| Contrary to common belief, there is a relatively large population of Indigenous in El Salvador. However, through centuries of forced acculturation and repression (and as a result of Western capitalism and globalization) these People have been "stripped of practically everything they once had: their lands, much of their native culture, their languages, their autonomy and even their sense of self-worth. They have been forced to go underground, to deny their cultural identity in order to survive. For this reason, the Indigenous People in El Salvador cannot be defined by the usual criteria of native dress, language, aboriginal customs, and so forth. These people have in fact survived and have slowly begun to reclaim their identity through cultural organisations such as ANIS, the Asociacion Nacional Indigena Salvadorena. In reality, the Indigenous People of El Salvador can only be defined as an "historically conditioned socio-economic category made up of descendants of the first peoples in America, who by means of the Spanish conquest were reduced to conditions of acute exploitation, misery, oppression and social injustice, conditions that, in essence are maintained in their descendants." The 1920s depression caused coffee price to plummet and coffee growers chose not to pick the crop. By 1930, unemployment has reached 40% and peasant unrest and organizing was increasing. A wide scale peasant protest in 1932 was overcome by the military, protecting the interests of a few rich, landowning families. By the end of one week more than 30,000 peasants were dead - an event still talked about today as "La Matanza" or the Massacre. This massacre, following 450 years of Spanish (as well as U. S.-aided counter-insurgency tactics) brutality, effectively wiped out most of Indigenous culture and traditions. Amongst those executed was the peasant leader Farabundo Marti, whose spirit has carried on to the present. |