April 27, 2011
Social Justice in El Salvador
The novel One Day of Life written by Manlio Argueta, takes readers into one day of an average women’s life during the Salvadoran Civil War. In Chalate, El Salvador during the 1980s, was one of the darkest and violent living moments for people. This is because during the Civil War, the military government mistreated the Salvadoran people by diminishing social justice within communities. Manlio Argueta illustrates this effectively in his novel, where the Salvadoran people are being repressed by their government through acts of torture and violence, have no freedom of religion, and no human rights. Manlio argues through these events that these people should not be treated that way. Lupe, the main character, represents much of the Salvadoran population caught during the war. The war was between the Salvadoran military government and the guerilla fighters, or rebels. Such acts the military or, authorities, would do is torture people by trespassing in their homes, taking away family members, and killing them. They would also close down towns so no one was ever to be out on the street. The authorities also blocked people from going to Church and torture those who would not accept their demand. Argueta also provided the perspective of one of the soldiers, in which he describes how he trained to fight and kill. These events are mainly seen from Lupe, a common woman in El Salvador, to show the perspectives of the people that lived through the lack of social justice in El Salvador. Throughout the novel, Argueta continuously shows that during the 1980’s in El Salvador, people faced much government corruption and repression. Salvadoran experienced such repression because they did not have right to education, criticize their government, right to any type of healthcare, and the right to own land. The government would keep repressing these people through acts of torture and violence during the Civil War. Lupe and her family, have showed in the novel that they have just become aware of rights they did not have which resulted to the government’s order of repression. Jose, Lupe’s husband, tells Lupe “one has to be aware that one is poor” (Argueta 52). This means that when individuals know and understand why they are poor they will know why the military is torturing and killing innocent people. Furthermore, they will understand the poor people still are entitled to rights. Jose explains this concept Lupe and many other people were not told before: insist for your rights regardless that you are poor. This is shown when he replies that “only that way will become strong enough to claim, to demand that which we have a right to” (Argueta). The military forces violence and torture on to innocent people because they do not want them to know about rights. Such rights will let people question and criticize their government. One of these rights includes the right to education. People in El Salvador are not educated; many people stopped going to school at a very young age. Manlio shows this in the novel when Lupe along with the rest of her family and neighbors recall not going to school past the fifth grade. Examples of lack of education derive from families coming from very poor backgrounds which results in children having to work. Lupe had to help pick cotton, grow corn, and take care of her younger siblings, and along with her mother, was in charge of the household. Without her work, her family would not have enough to eat and starve. Therefore, going to school ceased for many young girls and boys. This is also shown in later generations, where Adolfina, Lupe’s granddaughter, is fifteen years old and does not go to school for the same reasons as Lupe. With lack of education, many people depended on jobs that were scarce, low-paying, and had poor working conditions. People were also repressed of their labor and land rights because of they were not treated fairly and not given access to land in which they were entitled to. Many people work in plantations. People would work as farmworkers sowing, weeding, and harvesting the fields. However, the pay and working conditions are very poor. Lupe describes how she and other people would work the entire day- a whole day without eating, and sleeping in the fields. They were not allowed for breaks, working hours lasted an entire day, and they were not getting paid fairly. As described in the text, the landowners of these plantations are paying these people much less according to their labor and working conditions. “The landowners sure pass by rapidly in their jeeps and limousines so fast they don’t even see people traveling beside the highways” (Argueta 53). Argueta emphasizes the working experiences in plantations because it one of scarce opportunities for work but consisted of unfair pay and working conditions. Following this, Lupe explains that before, she and other people will never criticize the landowners. Landowners would tell them to be good workers. This meant that to be good was to “bow one’s head, not to protest, not to demand anything” (Argueta). Argueta provides this to show how the people in El Salvador were being repressed of their rights by making them believe attacking injustice was wrong. This led allowed owners to take advantage of these people for their work. External sources also emphasize how the government would repress the workers in plantations. In the book, “Repression, Resistance, and Democratic Transition in Central America”, edited by Thomas W. Walker and Ariel C. Armony, provide how certain government officials began the exploitation of workers and strengthen the development of profit-making plantations. Coffee- and sugar-producing plantations dominated the government. This was used for trading across Central America and El Salvador’s trade union movement emerged to become the strongest in Central America (Walker, Armony e.d, 28). This resulted in the founding of the Salvadoran Communist Party. However, this boom was short –lived. Many people were unhappy with the government and when deceitful municipal elections in January 1932 came near, it triggered an indigenous uprising that shook the military regime. The military responded by executing thousands of people participating, aiding, or even suspected of participating in the rebellion (Walker, Armony, e.d). Though this specific event occurred before the Civil War, it supports Argueta’s argument that before (the Civil War) people were exploited when working in plantations. This shows for how long people were being repressed by their government, which consisted of agriculture-export elites. These are the main people responsible for the trading and exploitation of workers. In One Day of Life, Manlio Argueta shows when the military government, or authorities, started to increase the violence in El Salvador, they also forcefully forbid people from going to Church; Catholic Churches specifically. This began when younger priests started to arrive to the churches and changed the public’s perceptions about the power of religion, church, and priests. These younger priests began to preach of the injustices of the government, how people do not have rights that they as humans, have the right to. The government does not allow them to question authority and silences people. Younger priests would say that they are being forbidden the right to protest, to have fair elections, to demand better working conditions, and to have protection against violence. The authorities in the novel began to show up to and trouble people to prevent them from going to Mass. They would prevent them going to Mass by blocking pathways, physically attack people, and demanding identification papers. These procedures carried out by the authorities prove my argument that when people began to be aware of their rights and the lack of social justice in their communities, the military government would repress them through acts of torture and violence. This also means to show that Manlio is arguing in his novel that that is not how the government should treat the people of El Salvador. However, it is important to note that the Church was not always preaching against social injustice and lack of rights. Before the Civil War, older priests would religion to have a tremendous power of the people. For example, in the novel, Lupe reminisces on her lost child. Children, mainly newborns, commonly died of dehydration. Many mothers such as Lupe believed it was normal for babies to die because priest told them they would go to heaven. When symptoms of dehydration and diarrhea occurred, parents were more concerned about their children being baptized to be sent to heaven when they past, rather than seeking medical attention. In result, many children died from worms and other sicknesses. Though their children were suffering, priests would tell them to keep faith and say prayers. This persuaded people that it was prize God gave them to no longer suffer (Argueta 22). This shows the high influence and power of the Church. Argueta shows this because not only did government repress their people but the Church also played an important role in influencing the people. When priests began to change, they brought friendlier attitudes, came to visit people at their homes, and taught people how to sell goods to make profit. This new popular Catholicism is further described in the book, “Martyrdom and the Politics of Religion”. While religion still maintains many traditional practices, such as the worship for Mary and Jesus, it still provides new resources for resistance to domination for elites. As more urban spaces continued their independence from the central church authorities, religion helped poor and indigenous Latin Americans maintain autonomy in practical and ideological ways (Peterson 46). This means that religion provided a useful tool to become more independent and resist influence from higher priest churches and their government. Throughout the Salvadoran Civil War, many Salvadoran citizens were killed. Argueta shows these continuous times throughout One Day of Life. All through the text, there are events of the military government torturing and then killing innocent civilians. This was to continue to repress the people. Repression will lead to more control of the Salvadoran people and more power for the government. However, many factors such as the lack of social justice- lack of education, labor rights, right to criticize government, was enough for the Salvadoran people to become aware and resist their repression. Argueta wrote One Day of Life to provide the perspective of the Civil War by a common woman in El Salvador. Lupe gave audiences the opportunity to show how the government treated their people through torture and violence. Argueta argues in his novel that the government should treat people this way. In One Day of Life, Salvadoran people were being repressed from their rights and had lack of social justice within their communities. Works Cited Argueta, Manlio. One Day of Life. United States: Vintage Books, 1991. Print. Walker, Thomas W., Armony, Ariel C.,ed. Repression, Resistance, and Democratic Transition in Central America. United States: Scholarly Resources, 2000. Print. Peterson, Anna L. Martyrdom and the Politics of Religion. Albany: State University of New York, 1997. Print.
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April 11, 2011
A Little Piece of Your Country
There are big numbers concerning the Latino populations in the United States: There are now over fifty million Latinos and Hispanics living in the U.S. This is an increase of 43% according to the 2010 U.S. Census. Latino populations have also increased in Southern California by 28.7% through mainly natural births and immigration. The Latino population, specifically Central Americans are mainly living in the greater Los Angeles area. This has brought important effects dealing with Central American culture and economy. The increasing population of Central Americans in Los Angeles, CA, has many Latino-food based corporations such as La Tapachulteca and Pollo Campero expanding their locations from originally only in Central America to the United States.
The reason why restaurant companies such as La Tapachulteca and Pollo Campero move to the United States is to sell the products to the Central American population that would be found back in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. La Tapachulteca makes available products that are used to make the traditional foods such as pupusas, thick corn bread filled with beans, cheese, and pork. For example, the restaurant La Tapachulteca began as family-owned business restaurant founded in San Salvador, El Salvador since the year 1962. La Tapachulteca sold a variety of products from El Salvador such as loroco, a green plant used as a condiment, tortillas, made of corn, and masa, or corn dough. Furthermore, La Tapachulteca owners, Don Sergio Torres and Dona Irma de Torres, sold toys from companies like Mattel Toys, Lego, and Fisher Price in their stores. This gave Salvadorans the options to buy all traditional food products and other common household products. By the year 1999, there were thirty-two stores in El Salvador and two stores located in Southern California. Around the same time period, a Civil War broke out in El Salvador in the 1980s which resulted in many Salvadorans seeking refuge in the United States. “It’s estimated that more than twenty-five percent of its population migrated or fled the during the country’s civil war, which began in 1979 and ended in 1992. (Balona 1). Because many Salvadorans were immigrating to the United States and mainly settled in Southern California, the Tapachulteca was widely recognized as the main Central American product store. As Latinos, specifically Central Americans continue to rise the percentages as the Los Angeles residents, it is important for La Tapachulteca to remain in such locations. It is important for the Tapachulteca to be in the Los Angeles County because it is providing the common products from El Salvador and Guatemala to Salvadoran and Guatemalan immigrants living in the United States. These immigrants use the La Tapachulteca to remember where they are from by being able to eat the foods from back home.
While La Tapachulteca provides homemade products to Central American immigrants, the company Pollo Campero International has provided Central American immigrants with fast-food options they have once left at home. Guatemalan- based company Pollo Campero, is a restaurant chain company that sells fried and rotisserie-style chicken throughout Mexico and Central America. Pollo Campero has been a part of a cultural custom for passengers traveling to the United States from Central America to ship boxes filled with chicken and bring them to their friends and relatives. Since more Central American immigrants are immigrating to the United States, Pollo Campero will be opening in downtown Los Angeles next to the store La Curacao (Gaona 2). This was possible because La Curacao has purchased a franchise license for Pollo Campero restaurants and will open restaurants inside the La Curacao stores in Huntington Park, South Gate, and Panorama City, all cities located in Southern California and have heavy concentrations of Latinos, specifically Central Americans. Though Pollo Campero does not provide Central Americans with homemade foods and products, Pollo Campero has become very popular in Central America because of it’s, according to customers, flavor and spices (Gaona 2). “It is the tastiest thing there can be. I used to walk to the Pollo Campero (in El Salvador) and from three or four blocks away you can smell the aromas. There’s nothing like it. I can’t describe the flavor, but it’s my passion”, says Henry Aguilar, from the article, “Popular Latin Pollo Chain Heads to L.A.; Fast Food: Retailer La Curacao Enters Deal with Central American Restaurant Operator. Expansion is planned.” Henry Aguilar is one of the approximately millions of Pollo Campero customers shipping Pollo Campero chicken when they travel. Pollo Campero International has now annual revenue of $300 million and located throughout Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and Ecuador. Because of the heavy patrons traveling between Central America and the U.S., the restaurant has now locations in Southern California and Central American airports. Jerry Azarkman, the owner of La Curacao, a department store that caters exclusively to Latino immigrants, says Pollo Campero is important for Central American immigrants because “It’s part of the culture. This is the kind of company we want to work with that can bring a piece of their countries to our customers.” This is proven by Henry Aguilar and many other customers, that they use businesses like Pollo Campero because it was once known to them in their native countries back in Central America. When many of these people immigrated to the United States, they still wanted to remember their culture and where they are from. Establishing restaurants in the United States has Pollo Campero access for Central American immigrants to eat the foods they seem to enjoy.
Department store chain La Curacao offers even broader products for Central American immigrants. Founded in Los Angeles, California, La Curacao has selected the Latino customer base to build a $100-million retail chain. The stores offer credit to people with no credit history and operate an export program that allows customers to purchase merchandise for relatives in their home countries (Gaona 1). La Curacao is also the one-stop-shop for a range of services, including Internet services, communications services, travel arrangements, and restaurants, or Pollo Campero. Though the La Curacao does not provide products native to the Latino communities, it provided them with resources to live in the United States (Curacao.com). La Curacao provides services that can be used by Latino communities living in the United States and connects them to their countries in Central America and Mexico by sending products, having telecommunication systems, and providing credit. For Central American immigrants, this also means that they will be able to communicate with their families in Central America, and travel back to Central America. Because of stores like La Curacao, which target Hispanic and Latino communities, Central Americans are helped to live in the United States and remain connected to their native homes.
Though companies such as La Tapachulteca and Pollo Campero have immigrating along with the fifty million Latinos now living in the U.S. (Census 2010), it has also benefited non-Latino communities. The culture and food of Central Americans have been very popular for not only Central Americans themselves but for non-Latino people. For example, the Salvadoran culture is comprised of having many food styles and dishes. In the article, “A Taste of El Salvador Deltona Eatery Serves up Traditional Bite”, one of the most popular dishes requested is the pupusa. As a reminder, the pupusa is a made from a combination of pork meat and stuffed with vegetables all in corn flour patty. Another restaurant called “The Portillos” says that they at least serve three-hundred pupusas every weekend, largely to Salvadorans and other customers who hail from Central America (Balona 2). Furthermore, very popular dishes like pupusas will attract non-Latino customers. “Even our white American customers ask for it, especially when they see Salvadorans and Central Americans eating it with their hands and want to know what it are”, says Cindy, from Deltona Eatery. This shows that not only Central Americans are able to eat dishes such as these. For companies that move to where the Central American populations are in the United States, such as La Tapachulteca and Pollo Campero, many non-Latino communities living in the United States will experience a bit of culture from Central America.
As the 2010 U.S. Census shows, the Latino population is the highest booming population in the United States. In California, over half of the entire populations are Hispanic or Latino. As these people continue to migrate to the United States, companies that once originated in the Central America will also expand to U.S. locations. This is to bring remembrance of Central American countries and sustain parts of Central American cultures for immigrants. Because many of Central American communities immigrated the Southern California region, specifically Los Angeles County, these businesses such as La Tapachulteca and Pollo Campero, are also founded in Los Angeles. Establishing themselves in Latino-based locations did not only make them successful and vital for Central Americans. These companies have also sustained themselves for long because they have remained very well at sustaining the uncommon, ethnic foods originating from the ancestors of the Central American immigrants.
Works Cited
Balona, Patricio G. “A Taste of El Salvador Deltona Eatery Serves up Traditional Bite”. News Journal. Daytona Beach, Fla.: Sep 25, 2008. Pg. 1-3. ProQuest Database.
Gaona, Elena. “Popular Latin Pollo Chain Heads to L.A.: Fast Food: Retailer La Curacao enters deal with Central American Restaurant Operator. Expansion is planned.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, Calif.: Mar 4, 2002. Pg. 1-3. Proquest Database.
2010 Census Data. http://2010.census.gov/2010census
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