3-20-11 Maria de los Pobres and learning about Cabanas

Today we visited a marginal neighborhood in San Salvador named La Chacra. While in La Chacra we attended mass at Maria de los Pobres Church and talked with Padre Luis, walked around the neighborhood, and then met with one of the parish leaders named Milagro. After having lunch at Alfalit Guest House we met with attourney Hector Berrios and Supreme Court Justice Mirna Perla.

In La Chacra there are numerous people who have built up houses on the banks of one of San Salvador´s most contaminated rivers. During our walk through the neighborhood we stopped to look at the river and the shack like houses built up the sides of the river bank. From our vantage point I was able to notice piles of garbage and plastic in the river and there was this yellowish foam collecting around the trash. What shook me most was the color of the water, itself. The water was brick red and even purple in some parts. I cannot even conceive how water could become that color in such quantity. It is obscenely tangible evidence of the environmental issues still going on in El Salvador.

To further understand the environmental (and social) issues in El Salvador we met with Hector Berrios who shared his personal and professional stories about the mining crisis in the northern department of Cabañas. Something that struck me about this issue is that under CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement) El Salvador is required to allow transnational companies (namely from the US) to mine for metal in El Salvador despite the proven environmental consequences. One huge environmental consequence is the contamination of the Lempa River with toxins such as arsenic and heavy metals. The Lempa River flows through 70% of the country and is very much a life line for the people. To contaminate it in the north is to contaminate the entire river. This would deeply affect millions of Savaldorans and through CAFTA it is completely legal.

Thinking about the pollution in La Chacra, the utter disregard for human well being displayed in Cabañas, and the coming visit of President Obama weighs pretty heavy on my mind. Our (the US) involvement in these issues is emense. During this evening´s reflection we were instructed to write some thoughts about today´s experiences. Mine came out, roughly, in the form of a poem.

Daughter, Sister, Mother, Grandmother, Auntie.
Have you seen the colors of your river?
Water flows brick red and purple over piles of trash,
Foam trapped amongst the plastic.
How does water become this?
That which I thought gave life
Leaves namely death in its wake.
Do you liken us to your river?
Big Brother America pouring false love into your country,
parading our purplish brick red presence.
Big Brother is always watching
And yet somehow we´ve failed to see a G-d damned thing.
But I saw your river.
Daughter, I have seen your river.
Sister, I see your river.
Mother, I have seen you.
Auntie, I have seen you.
Grandmother, I see you.

Lindsay.