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Ignacio Ellacuría and the Salvadorean Revolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2015

JEFFREY L. GOULD
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Abstract

This article focuses on the political thought and practice of the martyred Jesuit intellectual during the late 1970s. It employs the concept of desencuentros, probing the relationship between linguistic misunderstandings and political division. The article highlights Ignacio Ellacuría's novel analyses of the relationship between the ecclesial and the popular organisations, led by the radical Left. It discusses his political thought in relationship to the author's research on the base communities of northern Morazán. The article also discusses the Jesuit scholar's critical support for the Junta Revolucionario de Gobierno (15 October 1979–2 January 1980). The concluding section discusses Ellacuría's relevance for contemporary Latin American politics.

Spanish abstract

Este artículo se centra en el pensamiento y práctica política del intelectual jesuita martirizado durante los años 1970s. Emplea el concepto de desencuentros, para analizar la relación entre los malentendidos lingüísticos y la división política. El escrito pone énfasis en el novedoso análisis del intelectual en cuanto a la relación entre lo eclesial y las organizaciones populares, dirigidas por la izquierda radical. El material discute dicho pensamiento político en base a la investigación del autor con las comunidades de base del norte de Morazán. El artículo también discute el apoyo crítico del académico jesuita a la Junta Revolucionaria de Gobierno (15 de octubre de 1979 a 2 de enero de 1980). La sección final discute la relevancia de Ellacuría para la política contemporánea latinoamericana.

Portuguese abstract

Este artigo foca no pensamento e prática política do intelectual jesuíta martirizado no final da década de 1970. Emprega-se o conceito de desencuentros para analisar a relação entre mal-entendidos linguísticos e divisões políticas. O artigo destaca as análises inovadoras do jesuíta no tocante às relações entre as organizações populares e as eclesiais, lideradas pela esquerda radical. Discute-se seu pensamento político em relação à pesquisa desenvolvida por ele em comunidades de base do norte de Morazán. O artigo também debate o fundamental apoio do estudioso jesuíta à Junta Revolucionaria de Gobierno (entre 15 de outubro de 1979 e 2 de janeiro de 1980). Na seção de conclusão, a relevância de Ellacuría para a política latino-americana contemporânea é discutida.

Keywords

desencuentrosIgnacio Ellacuríapopular organisationsecclesial base communitiesdesencuentrosIgnacio Ellacuríaorganizaciones popularescomunidades de base eclesialesdesencuentrosIgnácio Ellacuríaorganizações popularescomunidades eclesiais de base
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , May 2015 , pp. 285 - 315
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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References

1 Quoted in Whitfield, Teresa, Paying the Price: Ignacio Ellacuría and the Murdered Jesuits of El Salvador (Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1995)Google Scholar, p. 307 and p. 329.

2 In addition to Whitfield's foundational text, see Falla, Ricardo, ‘Subiendo a Jersualén (una semblanza)’, in Sobrino, Jon and Alvarado, Rolando (eds.), Ignacio Ellacuría: ‘Aquella libertad esclarecida’ (San Salvador: UCA Editores, 1999), pp. 29–42Google Scholar.

3 The article will not analyse his vast philosophical and theological oeuvre. On northern Morazán, see, Binford's, LeighEl Mozote, Anthropology and Human Rights (Tucson, University of Arizona Press, 1996)Google Scholar and ‘Priests, Catechists, and Revolutionaries: Organic Intellectuals in the Salvadoran Revolution’, in Binford, Leigh and Lauria-Santiago, Aldo (eds.), Community, Politics, and the Nation-State in Twentieth Century El Salvador (Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2003)Google Scholar. See also Rubio, Fia and Balsebre, Eduardo, Rompiendo el silencio: desobediencia y lucha en Villa El Rosario (San Salvador: MUPI, 2009), 68–107Google Scholar. Also see Gould, Jeffrey L. and Consalvi, Carlos Henríquez, La palabra en el bosque (Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 2011)Google Scholar.

4 For other uses of desencuentros see Bosteels, Bruno, Marx and Freud in Latin America, Politics, Psychoanalysis, and Religion in Times of Terror (London: Verso, 2012)Google Scholar; Ramos, Julio, Divergent Modernities: Culture and Politics in Nineteenth Century Latin America (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2001)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For another interesting use of the term related to the notion of a failed encounter, see Linera, Álvaro García, ‘Indianismo y marxismo: el desencuentro de dos razones revolucionarias’, Barataria, 1 (2005)Google Scholar.

5 Gould, Jeffrey L., To Lead as Equals: Rural Protest and Political Consciousness in Chinandega, Nicaragua, 1912–1979 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1990)Google Scholar.

6 Chávez, Joaquín, ‘Catholic Action,The Second Vatican Council, and the Emergence of the New Left in El Salvador (1950–1975)’, The Americas, 70: 3 (2014), pp. 459–88CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Also see, Lindo-Fuentes, Héctor and Ching, Erik, Modernizing Minds in El Salvador: Education Reform and the Cold War, 1960–1980 (Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 2010)Google Scholar for a fine synthesis of the reformist period of the 1960s.

7 Stanley, William, The Protection Racket State (Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1995)Google Scholar, p. 110.

8 Almeida, Paul, Waves of Protest: Popular Struggle in El Salvador, 1925–2005 (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2008)Google Scholar; Brockett, Charles, Political Movements and Violence in Central America (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9 Accounts of CEB members who join the OP are numerous. See, for example, Jorge Cáceres, ‘Radicalización política y pastoral popular en el Salvador: 1969–1979’, Estudios Sociales Centroamericanas, 33: September–December (1982); de Mujeres Misioneras por la paz, Consejo (eds.), La semilla que cayó en tierra fértil: testimonios de miembros de las comunidades cristianas (San Salvador, 1996)Google Scholar.

10 Cardenal, Rodolfo, Historia de una esperanza: vida de Rutílio Grande (San Salvador: UCA Editores, 1985)Google Scholar, p. 439. Also see Cabarrús, Carlos. Génesis de una revolución (Mexico DF: Ediciones Casa Chata, 1983)Google Scholar, p. 173. In a 1977 study of seven cantons in Aguilares he found that of 812 households, 23.3 per cent belonged to FECCAS; Salvador Carranza, ‘Una experiencia de evangelización rural parroquial, Aguilares, septiembre de 1972–agosto de 1974’, Estudios Centroamericanos, 348/349: October–November (1977).

11 Cardenal, Historia de una esperanza, p. 499. This refers to Jesus's personal crisis in the province of Galilee when he faced repression, the incomprehension of many of his followers, and the abandonment of some of his disciples. In response, he left the area.

12 Thanks to Gavin Arnall for this suggestion. Ellacuría wrote extensively about the need for the autonomy of the CEB with respect to the OP. See, ‘Comentarios a la Carta Pastoral’, by Tomás Campos (Ellacuría's pseudonym), in Oscar Romero, Mgr et al. , Iglesia de los pobres y organizaciones populares (San Salvador: UCA Editores, 1978)Google Scholar.

13 Washington Post, ‘Salvadoran Terrorists Vow to Kill Jesuits’, 22 June 1977.

14 Whitfield, Paying the Price, p. 101.

15 Ellacuría also had developed a good relationship with the Bloque leader, Apolinario Serrano. Interview with Jon Sobrino, San Salvador 2011; interview with Salvador Samayoa, San Salvador, 2012.

16 Ellacuría, ‘Comentariosa la carta pastoral’, in Veinte años de historia en El Salvador (1969–1989) Escritos Políticos vol. 2 (San Salvador: UCA Editores, 1991), pp. 679–732Google Scholar.

17 Tomás Campos, ‘La Iglesia y las organizaciones populares en El Salvador’, Estudios Centroamericanos, 359: septiembre (1978), p. 698.

18 Ellacuría, Ignacio, ‘La Iglesia de los pobres: sacramento histórico de liberación’, in Ignacio Ellacuría and Jon Sobrino, Mysterium Liberationis, vol. I (Madrid: Editorial Trotta, 1990)Google Scholar, p. 146. Ellacuría had already laid out his analysis of the Iglesia Popular as the base of the church in Ignacio Ellacuría, ‘Notas teológicas sobre la religosidad popular’, Revista de Fomento Social, 127: julio–septiembre (1977).

19 Tomás Campos, ‘La Iglesia y las organizaciones populares en El Salvador’, pp. 698–9.

20 For a useful anthology of autonomista writings, see The South Atlantic Quarterly special issue, ‘Autonomy and Emancipation in Latin America’, editor Álvaro Reyes, 111: 1, Winter (2012).

21 Tomás Campos, ‘La Iglesia’ p. 699.

22 Ellacuría, ‘La Iglesia y las organizaciones de base’, typed manuscript, Ellacuría archives (Centro Monseñor Romero, UCA), 1978 p. 12.

23 On the notion of minor utopia see Winter, Jay, Dreams of Peace and Freedom: Utopian Moments in the Twentieth Century (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006)Google Scholar, p. 5.

24 I conducted interviews in northern Morazán, during numerous short visits from 2006–2011 and for that reason I highlight that region in this article. The CEBs's efforts to work communal land were quite unique in the country.

25 Telephone Interview with Father Denis St Marie, 2011; on peasant centres and CEBs see Peterson, Anna, Martyrdom and the Politics of Religion (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1997), pp. 151–3Google Scholar.

26 Interviews with Altagracia, Meanguera, Morazán, 2007–9. Nom de guerre: most of those whom we interviewed used their nom de guerre, such as Caifás, Nolvo, Altagracia, etc.

27 Interview with Gabriela Hernández, San Luis, Morazán, 2009.

28 Interview with Gabriela Hernández, 2009. Acts 4:32, ‘All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own but they shared everything they had.’

29 Interview with Regino, Agua Zarca, Torola, 2009.

30 Interview with Miguel Ventura, Morazán 2009; Ventura recognises that for some years he practised gender discrimination in not training female catechists.

31 Interview with Gabriela Hernández, 2007.

32 On minor utopian experiences including Morazán, see Jeffrey L. Gould and Charles R. Hale, ’Utopías menores en América Central’, Boletín para el Fomento de Historia Centroamericano, 53, April–June: 2012.

33 See Burdick's, John for a very different CEB experience, Looking for God in Brazil The Progressive Catholic Church in Urban Brazil's Religious Arena (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996)Google Scholar. Also see, Richard, Pablo and Meléndez, Guillermo (eds.), La Iglesia de los pobres en América Central: un análisis socio-político y teológico de la iglesia centroamericana, 1960–1982 (San José: Editorial DEI, 1982)Google Scholar.

34 Ellacuría specifically refers to OP ‘manipulation’, in ‘Notas para una valoración de la acción pastoral de la arquidiócesis en los primeros dos años de Monseñor Romero’, 1979, Archivo Ellacuría, p. 9. He discusses the space between the OP and the guerrilla groups in that document and in ‘El papel de las organizaciones populares en la situación actual del país’, originally dated 23 November 1979, reprinted in Veinte años, vol. 2, p. 741.

35 Ignacio Ellacuría, ‘Notas teológicas sobre la religosidad popular’, p. 257.

36 Ellacuría, Veinte años de historia en El Salvador (1969–1989), Escritos Políticos, I (San Salvador: UCA Editores, 1991), pp. 323. Although this text was published in 1987, his writings from the late 1970s reflect a similar position.

37 The works of non-Leninist Marxists, such as Karl Korsch and Anton Pannekoek, had very little readership in Latin America, and thus, there were few non-Leninist left epistemological alternatives available to the radical left. Korsch, Karl, Marxism and Philosophy, translated by Halliday, Fred (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2008)Google Scholar; Pannekoek, Anton, Workers’ Councils (Oakland, CA: AK Press, 2012)Google Scholar.

38 Cabarrús, ‘Génesis de una revolución’, pp. 141–63.

39 Ellacuría, ‘El papel de las organizaciones populares’, p. 740.

40 Interviews with Salvador Samayoa (San Salvador, 2012) and Hector Samour (San Salvador, 2012).

41 On the labour movement, see ‘El movimiento obrero organizado en el marco de la crisis nacional’, San Salvador FENASTRAS, 10 January 1980; Salvador Samayoa and Guillermo Galván, ‘El movimiento obrero en El Salvador: resurgimiento o agitación’; Estudios Centroamericanos 369/370: July–August 1979 and ‘El cierre patronal de los empresarios: prueba de fuego para el sindicalismo revolucionario’, Estudios Centroamericanos, 371: September 1979.

42 Ochoa, Rafael Menjívar, Tiempos de locura: El Salvador, 1979–1981 (San Salvador: FLACSO, 2006)Google Scholar, p. 135. For a discussion of the significant conservative US influence on JRG, see Grande, William Leo, Our Own Backyard: The United States in Central America, 1977–1992 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1998)Google Scholar, p. 41.

43 For a useful summary of US policy during this period, see Stanley, The Protection Racket State pp. 128–30.

44 On the seemingly fortuitous inclusion of Gutiérrez, see Stanley, The Protection Racket State, pp. 44–5; Rodrigo Guerra y Guerra, Un golpe al amanecer: historia y memoria (San Salvador: Ediciones Indole, 2010), pp. 62–5; Rafael Menjívar Ochoa, Tiempos de locura, pp. 136–41.

45 Menjívar Ochoa, Tiempos de locura, p. 157.

46 ‘La semana fue así’, 20 October 1979, in Entre el terror y la esperanza, p. 581.

47 ‘El nuevo gobierno debe orientarse a los cambios’, 23 October 1979 in Entre el terror y la esperanza, p. 590.

48 By mid-November, the JRG announced the dissolution of ORDEN but the official announcement seemed to have little effect.

49 Interviews with Leandro, Torola, 2007, 2009; interviews with Robertón, Jocaitique, 2009, 2011.

50 Inteviews with Andrés Barrera, 2007, 2011.

51 Guerra, Tomas, El Salvador: octubre sangriento (San José: Centro Victor Sanabria, 1979) pp. 53–5Google Scholar; Pueblo: Boletín Informativo del FAPU 13 November 1979.

52 Ellacuría ‘Las organizaciones populares ante la nueva situación’, in Entre el terror y la esperanza, p. 614.

53 Combate Popular (BPR) 15 November 1979; Guerra, El Salvador: octubre sangriento, pp. 72–3; Stanley, The Protection Racket State, pp. 157–8.

54 ‘Las acciones guerrilleras’, 12 November 1979, in Entre el terror y la esperanza, p. 643.

55 Ellacuría, ‘Las organizaciones populares ante la nueva situación’, p. 771.

56 On OP unity, see El Salvador: alianzas políticas y proceso revolucionario, Cuadernos de Coyuntura (Mexico DF: SEPLA 1979)Google Scholar.

57 ‘La grave responsabilidad de encontrar a los presos políticos’, 8 November 1979, Entre el terror y la esperanza, pp. 630–1.

58 The JRG took preliminary steps towards a land reform in December.

59 Salvador Samayoa, minister of education, was a member of the Fuerzas Populares de Liberación, allied to the BPR. That connection facilitated some communication. The FAPU also had contacts with the JRG. The positions of the leftist organisations are laid out in El Salvador: alianzas políticas y proceso revolucionario.

60 Comunicado a los cristianos de El Salvador y pueblo en general, 15 November 15 1979, signed by un grupo de sacerdotes, religiosas, y cristianos de CEB y de parroquias de todo el país, reprinted in El Salvador: un pueblo perseguido, testimonio de cristianos II, de octubre de 1979–junio de 1980 (Lima: Centro de Estudios y Publicaciones, 1980), pp. 213–18Google Scholar.

61 Comunicado a los cristianos de El Salvador, in the original version the weekly Orientación and Radio YSAX were signalled out in parentheses, but in the reprinted version of 1980, they were not mentioned.

62 Benito Tobar, ‘Origen y peculiaridades de la Iglesia que nace del pueblo en El Salvador’, pamphlet published in San Salvador, 1980 (located at Princeton Theological Seminary), p. 9. Tobar's account underscores the gravity of the split between his group and Romero. He also claims that Romero apologised to his group in early 1980 for having lacked confidence in their judgement. Erdozaín, Plácido, in Archbishop Romero: Martyr of El Salvador (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1981)Google Scholar, p. 68, states ‘Our base communities were distressed.’ There is no doubt that they represented a large group of the remaining CEBs. Although there is no evidence of Ellacuría's direct response, Pablo Richard, in Richard and Meléndez, La Iglesia de los pobres en América Central, p. 116, writes that theologians of the Catholic University (UCA) criticised the document for its ‘pobreza teórica’.

63 Diario de Msr. Romero, 22 November 1979. http://www.servicioskoinonia.org/romero/varios/RomeroOscar-SuDiario.pdf.

64 Diario de Msr. Romero, 23 November 1979.

65 The majority of testimonies from the Bajo Lempa region suggest this dynamic. See Consalvi, Carlos Henríquez (ed.), Río de la memoria, historia oral del Bajo Lempa, Zona Tecoluca (San Salvador: Ediciones MUPI, 2011)Google Scholar. Wood's, Elisabeth, Insurgent Collective Action and Civil War in El Salvador (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003)CrossRefGoogle Scholar deals in part with the same region.

66 For the Zacamil CEB reaction, see the testimony of Elena Hernández, Carmen in López Vigil, María, Oscar Romero: Memories in Mosaic (Washington, DC: EPICA, 1993), pp. 334–6Google Scholar. The testimonies of the seminary students recount their arguments with Romero about the JRG, pp. 342–53. Also see Henríquez, Pedro, Iglesia profética y cambio social (San José: Ediciones DEI, 1988)Google Scholar.

67 In Romero's diary, disagreement is always emphasised and there is no indication of disagreement with Ellacuría. They met several times in late November and early December.

68 Diario de Msr. Romero, 27 November 1979.

69 Richard and Meléndez (eds.), La iglesia de los pobres en América Central, p. 116.

70 Tobar, ‘Origen y peculiaridades de la iglesia que nace del pueblo en El Salvador’; Diario de Msr. Romero, 11 December, 1979.

71 Diario de Msr. Romero, 14 December 1979.

72 Diario de Msr. Romero, 21 December 1979. Here he paraphrases his discussion with the Minister of Health, about ‘la dificultad de dar pasos adelante con tanta oposición de las dos extremas’.

73 Foreign Broadcast Information Services (FBIS), 19 December 1979, Agence France Presse reported: ‘These strike actions coincided with the rural workers’ victorious strikes in 17 haciendas and sugar plantations, that had begun on November 27.’ See El Independiente, 19 December 1979.

74 ‘De nuevo sangre sobre El Salvador’, 19 December 1979 in Entre el Terror y la Esperanza, p. 744. There is a significant shift in the Radio YSAX commentaries from 4 December when they condemned similar occupations. On 23 December, Romero began a process of rapprochement with CEB activists.

75 FBIS, AFP report 19 December 1979.

76 Diario de Msr. Romero 23 November discusses his meeting with Col. Gutiérrez and 10 December 1979 discusses his meeting with young military officers opposed to Minster of Defence, Col. García.

77 Rafael Menjívar Ochoa, in Tiempos de locura, pp. 202–3, quotes Rubén Zamora as stating that a young military officer came to see him on behalf of Ellacuría, to involve him in the conspiracy to replace Gutiérrez and García. Three of Ellacuría's closest confidantes, Rodolfo Cardenal, SJ, Jon Sobrino, SJ and Hector Samur all deny that Ellacuría was involved.

78 Menjívar, Tiempos de locura, pp. 203–4. The following year Majano and Ellacuría seriously discussed a coup to avert the impending civil war. See Whitfield, Paying the Price, p. 141.

79 ‘Rumores de golpe de estado’, 20 December 1979 in Entre el terror y la esperanza, p. 746.

80 Teresa Whitfield, Paying the Price, quotes Italo López Valencillos as exclaiming to Ramón Mayorga, that the JRG ‘nació muerto’, p. 128.

81 Ellacuría, ‘Interpretación Global del Proceso Histórico’, in Veinte Años II, p. 899 (originally written 1982).

82 Ibid., p. 915 in ‘En busca de un nuevo proyecto nacional’, written in 1980.

83 Personal communication, Rodolfo Cardenal; Ellacuría, ‘Los modos sociales de participación social’, Undated handwritten manuscript, Archivo Ellacuría. Probably written in 1981, this essay underscores the continuity of his thoughts about the relationship of the OP to political struggle.

84 See David Díaz, ‘Social crises and struggling memories: populism, popular mobilization, violence and civil war in Costa Rica, 1940–1948’, unpubl. PhD diss., Indiana University, 2009.

85 See Gould, Jeffrey L., ‘Nicaragua’, in Bethell, Leslie and Roxborough, Ian (eds.), in Latin America between World War II and the Cold War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992)Google Scholar.

86 Interview with Nolvo, 2007.

87 See Grandin, Greg, ‘Living in Revolutionary Time: Coming to Terms with the Violence of Latin America's Long Cold War’, in Grandin, Greg and Joseph, Gil (eds.), A Century of Revolution: Insurgent and Counterinsurgent Violence During Latin America's Long Cold War(Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2010), pp. 1–44CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

88 Peasant informants cited repression as the main reason for joining the ERP but in fact the CEBs all agree that violent repression against the CEBs began with the arrest of the priest, Miguel Ventura, on 3 November 1977. See Orientación 8 November 1977 for details.

89 See Gould and Hale, ‘Utopías menores en América Central’.

90 See El Río de la Memoria, edited by Henríquez Consalvi, pp. 59–62.

91 Bosteels, Marx and Freud in Latin America, p. 37.

92 Holloway, John, Change the World Without Taking Power … Or Take Power to Change the World (Amsterdam: International Institute for Research and Education, 2002)Google Scholar. Also see Zibechi, Raúl, Dispersing Power: Social Movement as Anti-State Forces (Oakland, CA: AK Press, 2010)Google Scholar.

93 Ellacuría, ‘Los modos sociales de participación social’, p. 7.

94 Ibid., p. 12.

95 Ignacio Ellacuría, ‘Utopía y Profecía’, pp. 433.