John Grant: El Salvador
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
A Story Of Struggle And Successful Reform
Posted By John Grant
……….Reform comes slowly and not without a struggle. Here’s a joyous example from El Salvador. On a June trip I visited Oscar Romero University in Chalatenango province, a former rebel zone of much fighting. Now, there are kids with cell phones and laptops walking around campus. My friends Francisco and Barbara Acosta, in the photo below, founded the university 18 years ago, but for a number of years they have been in a fight with a small group of usurpers who, under the right-wing ARENA government, took over to fraudulently soak the university for their own interests. The 2009 election of President Mauricio Funes, from the FMLN Party, has meant a shift in political control to the left in El Salvador, though the current political climate is tricky. In November, the Salvadoran Ministry of Education officially recognized a new administration for the university. The old administration, however, did not agree to leave gracefully.
Group Portrait By John Grant
……….Francisco Acosta is a former seminarian and a highly-respected Salvadoran activist/diplomat. He was born and raised in the shadow of the Guazapa Volcano, which became a strong rebel zone during the war years. Many of his family members were killed before and during the war. He and his wife Barbara have been devoted to getting control of the university back into the hands of the Salvadoran people Oscar Romero fought so hard for and died for. It has not been an easy fight. After the Ministry Of Education’s November ruling, the struggle culminated in a four day standoff with the rector from the past administration who refused to leave his office and brought in armed gang members in an effort to hold onto his power. During the standoff, students demonstrated at the school’s gate. Finally the outgoing rector saw the light and left on January 28, allowing the school to be turned over to the good guys. It was a time for rejoicing and partying.
