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COMADRES (CoMadres) is the group of mothers and family members of disappeared, imprisoned political prisoners in El Salvador. They are known for their impactful protests throughout the Salvadoran Civil War which in turn allowed them to receive international attention. They continued to organize and fight against injustices even after the Civil War.^[1]

Political history

El Salvador is filled with a long history of social and political unrest. There has been cycles of violence and various conflicts, a significant one being La Matanza in 1932. Indigenous peasants and community activist joined together to rebel against social, political and economic injustices.^[2] Under the order of Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez, the Salvadoran military gained more power and raided/killed indigenous villages and people. Major shifts and violence around the country continued during the 1960s and 1970s. The conflict between the left and right wing grew stronger which lead to the Salvadoran Civil War which occurred from 1980 to 1992.

“In a sense, the conflict between left and right wings never ended. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, left-wing guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary death squads engaged in a deadly spiral of political violence. On October 15, 1979, a group of moderate officers ousted the dictator Carlos Humberto Romero and formed the Revolutionary Government Junta (JRG). In January 1980, right-wing violence broke out against the JRG, including bombings against government newspapers, kidnappings and murder. All of the JRG’s civilian leaders resigned. At the same time, the U.S. State Department received warnings that right-wing death squads were allying with the military against the government”.^[3]

Women were involved in the war as guerilla fighters, activists, and post-war reconstruction.^[4] They were also heavily involved in NGOs. Some NGOs were women founded and led, such as COMADRES. These organizations were seen as a threat to the military as these organizations often spoke and protested against the violence and injustices instilled upon their communities.^[5]

Comadres background

“Comite de Madres y Familiares de Presos, Desaparecidos y Asesinados Politicos de El Salvador” was known as 'CoMadres'. This organization was founded in 1977 and consisted of approximately nine members.^[5] This organization played an important role during the civil war.^[6] The committee was made up of mothers and family members of people who were imprisoned, disappeared, or killed for political reasons. The goal was to advocate for the rights and social justice of their loved ones while at the same time raising awareness about the human rights violations committed by both sides. The committee consisted of students, teachers, workers, peasants, housewives and small shopkeepers.^[5] The mothers would dress in black clothing which represented their condolences and white headscarfs which represented peace with justice.^[1] In the first two years, COMADRES had no formal office and it wasn't until 1979 that they found a definite location.^[5] Another accomplishment in 1979 for COMADRES was their first trip abroad to Costa Rica.^[5]

Within the Latinnews Archive, two representatives of Comadres mentioned “indiscriminate military bombing campaigns of civilian targets causing an unknown number of deaths”.^[7]

"Debemos tomar una posición.
Nadie m ́as lo va a hacer.
La mayorparte del tiempo lo que hacemos es llorar
pero esto no ayuda en nada alos que están presos".^[8]

Comadres (CoMadres) is the committee of mothers and relatives of prisoners, the disappeared and the politically assassinated of El Salvador.The offices of the committee were subject to police raids by the government, and the members were allegedly subject to systematic rape in order to destroy the organization.^[9] A total of about 48 members were abducted by death squads and subject to torture and rape. Of these, five were assassinated.^[10] It was difficult to track the number of deaths since they banned reporters and human rights representatives from entering the affected areas. They also claimed that an average of 30 people were disappearing each week, with most of them being lost trace of as well. It was believed by the Comadres that the Salvadoran government was attempting to bring out a positive image while there were bodies laying on the street telling a different image. It was established in December, 1977, with the help of the Catholic Archdiocese of San Salvador and the Archbishop Óscar Romero,^[11] to discover the truth behind the missing relatives of the membership. Among their activities are the distribution of flyers to get out the message, and the occupation of government offices to elicit the help of foreign nations in pressuring the Salvadoran government.^[12] By 1993, there were an estimated 500 or more members.^[13] A leader of this organisation was María Teresa Tula.^[14]

In 1984, Comadres received the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights Award for individuals or groups around the world who show courage and have made a significant contribution to human rights in their country.^[15] Aside from the Robert Kennedy Award, COMADRES was awarded five international awards for their humanitarian work.In 1986, Bono of the rock band U2 paid tribute to their cause, and a similar group in Nicaragua, by writing the song "Mothers of the Disappeared", which was released in 1987 on The Joshua Tree.^[16] Another accomplishment of COMADRES is the documentary they partook in during International Women's Day on March 8, 1987.^[4]

Individual key leaders

COMADRES was formed by women, primarily mothers, ranging from lower, middle, and elite classes. Amongst these women were important leaders such as María Teresa Tula, Alicia Panameño de García, and Sofia Aves Escamillas. Despite all of these different background, they were all married and had children which explains their motherly instincts to help find missing relatives.

María Teresa Tula came from a town called Izalco and was considered a lower class. Before joining, María had no prior political experience, but eventually become involved full time around the mid-1980s.^[5] María joined COMADRES in hopes of helping her husband out of jail after his incarceration for leading a sugar mill strike in 1978.^[5] After her husbands release from jail, he was not in accordance to her political involvement and led to conflict.^[5] She now resides in Minneapolis on the basis of political asylum and became one of the most vocal and prominent leaders of COMADRES. Aside from her political work with COMADRES, she also developed her own testimonio. In this testimonio, María talks about feminism and her own life story.^[17]

Sofía Aves Escamillas came from a poor background and from a small area called Guazapa. Coming from a rural area, her job consisted of agricultural work as well as making wallets and suitcases.^[5] Sofía joined COMADRES after her son and husband were murdered to due their engagement in peasant and labor organizing.^[5]

While María and Sofía come from a lower class, their counterpart Alicia Panemeño de García came from a lower middle class where she worked as a nurse in a hospital.^[5] She grew up in a town named Santa Lucía and had previously been involved in a Christisn base community.^[5] Alicia joined COMADRES when it first formed in 1977 and eventually became director in 1993.^[5] These role of directors was not added until the early 1980s and it consists of day to day planning as well as running the organization.^[5]

References

^ ^a ^b Radcliffe, Sarah (1993). Viva: Women and Popular Protest in Latin America (1st ed.). pp. 30–64.
^ Cuéllar, Jorge E. (2018-01-01). "Elimination/Deracination: Colonial Terror, La Matanza, and the 1930s Race Laws in El Salvador". American Indian Culture and Research Journal. 42 (2): 39–56. doi:10.17953/AICRJ.42.2.CUELLAR. ISSN 0161-6463.
^ "El Salvador". The Center for Justice & Accountability.
^ ^a ^b Henze, Laura (May 1987). "Enough Crying of Tears: The Story of the Comadres of El Salvador".
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ Stephen, Lynn (1997). Women and Social Movements in Latin America: Power from Below. University of Texas Press.
^ "Caribbean & Central America - 29 November 1985".
^ "Caribbean & Central America - 29 November 1985".
^ H. Parra, Ericka. NO SOY FEMINISTA, PERO...¿NEGOCIAR CON LAS IDEOLOGAS FEMINISTAS ENESTE ES MI TESTIMONIO(1993)DEMARÍATERESATULA?. Southeastern Council on Latin America Studies/ Blackwell Publishing, Inc.
^ Langer, Beryl (2000), "Mothers of the disappeared in the diaspora: globalization and human rights", in Hilsdon, Anne-Marie (ed.), Human rights and gender politics: Asia-Pacific perspectives, Routledge advances in Asia-Pacific studies, Psychology Press, pp. 199–200, ISBN 0-415-19173-4
^ Aldama, Arturo J. (2003), Violence and the body: race, gender, and the state, Indiana University Press, p. 414, ISBN 0-253-34171-X
^ Batstone, David B. (1997), Liberation theologies, postmodernity, and the Americas, Psychology Press, ISBN 0-415-91659-3
^ Tompkins, Cynthia; Foster, David William (2001), Notable twentieth-century Latin American women: a biographical dictionary, Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 285, ISBN 0-313-31112-9
^ Radcliffe, Sarah A.; Westwood, Sallie (1993), "Viva": women and popular protest in Latin America, International studies of women and place, Psychology Press, p. 32, ISBN 0-415-07313-8
^ María Teresa Tula Archived 2015-03-08 at the Wayback Machine, RFK center, retrieved 7 April 2015
^ "Robert F Kennedy Center Laureates". Archived from the original on 2014-04-07.
^ Luerssen, John D. (2010), U2 FAQ, Milwaukee: Backbeat Books, p. 185, ISBN 978-0-87930-997-8
^ H. Parra, Ericka. NO SOY FEMINISTA, PERO...¿NEGOCIAR CON LAS IDEOLOGAS FEMINISTAS ENESTE ES MI TESTIMONIO(1993)DEMARÍATERESATULA?. Southeastern Council on Latin America Studies/ Blackwell Publishing, Inc.