Essay on Oscar Romero: School of the Americans

The inequality that is present between these two classes is unbelievable throughout the book that even parts of the wealthy class begin to realize the damage that their right wing government has caused to the lower division of Chile. Even Esteban Trueba’s immediate family senses the problems that the poor face. “[Clara] now took Blanca with her on her visits to the poor, weighed down with gifts and comfort. ‘This is to assuage our conscience, darling,’ she would explain to Blanca. ‘But it doesn 't help the poor. They don 't need charity, they need justice’” (136). Because of this unequal treatment of the classes and the resentment that the poor held for the wealthy, the two classes could not continue to co-exist. The incessant struggle that the lower class faced when the wealthy controlled everything forced them to begin a revolution so that they can finally take control of their own lives instead of living to please the wealthy.

Imagine living in a country where you know you could die at any moment but don’t know how much longer till it happens. That was how much of the population of El Salvador used to feel when the government could not control the big coffee corporations. These out of control corporations, highly feared that the people would want to revolt against them so they hired murderers to kill innocent people to spread fear in the minds of the people of El Salvador. Fear, hate, and sorrow were the common feelings felt by the poor and innocent major population of El Salvador caused by the evil wrongdoings of the government during October 1979 – 16 January 1992. This is how the main character, Jose Luis, of the novel “Mother Tongue” by Demetria Martinez, felt before escaping his beautiful yet over constantly dangerous country, which depended on its cash crop, coffee beans to sell on a foreign market as the country’s main income. However, following the stock-market crash of 1929, a drop in coffee prices became apparent and affected everyone in El Salvador, but the poor especially. Making things worse, the glorious United States was funding the men whom were doing all the innocent killings with more weapons and money to increase their military power. So for Jose Luis the safe haven that he had escaped to was also blatantly funding the war that was killing so many innocent people he knew and had forced him to escape for his own safety. With nowhere else to go in order to find safety the United

There was a major split in the people of El Salvador, The rich and the poor. That is when the riot began. Many innocent people were killed by the government, as long as you looked apart of the massacre, the national guard would kill you. On December 3rd, 1980, Three nuns

There are many reasons why the poverty population in Honduras is exorbitant. These reasons can be explained in a macro, micro, and mezzo way. According to Gamble (2013), the practice of macro social work involves intervening in large systems to help clients (Gamble, 2013). Honduras has an extremely corrupt government. The country is as poor as it is violent. In the film, The Other Side of Immigration (2009), citizens were interviewed and asked about their feelings on their government. One man said that he does not trust his government. He also stated that he will not take part in any strikes against the government because he feels that it will do no good (Germano, 2009). Sadly, it is apparent that the majority of the population feel this way. How is a country supposed to flourish without the backing and the security of their own government?

El salvador was at its worst during this time and Oscar Romero was the only one calling attention to the violence. In 1979 the number of people dying rose up to more than 3000 a month, Oscar Romero lost hope with his government he then himself offered his people faith and hope, preaching in churches and out in streets where everyday more and more people opening their eyes would gather . Romero was becoming very powerful he was CAFOD who spoke for the poor , he also visited prisons and saw under what conditions they were under and how they

ignored in his country of El Salvador. He took it upon himself to use the church as a light of hope to

Twentieth century El Salvador is made up of violence, suffering, and hardships. After the independence of El Salvador, the elite took control of this country which produced discontent amongst the lower classes. During the 1920’s this discontent grew because of political abuse and increased poverty. According to John Chasteen in Born In Blood and Fire, Salvadoran indigenous people were pushed into volcanic land by the

Throughout 1939-1971, El Salvador was run by a military-style dictatorship, causing those who had land and wealth to be stripped from them just because they could. According to Encyclopedia Britannica the persistence of this dictatorship can be partly credited to Augustin Farabundo Marti, who forced the Salvadorian Communist Party (2017). Proving to be a catalyst for conflicts for years to come.

Oscar Romero is one of the most popular and unique Archbishops in Latin America due to his devotion and relationship with the poor. Romero was one of the first to speak out on behalf of the poor and fought for human rights and for the victims during El Salvador's bloody civil war. Romero's birth name is Oscar Arnulfo y Galdamez and he was born on August 15, 1917 in Ciudad Barrios, a small mountain village in El Salvador. He is the son of Guadalupe de Jesus and Santos Romero. As a result of his deep passion for learning, Romero receive an education until he was twelve years old.

The tragedies of the civil war in El Salvador brought focus to the many issues of oppression, under-representation, and inequality apparent amongst the Salvadoran working class during the later twentieth century. The outbreak of the war began much like civil wars in neighboring countries, consisting of the lower class demanding land and policy reformations, as elites feared the uprisings would result in socialist-geared politics that jeopardized their status. Amidst the fighting between the two social classes, the Catholic Church, as a whole, maintained a somewhat neutrality status and refused to publically support one group over the other. Thus, much opposition to the

In the post-World War II era, the globe was polarized by two idealistically divergent superpowers; the United States and the Soviet Union, two nations that strived to promote capitalism and communism, respectively, throughout the globe. Nowhere was this struggle more apparent than in developing countries with shaky political and economic backbones. Specifically, in Latin America the old, corrupt and often totalitarian regimes were threatened by grassroots liberation movements whose ideas of land reform and shaking up the status quo were often perceived as Marxism. The Catholic Church, which had traditionally supported the wealthy ruling class, began to change its beliefs in

The Reagan administration substantially increased both military and economic aid to El Salvador. The civil war raged on in El Salvador, fueled by U.S. aid to the Salvadoran military. The government harshly repressed dissent, and at least 70,000 people lost their lives in killings and bombing raids waged against civilians throughout the countryside. The country's infrastructure had crumbled, and the nation. The government military also start force recruitment to the children who are already twelve years old for becoming the child soldier. so does the geurillas.

The year is 1977 in El Salvador, a time of deep public and political unrest, where injustices are high among the people and there exists a great divide between the rich and the poor, it is during this time that the Vatican elevated Oscar Romero to the position of Arch Bishop of San Salvador. Romero is elevated in hopes that with his quite, passive demurer and diminishing health that he would accept the status quo and not cause a military dispute; however, much to everyone’s surprise, Romero became the voice of the poor and took a stand against the exiguous government and hostile military, which begin to target priests. Romero was passive at first, afraid of government’s hostility, but over time, he did not give up on his people and was

Latin America is filled with environmental, agricultural and culturally rich countries but unfortunately it is also the place where the majority of the countries have high levels of poverty and social inequalities. Latin America is the place where we find many natural wonders like the Amazon rainforest, the Andes, the Iguazu Falls and many other natural resources. However, the economic situation is one of the poorest in the world. According to the article, The Politics of Economic adjustment policy in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico: Experiences in the 1980’s and challenges for the future, and in, Latin American countries underwent the worst economic recession during the 1980’s. The distribution of incomes after the 1940’s was a radical change because there was a huge gap between poverty level and the elite members of society. After that point in history it has continued the same way up until contemporary times. The considerable difference in the income inequality and the high poverty rates is what interested me and in particularly during the 70’s and 80’s, which is known as “la decada perdida” or the lost decade. The lost decade was a time of economic austerity in many countries in Latin America and this is why I became interested in this topic. As a result, I interviewed my grandfather, Jose Gomez, who lived in Mexico during those harsh times of crisis that were affecting many Latin American countries during the 1970’s and 1980’s.

El Salvador, Cuscatlán Cento America, October 4, 1990’s. When I was twenty years old, I always stay in my grandparent’s house on the weekends. Just right when I got out of class at 12pm on Friday I take the Bus to my grandparents’ house, which is in the country. It’s a damp afternoon in early October in the state of Cuscatlán the clouds are heavy and low and periodically a light mist rolls down. I had plans for today to actually take a day off, but I had homework from The University of Business Technology. By the time I woke up at 10 A.M., got dressed, and wandered downstairs, my Mama Prudence, and my Papa Francis, were already gone. My mama Prudence had left a note for me on the kitchen island. “Back around 4 P.M.,” it read, without the