slope going down, so we had to walk up and down. And we had to travel to Chalatenango on foot. Once we had to go as part of a procession. It was the first time I got to Chalatenango in a procession with Saint Bartholomew, who is our patron saint here in Arcatao. We went with Father Miguel and all the other pilgrims. We all did a pilgrimage starting here in Arcatao, and that was the first time I ever went to Chalatenango after we had returned from our life on the mountains. We got to Chalatenango singing. When we lived up on the mountains and were always on the run, I never thought I would ever have peace again, or imagined that I would arrive in Chalatenango like that. For me it was a big achievement to arrive in Chalatenango at that moment, as part of that pilgrimage. First of all, we were able to get there and nothing happened to us. That was a huge accomplishment because we always feared being captured. But thank God nothing happened, and there were no squads around. We did face many difficulties that year because it wasn’t easy to bring food here. If we brought sugar, corn, or anything else, it wasn’t easy to make it all the way over here. They thought it was intended for the guerrilla. Sometimes when we came across the military posts, they wouldn’t let us through.