Personal Narrative: A Small Country With Big Problems

A Small Country with Big Problems

I can’t seem to wrap my head around how drastically things can change in a short amount of time. It seemed as if I was in El Salvador a few months ago, when in reality it’s been two years. I can still remember every single detail of my trip. From getting coconut water when first arriving to saying goodbye to family before heading to the airport. All I can picture is the beautiful green fields and the little corner shops. I can still hear the sound of kids playing in the streets and the ringing bells of ice cream carts. The image I have of El Salvador is completely different to what it is like now.
Now the streets are filled with cries of help and gunshots. Now gang members roam the streets and control most of the cities of El Salvador. Children are prevented from going to school if their school site is on a rival gang’s territory. Along with territory problems, many children are afraid of leaving their homes in fear of being abducted by gang members and forced to join. Salvadoran women are dyeing their hair black and dark brown in attempt to stay alive from gang violence. There have been rumors that only gang members’ girlfriends are allowed to wear the colors red and yellow and have blonde and red hair.
Salvadoran women aren’t taking any chances and are dyeing their hair even if it is just a rumor. The battle between the two main gangs MS-13 and Barrio 18 has led to the lost lives of innocent people. Most of the homicides are related to the conflict going on between the gangs.
The gangs have taken over the cities and the government has done very little about it.
In 2012 there was a truce between the two gangs and with the government but over the course of a year it began to fall apart. The new president opposes negotiations with the gangs and is putting inmates in maximum-security prisons, which isn’t what the original truce stated. Instead the president is sending in armed police into gang territories to attack. You cannot solve violence with violence. He is doing exactly what the gangs continue to do but it is deemed acceptable because he is the president. It shouldn’t be acceptable simply because he has power. The people of El Salvador cry for help but only the cries of death are
heard.
If I were to have the power the president has I would listen to the people and fight for them. A President should fight for the people whom the country is built upon on. Setting up attacks isn’t what the people want if anything it’s the complete opposite. The people want peace. I want peace. If a negotiation has to be made then so be it but innocent lives cannot continue to be lost. A negotiation might be the only way of ending this war. This isn't a fight that can be fought alone. Allies must be contacted for help, for this war has taken over the entire country. This problem needs to be solved and it needs to be solved now. Too much time has gone by and very little has changed.
Even though I am Salvadoran American and I have not lived in El Salvador it is still a huge part of me. El Salvador is my second home. It is my precious little country and to see it being torn apart by the gangs breaks my heart. My people are suffering and I hate seeing them like that. We must fight for justice and peace. We must fight for our voices to be heard. As Archbishop Oscar Romero once said "Like a voice crying in the desert, we must continually say, 'No' to violence and 'Yes' to peace."