Visit to Civilian Memorial Monument yesterday

I have a few minutes and I wanted to post a little bit to update you on what I{ve been doing. Yesterday we went to see the memorial wall built to comemorate the civilians who were killed during the civil war. These were people who did not take up arms, but were suspected of subversive activities. It was an amazing experience to see the names of all the people who were killed and disappeared, including children. Although I came here to work with the Mothers of the Disappeared and have seen the numbers associated with the deaths and disappeared, to walk past wall after wall of names left me slack'jawed in horror. There is a beautiful mural as part of the memorial as well. The memorial was recommended by the UN after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was conducted here, but the government refused to pay for it, so organizations of citizens banded together to get it built. The wall on which the names are inscribed is reminicent of the Vietnam Memorial constructed in DC.

Our guide explained that having a memorial that people can visit is extremely important in El Salvador because it is part of Salvadorean culture to visit a gravesite 5 to 6 times a year. Therefore, this site is extremely important for people whose family members and friends were disappeared, because although they do not have the bodies of their loved ones, they have this place they can visit to remember, to cry, to pray, etc. There are 26,000 names currently inscribed on the wall, and about 4,000 left to be documented before they can be added. The process of documentation is difficult to execute, because it involves a lot of paperwork and the government of El Salvador does not want people to investigate these cases. They say that it is [opening old wounds,[ but the people affected say that the wounds aren{t closed. The government says to [forgive and forget* and the people say that they can forgive but they cannot forget, until they know what happened, or have their loved ones{ names added to the wall. This is an ongoing struggle for recognition and rememberance and it is a major part of the work that the Comadres continue to do.

Our guide also said that the governemnts of all of the other countries that have had disappearances and persecution of the type in El Salvador have given formal apologies, including the Pope, but the government of El Salvador continues to refuse to do so.