The Unfinished Sentences Testimony Archive

The Unfinished Sentences Testimony Archive Teaching the Salvadoran Civil War Using Oral Histories The Unfinished Sentences Testimony Archive Teaching the Salvadoran Civil War using oral histories

http://unfinishedsentences.org/archive/

The Unfinished Sentences Testimony Archive is a public online library of oral histories by survivors of El Salvador’s armed conflict (1980-1992). Developed through a partnership between the University of Washington Center for Human Rights and the Human Rights Institute of the Universidad Centroamericana (IDHUCA) in El Salvador, the Testimony Archive presents more than 7 hours of interviews with 48 residents of the community of Arcatao, Chalatenango, along with a growing collection of supplementary information including historical context and resources for students and educators.

The mountainous countryside around Arcatao, in the north-central department of Chalatenango, was a flashpoint of organizing for workers’ rights and, eventually, revolutionary change in El Salvador. Brutal repression by government forces escalated into a U.S.-backed counterinsurgency campaign against guerrilla groups during the 1980s. Residents of Arcatao, and communities like it across the country, were subjected to indiscriminate violence during military operations targeting unarmed civilians and insurgents alike. In the Unfinished Sentences Testimony Archive, survivors relate eyewitness accounts of these atrocities, as well as their experiences of daily life before, during, and after the war. They also offer invaluable insights into the history of El Salvador, dynamics of social change and political struggle, and ongoing movements for justice.

The Testimony Archive at a glance: ● 172 oral history videos (most under 3 minutes duration) ● Organized in 8 thematic chapters ● Spanish audio, English subtitles; full Spanish & English transcriptions ● Fully searchable & tagged by topic, location ● Growing library of supplementary material including lesson plans ● Available via http://unfinishedsentences.org/archive/ and YouTube

A project of the UW Center for Human Rights & Unfinished Sentences With support from the Center for Global Studies, UW Jackson School of International Studies The Unfinished Sentences Testimony Archive

Teaching the Salvadoran Civil War using oral histories

UW Center for Human Rights

● Founded in 2009 by decree of WA State Legislature ● Mission: “...interdisciplinary excellence in the education of undergraduate and graduate students in the field of human rights; promoting human rights as a core area of faculty and graduate research; and engaging productively with local, regional, national, and international organizations and policymakers to advance respect for human rights.” Unfinished Sentences

● UWCHR project supporting human rights organizations in El Salvador ● Research, education, advocacy El Salvador

A “case study” of Cold War conflicts and US foreign policy in Central America

● Civil War: 1980 - 1992 ● 75,000 killed; 10,000 forcibly disappeared ● 85% of human rights violations by state forces ● $5 billion in U.S. military aid ● Advocacy by global solidarity & human rights movements ● Post-war legacies of impunity, violence

Video: “Unfinished Sentences: Justice” https://youtu.be/vpeGdYRvR1g

Unfinished Sentences

● Human rights reports & videos documenting historic crimes against humanity ● Analysis of declassified U.S. government documents released via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) ● Public advocacy with national & international partners ● Fully bilingual in English, Spanish http://unfinishedsentences.org Testimony Archive

● Collaboration with Historical Memory Committee of Arcatao, Chalatenango & Human Rights Institute of the Universidad Centroamericana ● 48 individuals ● 172 excerpts, 7+ hours ● Spanish audio, English subtitles; fully transcribed ● Lesson plans & other supplementary materials ● Free & public online at http://archive.unfinishedsentences.org

Testimony Oral histories by survivors cover themes of: Archive ● Grassroots narratives of conflict & social change ● Workers’ rights & political organizing Themes ● Origins of war & violence ● Refugee experiences ● Survival, resilience, healing ● Historical memory ● Human rights & justice

Testimony Archive “trailer”: https://youtu.be/pgTr5JEDMXg Supplementary Materials

● Lesson plans ● Maps ● Glossary ● Reading list ● Related documents & photos ● Reports and news updates at unfinishedsentences.org

Declassified U.S. government document related to Testimony Archive topics

Curriculum ● WA State Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs): Standards ○ Dig Deep: Analyzing Sources ○ Causes of Conflict ○ 11-12th grade US Foreign Policy, CWP, Civic involvement

● AP/IB: ○ Document-based questions (DBQs) ○ Compare / Contrast ○ Continuity & Change Common Core

● CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.7 Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts. ● CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.6 Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts. ● CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.9 Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.

Lesson Plans

● High School Social Studies ● College English & Humanities ● AP World History DBQ ● Sound Art

Available at http://unfinishedsentences.org/archive/lessonplans Contribute to the Lesson plans wanted! Testimony Archive ● Spanish (AP) ● U.S. and World History (AP) ● English/Humanities ● Arts ● ...and other subjects!

A limited number of stipends are available for completed submissions.

UW Center for Human Rights http://humanrights.washington.edu/ Box 353650, Seattle, WA 98195 Phone: (206) 685-3435 Email: [email protected]

Unfinished Sentences http://unfinishedsentences.org/ Phil Neff, Project Coordinator Phone: (206) 221-2031 Email: [email protected]

University of Washington Center for Human Rights http://humanrights.washington.edu/ Unfinished Sentences Testimony Archive http://unfinishedsentences.org/archive/ with support from the Center for Global Studies, UW Jackson School of International Studies

Testimony Archive Activity Prompts:

● Write and perform a short first-person monologue based on a composite of individuals featured in the Testimony Archive. ● Read the 1980 novel One Day of Life by Manilo Argueta (or an excerpt), about the experience of a campesino family in Chalatenango, and compare it with the content of the Testimony Archive. ● Create or fill in a map of El Salvador (or Chalatenango department) with places mentioned in the Testimony Archive. ● Create a YouTube playlist including videos from the Testimony Archive to illustrate a particular theme or argument. ● Compare and contrast videos in the Testimony Archive with an historical account about El Salvador. What information in the historical account is also mentioned by individuals in the Testimony Archive? What information from the Testimony Archive is not included in the historical account? ● Write and publish a blog post about your reactions to the Testimony Archive. Embed and comment on at least 5 videos in the post. ● Ask your family and friends what they know about the civil war in El Salvador, or similar historical or contemporary conflicts. If you are able, share with them at least one video from the Testimony Archive which you found interesting. Report back to the class. ● Compare and contrast videos in the Testimony Archive with historical sources: contemporary news reports, declassified U.S. government documents, the United Nations Truth Commission Report, etc. Write an essay or discuss.

More lesson plans: http://unfinishedsentences.org/archive/lessonplans AP World History Document-Based Question

Please refer to AP Central for information on AP World History exam format and grading rubric: http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/teachers_corner/4484.html

Question: During the 1980-1992 civil war in El Salvador, many Salvadorans lived in refugee camps in neighboring Honduras. Using the documents and your knowledge of world history, assess the treatment of Salvadoran refugees by different actors in the conflict, including the Salvadoran Armed Forces, the Salvadoran FMLN guerrillas, and the Honduran government.

Document 1

Source: Oral history by Victor, former resident of Mesa Grande refugee camp in Honduras, from Unfinished Sentences Testimony Archive, published in 2016

After the invasion [by the Salvadoran Armed Forces] in May [1982], many people left for Mesa Grande. ...It was a very large invasion. It was very sad, because...we went ten days without eating and without, well I almost didn’t drink any water. We were carrying a jug of water that ran out, and we had four children with us, so we went ten days without food. Maybe we got lucky or something, I don’t know, but in May there are carao seeds and honey, and that’s what we ate. We chewed on carao seeds and ate them. That’s how we survived. Avocados, also. We found the trees and we ate avocados that had fallen, without salt or tortillas, that’s what we ate.

Video: http://archive.unfinishedsentences.org/node/192

Document 2

Source: “From Madness to Hope: the 12-year war in El Salvador”, report of the UN Truth Commission in El Salvador, 1993

During [1983-1987], the military development of the war caused the armed forces to view the civilian population in the areas of conflict as "legitimate targets for attack". Indiscriminate aerial bombings, massive artillery attacks and infantry advances were carried out, all of which resulted in massacres and the destruction of communities in an effort to deprive the guerrillas of all means of survival. Because of the systematic use of this tactic by the armed forces, in violation of human rights, this phase was characterized by vast numbers of displaced persons and refugees. By 1984, there were reported to be 500,000 displaced persons within the country and 245,500 [Salvadoran] refugees abroad, bringing the total number of displaced persons to approximately one and a half million. Following much international criticism, the armed forces cut back on the use of air attacks against the civilian population.

Document 3

Source: “Health Care Under Siege,” report by the non-governmental organization Physicians for Human Rights, 1990

Salvadoran authorities have long alleged that refugee camps in Honduras have served as "safe havens" for guerrillas and have thus been eager to detain and interrogate returning refugees. Colonel Ivan Diaz, Chief of Military Intelligence, told members of our delegation that both foreigners working in the Honduran refugee camps and members of the FMLN indoctrinated the refugees. When these refugees are repatriated, Col. Diaz asserted, the FMLN uses them to obtain matériel, and for logistical and popular support. Although he agreed that many are not armed combatants, Col. Diaz clearly regarded former refugees, displaced people and others living in close proximity to the guerrillas, as the enemy and therefore legitimate military targets.

Document 4

Source: Oral history by Isabel, former resident of Mesa Grande refugee camp in Honduras, from Unfinished Sentences Testimony Archive, published in 2016

Look, life [in the Mesa Grande refugee camp] was not as good as they say. Everyone says that it was good, but it wasn’t, because the [Honduran] military kept us on a short leash. They disappeared two people during the time I was there. Just like that. They disappeared them quickly. They pulled them off the truck and they were lost. The people couldn’t leave the refugee camp, to go buy things elsewhere, in the valleys or in San Marcos. If the [UN Refugee Agency] wasn’t with you no one could leave. That’s why it wasn’t easy in the refugee camp, either.

Video: http://archive.unfinishedsentences.org/node/321

Document 5

Source: Declassified Cable sent from the U.S. Embassy in Honduras to the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C., October 4, 1987

Current embassy estimates suggest that the two Salvadoran refugee camps, Colomoncagua and Mesa Grande, contribute short term personnel and logistical support the FMLN's Salvadoran guerrillas. This support is neither very significant (except perhaps in the case of medical supplies) nor irreplaceable to about 8 percent of the FMLN's total combat force. They are sources of recruitment (up to 4 percent of total insurgent strength) and political advantages. In our view, the material and personnel support the FMLN receives from the camps is not indispensable for its conduct of the war. The camps are far less strategically important than the disputed zones. The psychological impact on the FMLN of loss of the camps as a support mechanism is less easily evaluated. It is clear, however that the level of use of the camps justifies sustained implementation and maintenance of a Honduran Armed Forces program to secure the external perimeters of the camp.

Document 6

Source: Jocelyn Viterna, Professor of Sociology at Harvard University, from Women in War: The Micro-processes of Mobilization in El Salvador, 2013

FMLN recruitment manuals portray expansion workers as operating exclusively in local villages, but in practice, the FMLN also began to recruit heavily from the Honduran refugee camps. This unofficial strategy was likely necessary, because of the extensive displacement of civilians from the war zones. However, refugee camp recruitment also proved strategically brilliant. Refugee camps created a physically enclosed, highly dense network of individuals who had been victimized by the [Salvadoran] Armed Forces and therefore were likely sympathetic to the FMLN. Refugee camps also trained many of these individuals in basic literacy, and sometimes in additional skills like first aid, mechanics, woodworking or, typewriting.

Document 7

Source: Oral history by Marta, former resident of Mesa Grande refugee camp in Honduras, from Unfinished Sentences Testimony Archive, published in 2016

Some comrades came to my house to recruit me for the guerrilla. I had not even turned fifteen years old yet, I had only been in Mesa Grande for five months. But I was almost fifteen. I cried and told them I didn't want to go. "I don't want to go," I said, "I'm not going to leave my dad." My mom stayed in Mesa Grande. "I’m not going to leave my dad, because I'm in charge of making him food." "No," they told me, "You're going to join us. Otherwise we're going to take your dad." So I cried, and told them no, that I didn't want to go, that I didn't feel capable. "You'll go there, we'll give you some shoes, we'll give you clothes, you will be with us, you will be taken care of." Anyway, my dad said, "Just go, I will see what to do about food. Reynaldo's wife is here." That was my brother. So I got three changes of clothes ready and I left with him. He took me to join the guerrilla, to get some training as a nurse.

Video: http://archive.unfinishedsentences.org/node/216

Document 8

Source: Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts (Protocol II), 8 June 1977, Article 4 - Fundamental Guarantees

1. All persons who do not take a direct part or who have ceased to take part in hostilities, whether or not their liberty has been restricted, are entitled to respect for their person, honour and convictions and religious practices. They shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction. It is prohibited to order that there shall be no survivors.

2. Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, the following acts against the persons referred to in paragraph 1 are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever:

(a) violence to the life, health and physical or mental well-being of persons, in particular murder as well as cruel treatment such as torture, mutilation or any form of corporal punishment;

...

3. Children shall be provided with the care and aid they require, and in particular:

...

(c) children who have not attained the age of fifteen years shall neither be recruited in the armed forces or groups nor allowed to take part in hostilities; ...

What Good Responses Will Include

A good response would draw on seven or eight documents (that is, all or all but one of the documents provided) to assess the treatment of Salvadoran refugees during the 1980-1990 civil war in El Salvador. The thesis should compare the treatment of refugees in the conflict, including the Salvadoran Armed Forces, the Salvadoran FMLN guerrillas, and the Honduran government. An example of a good thesis might state that the rights of refugees were violated by both the Salvadoran Armed Forces, by considering unarmed civilians as military targets; and the Salvadoran FMLN guerrillas, by using the refugee camps as sources for recruitment, especially in the case of minors; while distinguishing between the severity of abuses. A strong response may also consider the treatment of refugees by the U.S. government and the UN Refugee Agency.

The analysis of the documents should provide evidence to support the thesis or relevant argument; explaining the significance of the author’s point of view, purpose, audience, and/or its specific historical context for at least four of the documents. For example, in discussing document 2, students might argue that the nature of the UN Truth Commission report as an assessment by an independent party not involved in the conflict increases its reliability. In discussing document 3, students may note the advocacy role of the organization likely means that it will be more sympathetic to refugees than to military sources. While discussing the oral histories in documents 1, 4, and 7, students might question whether these individual accounts, published decades after the war, offer reliable evidence; however, a strong essay will point out that the contents of these oral histories are substantiated by other documents.

A strong essay will not simply describe the documents, but will make connections between them to corroborate evidence for its arguments. Documents 6, 7, and 8 could be used to make the argument that FMLN recruitment of minors in refugee camps violated the Geneva Conventions; while documents 4 and 5 could also be used to argue that despite guerrilla activity in the refugee camps, the rights of camp residents were violated by the Honduran military, also in violation of the Geneva Conventions.

In the document-based question, students are required to use outside examples and knowledge to support their stated theses or relevant arguments. A good essay will situate the civil war in El Salvador in the context of the Cold War, and may compare the plight of Salvadoran refugees with that of other historic or contemporary conflicts.

Some content adapted from AP World History Curriculum Framework. Please refer to AP Central for additional information on AP World History exam format and grading rubric: http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/teachers_corner/4484.html

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