Nicaragua and El Salvador…Again

This year, I decided to give myself an unusual Christmas present: a trip to Latin America…not to glitzy beaches and touristy mountain resorts, but to gritty cities and slums where I can take the pulse of the people and get up-to-date on complicated socioeconomic issues. In my nine-day trip ‘ basically from Christmas Eve to New Year’s ‘ I’ll spend three days apiece in three different capitals: Managua (Nicaragua); San Salvador; and Mexico City. It takes an odd duck to choose to spend the holidays learning about Latin American politics…but, well, quack quack.

While Europe is my passion and the focus of my work, Latin America has long been an armchair fascination for me. I took my first trip to the region (both Nicaragua and El Salvador) in 1988, during El Salvador’s civil war. I returned to both countries in 1991, after the war ended. And I went back to El Salvador again in 2005. You can read my full journals from these trips too.

Those trips were focused on the hot topics of the day: The totalitarian right-wing government regimes (with ties both to the Reagan/Bush-era US governments, and to American corporate interests); the leftist rebels who fought for the people’s rights; the plucky Liberation Theology movement, which stood up against both the Catholic Church hierarchy and the regimes they supported, but troubled many observers with their rabble-rousing and their ties to the Marxist movement; and the rising tide of globalization and its impact on the crippling poverty of the region.

Checking in with former guerillas — or their orphans — is a good way to learn.

Back then, to my progressive mindset, things seemed so clear-cut: The oppressive, right-wing regimes, and their collusion with big business in the United States to exploit poor people, were evil; the leftist rebels and Liberation Theology movement, and their inspiring resistance to a morally bankrupt system, were good. It was easy to take sides. I titled one of my journals “There’s Blood on Your Banana.” By my return trip in 2005, the guerilla resistance movements had morphed into political parties, but still lacked power. The players and the dynamics seemed largely the same.

This trip will be different. Traveling with my girlfriend Trish ‘ a Spanish teacher who shares my affection for this part of the world ‘ I’m looking forward to working with local guides to get a sense of what’s been going on over the last half-decade. I suspect this trip will challenge my deeply held, admittedly one-sided convictions about the region’s politics (and the USA’s role there).

In preparing for this trip, it’s clear that things are more complicated and muddled now. As idealistic “change”-focused movements have come to power, the pragmatic need to balance complicated interests has made it harder than expected to make

those hopeful dreams of change a reality (not unlike here at home). The once overtly political churches (both those preaching Liberation Theology, and those espousing what I call “Colonial” or “Escape Theology”) seem to have faded in influence. And as globalization shrinks our world

ever more, impoverished people are finding little relief; meanwhile, those who reap the benefits of globalization (both here in the USA, and in Latin America) seem to have fallen out of touch with the

The guerilla meets the corporation — and then what happens?

more desperate fringes of society…a short-sighted detachment from reality that will likely come to haunt us. A trip to countries like Nicaragua and El Salvador makes it clear: Even if you’re motivated only by greed, if you know what’s good for you, you don’t want to be extremely wealthy in a desperately poor world. It’s not a pretty picture.

This all sounds heavy. And it is. The next several blogs will thrill and titillate Latin American politics wonks…but might bore others. My focus isn’t fun-in-the-Latin-American-sun, but really grappling with heavy issues that, in sometimes surprising ways, resonate in our own political climate today. I don’t claim to be an expert in Latin American politics, and I guarantee that I’ll wade into waters where (I admit) I know “just enough to be dangerous.” I look forward to a constructive conversation in the blogs’ comments, but I hope that we can steer clear of knee-jerk opinions, ad hominem attacks, and tit-for-tat bickering. Let’s assume we all care, but come at things from different perspectives created by differing life experiences. The world is changing, and the old “Sandinistas good, Contras bad” mindset ‘ or vice versa ‘ just don’t cover it anymore. (I have to say it can be frustrating to share political insights into complicated struggles based on real travel experiences with people who have strong opinions about a place they’ve never bothered to visit, picked up from radio or TV in the USA.)

I expect this to be a journey of discovery for me…and I’m happy to have you come along.

Comments

7 Replies to “Nicaragua and El Salvador…Again”

  1. When I spent two weeks in Costa Rica in 2009, my husband and I were surprised at how many workers in all the resorts were from Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama. They all were there to go to school and work, their families all wanted them to go live and work and go to school in Costa Rica for the opportunity of a better life. First place I have been to that everyone didn`t want to go the the US. Seems like the war was something we all tend to forget about. Thanks for bringing it forward.

  2. Rick, excellent posting and looking forward to more. My wife is from Ciudad Juarez, which is basically the murder capital of the world. I have been endlessly fascinated by the politics (political science major) of this country as well as its history. It is important to get away from other places and go off the beaten path….

  3. Thank you for doing this and sharing your experiences with us! I look forward to learning and reading about these countries. My fiance and I are planning on honeymooning in Latin America, and we plan to do community service for part of our trip!

  4. 8 days planned visit to see a friend turned out in to 8 months sojourn! Resiliency of people to survive on $200.00 per month humbled me. looking forward to your blog

  5. Rick this is where you went wrong in your last trip to El Salvador, you went right to the worst slums and looked for the poorest of the poor to use as your case study for the entire country. Try and look for decent normal ( not rich) people and you will find a different side to these countries. You may fool others on this board but you have an agenda. Your left wing leanings are obvious and do not allow you to present a non biased version of the reality in our countries.

  6. Great post, Rick. I`m afraid the comment by rfp is head shakingly off base. No one has to go “looking” for the poorest of the poor in any latin american country. All you have to do is keep your eyes open from the airport to your hotel…and then step outside your hotel….just once.

  7. Rick: It seems that you only speak with former communist revolutionaries in your fact finding trips to Latin America. In order to achieve proper perspective, would it not be more efficacious to speak with people from all political perspectives. I would wager that the business and land owners terrorized by communist thugs might give you a different (and perhaps more accurate) view of how things were during the delusional days of communism. By the way, there is no blood on bananas. Buying goods such as bananas from poor countries raises the standards of living for the people there. I wish the Bread For The World people would advocate for free trade agreements between the US and poor nations as this is the best way to help out the poor abroad. Give them the tools to better their lives, not revolutionary nostrums and communist claptrap.

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