Rural Organizing

Watch on YouTube Rural Organizing

Santiago lists some of the rural political organizations which were present in Chalatenango.

Interviewee:

Transcription

[What kinds of organizing were you involved in?]

Well, I was in the UTC (Union of Farm Workers), when it started. When we all got organized. There were five organizations. Including... I don't remember all five organizations. We went everywhere. Luckily we are still alive.

[What activities were you carrying out in those organizations?]

Well, making demands. Wage increases, and everything. Those are the kinds of demands we made. Wage increases in the coffee and sugarcane harvests. The rates were very low. That's what we were demanding.

[And what was the UTC?]

That’s where the UTC was born. There were the UTC, FECCAS (Federation of Christian Farm Workers), I don’t remember the others, but there were five other organizations. The UTC was an organization of the FPL (People’s Liberation Forces). The UTC was born from that organization.