Under the Spanish, land long used to grow corn (the local staple) was re-cultivated to grow indigo (a better cash crop for export). As indigo needed flat land, locals were displaced and pushed into the hills. Later, when the rise of cotton wiped out the indigo trade, coffee became El Salvador's top cash crop. Coffee needed to be grown on the hillside. So the people were displaced again.
Rebellion after rebellion was put down as the land was Christianized. Making religion the opiate of the masses, the priests preached, “Don't question authority. Heaven awaits those who suffer quietly.” (Even today, when labor organizers try to mobilize workers against structural poverty, they hear, “No, our struggles are God's will.” Those promoting the left-wing people's party report that their challenge is to teach poor Christian peasants that it's okay to get political and vote for change.)
El Salvador won its independence from Spain in 1821. The local victors were not the indigenous people, but the descendants of those first Spanish conquistadors. They wanted to continue harvesting El Salvador…but without giving Spain its cut. Indigenous Salvadorans gained nothing from “independence.”
After the popular uprisings and massacres of 1932, indigenous culture was outlawed, the left wing was decimated, and a military dictatorship was established. Those who spoke the indigenous language were killed. Traditional dress was prohibited. After 1932, when a white person looked at an Indian, the Indian's head would drop. To be indigenous was to be subversive. And today, the word indígena still comes with negative connotations: illiterate, ignorant, savage. All these centuries later, some things still haven't changed.
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You are reading "In 1492, Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue…", an entry posted on 16 October 2009 by Rick Steves.