Long before the war actually began in 1979, Cinquera was under siege by the national government and their American allies, who were determined to stop what they believed was the spread of Communism into Central America. Cinquera was under military occupation throughout the 1970s, as more and more men and women filtered into the hills surrounding the village to join the guerilla groups that were beginning to train in mountain camps. The Catholic Church, a heavy supporter of the government, sent the bishop to the village to order the people to stop not only their support for the guerrillas, but their efforts to organize themselves so that they could do things like build a clinic. Organizing people was Communist, the bishop told the congregation inside the church. One young girl, a 15-year-old named Aida, stood up and asked the bishop why he was trying to stop the people from making a better life for their community. Aida was the young woman in Don Pablo’s story about the death squad on the bridge, killed for her impertinence and bravery. Today, she’s memorialized on the wall of a building on the main street, her portrait prominent among the names of every person from Cinquera who died during the war. Throughout El Salvador, about 75,000 people died between 1979 and 1992, in a country of about 6 million. On the wall, there are perhaps 200 names. Many are nicknames in parentheses, the noms des guerres of the guerrillas who died fighting. Cinquera is filled with public, political art like this, and it all looks like it’s from the hand of one artist. Yes, Don Pablo tells us, the artist is his daughter, Rosa. He’s obviously proud of her. She works as a forester, and is very involved in lots of village projects to improve community life. Don Pablo tells us that she is his only surviving child. He lost five sons and one daughter in combat. Don Pablo shows us photos of his children on the wall of the church. He’s obviously proud of them, too, but the pain of their loss is just as obvious. His one remaining son committed suicide after the peace. “He was our last hope,” he says quietly.
“They stopped her on a bridge. First they cut off her nose. Then they cut off her ears, and her nipples. Then they gouged out her eyes. When she still wouldn’t die, they shot her.” Don Pablo is in the middle of a litany of horrors that he’s shared many times with visitors to his little village, Cinquera. About an hour from the capitol, it was one of the centers of guerrilla resistance during the civil war. Don Pablo, 66, is one of the keepers of Cinquera’s rich and tragic history. With only two years of formal schooling to his name, he’s a natural-born storyteller. He tells us about a visit to his village in the mid-1960s by an American CIA agent that foreshadowed the war.
In 1965, he says, a colonel came to Cinquera. He called the village men together. “Have you seen any Communists?” the colonel asked them. “What are Communists?” the men asked. “They have taken over Cuba,” the colonel replied. “What is Cuba?” the men asked. “A place over there.” The colonel gestured to the north and east. “The Communists are led by a man named Fidel. He has hair all over. And long claws. And a tail and horns and two canine teeth that hang down over his mouth.” Don Pablo’s gestures get bigger the harder we laugh. “When they have a rally, and he’s hungry,” the colonel said, “he just reaches out and grabs a little child and eats it. Now, do you want to be Communists?” “No, colonel.” “Then let’s go and fight Communism.”
Don Pablo, the storyteller of Cinquera
"No to Plan Colombia - Get out Yankee invader!" (above) Plan Colombia refers to the military aid that the United States gives to Colombia. The FMLN, the Farabundo Marti Liberation Front, is the party of the former rebels. They control most of the municipal governments outside of the capital., including Cinquera (below)
Aida , pictured in the center, with two other young men from Cinquera who were killed in the war. The rest of the wall is covered with the names of those who died (above and below)
