CLARITA is coming back from the river and tells me that her father will return soon. 'Water?' she asks, and gives me the pitcher she has been carrying on her head.
While I'm drinking, me about the teacher is afraid of us.
'who are in the Bloque (BRPBloque Popular Revolutionario), are subversive and that we only ourselves to blame...
We are sitting in the shadow of the trees in front of her clayhouse. Clarita is 14. She has eight brothers and sisters. Celisindo, works as a day-labourer in the sugarcane fields, which stretch out in front of the house.
The crop is ready now.
'It's us and the five nearest houses who are organised,' continues. 'But in these houses over there are squealers.' Clarita is little. She she's ten, but sounds as if she is 18.
Celisindo up river, sweaty from having fast. On his back is a small rucksack. WOrK material,' he pointing towards the rucksack. walks into the house, to put his shoes on. Vulcano Behind the sugar-cane fields, on the other side of the river, the terrain rises steeply. To the vulcano Guazapa. It looks cooler up there.
'Are you ready?' Celinsido asks. He is already on his way down to the river, marching quickly. I run after him. They told me come to realise how true it is - that I shouldn't walk in the countryside on my oWl. So Celisindo chosen to walk with me.
He belongs to the (Federacion Trabajadores Campo, an organisation affiliated to the BPR), like most of the peasants and agricultural workers who live in the areas we are going to visit.
On the other side of the river we " start to climb. Celinsindo walks fast. When we reach the first plateau my mouth is dry and my drenched with sweat.
Celinsindo indicates harvested fields. "They only let lease the fields for six months. rest of the time they let their animals graze on the rest of what we have sown,' he tells me.
We walk for hours, occasionally taking a rest in the shade. We pass a spring ana ine Celisindo explains things but I don't have the energy to listen. leave the discussion till later. We still have a few hours of walking ahead of us.
'Can you see down Celisindo asks, as we finally reach our desination. houses without roofs?' can Just make shadow in the green nod to him. *It was the first house they burned down,' he starts walking down.
Fire Suddenly 'lae houses appear in front of us.
Grey-brown. the same colour as the ground, we arrive at La pava canton of Buenavista. Don Felipe us front of us into the burned houses. "They collected everything that could burn around here and set fire to it,' he says.
There are no more than 15 houses in La Pava. They were all burnt out. The villagers only had time to save a few. Five were burned down to the ground.
"They also set the maize crop on fire, Don Felipe explains, shows us the charred maize which lays spread out on the ground, mixed with the smashed bricks.
Everyone in La Pava knows now that we are in the village. standing in a ring in an open space in front of Don Felipe's house.
'It's now two weeks ago,' Don Felipe tells us. "When we heard the helicopters coming we went up into the mountans. "they came from three directions. Garcia the walked explains, He right is the and I have has been FTC del clothes are the newly us The great.
We have to there?' you see the out a black vegetation and says, and and walks in ana ne gringos joined them.
left again.' We are Most people in was THE revolution in Nicaragua just a year ago could shortly be followed by the overthrow of the tyrannical regime that rules its neighbour in Central America, The junta in El Salvador stays in power by means of bullets. Thousands of rebellious workers and peasants them as a guide. He lives down there.
helicopter They • only stayed for a short while before they La Pava own a little piece of land, but it is so small that it is totally insufficient to live on. And Some people don't have any land at i " 'Him there,' Don Felipe points at a man. 'He has now only the clothes Is wearing. They burned down destroyed. liberation - death Clarita everything he had...' But What did they say?
What did they want? And why did they destroy the houses?
With a voice as calm as the earth • we walk on Don Felipe says: want to spread the terror among us.
when they can't destroy the people they destroy the houses and the crops.
For the past seven years most • people up here have been organised They have never received anything. have been murdered. Villages have been burned to the ground and crops One such attack was on the village of La Pava in the Buenvista canton of El Salvador. LARS PALMGREN recently visited the village. This is his report. Don Felipe knows that he has only one For three years now they always sleep up in the mountains at night. 'A group of five people stay to guard the place,' somebody explains 'But we always sleep together in large groups. You see, "They next village, while they slept. So now we must stay A week previously the governing great, extensive revolutionary land great, extensive reform, according to the information to the press like that.
Just men and women While come back organisation.' long,' I say. lower rents, demanded reform. anything?' around us ternative to Calm the archbishop places of the abandoned.
over there in the we have...? they killed five people . revolutionary official anything they say. They have promised so much and the only burned down rectivedes around us thing we have received is this...
The carbonized maize crunches ILIS liberate ourselves here, 'he adds. 'We must create a new system exploitation. As the people are united now, we shall surely win. We think that other people will support us..?
pigs are grunting around us. Felipe's cock CrOWS.
Anxious birds cause a rustle in the trees. The 50 inhabitants of La Pava are standing together outside Don 'We are certainly going to liberate say. "Those killers must be punished'.
For Don Felipe and his comrades there is only one alternative to liberation — to die in struggle. It's not simply their words which make me understand that. It's their voices. Only somebody who already knows has such a voice. Only people who have made up their minds can talk before dusk we arrive at Tresceibas. A few hundred members of the agricultural labour union — are sitting under a giant tree. In front of them on the open space there are ruins of the old schoolhouse, which was earlier also used as a meeting place.
'Last time they came was a week ago,' says one of them, 'but we were There. always forewarned. But this time someone wasn't able to keep up with us when into the mountains. helicopters circled ENG soldiers caught up with him and shol him in the head. They said they will fortnight. They want to get hold of all of us, all the organised. They want to destroy our 'You have been fighting for so «You have demanded better prices, you have agrantal retorms, 4l10 they have passed a law of agrarian Doesn't that mean His smile is the same as Don Felipe's. The others are sitting quiet They know what he is going to say: No, here we don't accept anything of that. The agrarian reform is a bluff. They are just trying to feed us with hopes...but we know what it's all about.
know that they will never side with the people . We know tha! it's only after we have liberated ourselves that we can start to talk about agrarian or any other reform.
And will they defend themselves?
'We know that they are trying to work out new plans of attack. The intend to come from all directions, as they know we are always. warned, but we will get around them somehow: It will come one day.' There is no reason for them to tell me their plans. It's enough to let me know that they are prepared, and that they will find a way out... When dusk comes we will walk up into the mountains. People will be left behind to guard the place.
In San Salvador, the capital, in backyard murdered there are 300 homeless families of agrarian workers. They have been forced to run away from their homes and their land. In other around the city there another couple of thousands.
cantons are completely This is what the regime aims to do with the 500 families in Tresceibas force them from their homes. 'But we won't leave. We will find a way. will not let them take away the littk Their calmness in the night makes my heart beat normally again. Not even the mosquitos will now be able to disturb my sleep.
is laken from "Internationalen', the newspaper of •the Swedish section of the Fourth ist Challenge 25 July 1980 Page 9
WHAT'S LEFT women