Emigration from El Salvador: Exporting Hope

By Susana Barrera

Ed. Note : This article was originally written in Spanish. Translation was done by Richard A. Bower, director of the Cristosal solidarity ministry with the Anglican Church in El Salvador.

“The hope of a country is in its young people. When they learn in searching for opportunities that these opportunities are not there, the country remains without hope,” spoke Bishop Medardo Gómez of the Salvadoran Lutheran Church.

In the Plaza Gerardo Barrios in the center of San Salvador – historically known for the gatherings of hundreds of people for political rallies and protests – dozens of elderly retired people and countless unemployed young folks now gather.

Meanwhile, in the Plaza Gerardo Barrios in the center of San Salvador – historically known for the gatherings of hundreds of people for political rallies and protests – dozens of elderly retired people and countless unemployed young folks now gather.

Juan Pérez, a 35-year old Salvadoran, looks through the principal daily newspapers, not for news about politics nor for information about the pending Free Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA), nor about the growing corruption in the country, nor about the violence that is reported every morning. Juan, with his wife and two children, are looking for work among the classified ads.

Official statistics say that in El Salvador 7 out of 100 persons are unemployed. 22 out of 100 work at sub-employment levels, that is, as workers who try but don't achieve the minimum salary, which in El Salvador is $154 a month. El Salvador is a Central American nation of over 6 million people, a country densely populated with scare resources and land (20,000 square kilometers).

Pérez, who is a bookkeeper by profession, is part of the group of people unemployed for more than three months.   He looks through the over 200 classified ads for employment that each news paper offers, surprised that the requirement to qualify for most jobs is to be between 22-30 years old. He doesn't fit this requirement. The odd reality is that the ads look for experienced people, but offer work that only pays between $154 – $400 monthly. While work opportunities decrease, the daily cost of living is increasing.

Like Pérez, dozens of Salvadorans and other Central Americans, tired of not finding a way to live, choose to immigrate. Historically the United States is the first choice because of its geographical proximity and because of its advanced level of development.

“We cannot talk about our development if these young people are running away,” said Bishop Gómez.

A document called “Recent Trends and Policies toward Central American Migrations,” developed by the Mexican sociologist Manuel Angel Castillo of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO), notes that these days people leave the country in order to cross the border of poverty, while in early decades, those of the 70s and 80s, the object was to flee from armed conflicts and political situations in their respective countries.

These days, he argues, there are great expectations for employment, salaries and opportunities to develop educationally and in health, and in general in one's living conditions. The relationships with families and other compatriots who have immigrated in earlier times formed the base of important social networks for immigration. Even under the weight of great obstacles, such as danger, stiff immigration laws or the high cost of arriving at the destination, the immigration phenomenon continues.

To these costs of immigration we need to add the disintegration of families, loneliness and depression, and the commitment to support family members who don't leave. There is also the experience of racism that many North Americans have toward Hispanics. In a recent UN Development Programme (UNDP) study, it is reported that in 30 out of 100 Salvadoran homes women are the head of families, and that 80% of women in El Salvador are single mothers.

2.3 million Salvadorans live in the United States and in other countries of the world, the majority of whom fled poverty and the armed conflict of the past which lashed El Salvador during 1980-92. . . Conservative statistics indicate that about one million Salvadorans live in California, among whom 800,000 live in Los Angeles.

Emigration has been a phenomenon since the middle of the 19 th century. 2.3 million Salvadorans live in the United States and in other countries of the world, the majority of whom fled poverty and the armed conflict of the past which lashed El Salvador during 1980-92.

Conservative statistics indicate that about one million Salvadorans live in California, among whom 800,000 live in Los Angeles, which has earned the title “The Fifteenth Department of El Salvador.” 200,000 live in other parts of the California. Another 400,000 Salvadorans live in the Washington DC area, and an equal amount live in the New York City area. In the United States, Latino-Hispanic population forms one of the largest minority groups. Over 300,000 Salvadorans are disseminated among other countries such as Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Belize, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Alaska and Spain, as well as in other countries which in the past have opened their doors to offer political asylum.

The majority of compatriots have found work as domestics, caring for children, cleaning houses and offices, and working as gardeners or landscapers. However, a few have achieved work at a more professional level. The level of organization among immigrants has grown. There are at least 125 immigrant associations abroad, the majority of which are in the United States.

The “exportation” of immigrants is from the following Salvadoran areas: the eastern Department of San Miguel, called the “Pearl of the East”, is the province from which most emigrants have come. After San Miguel is the Department (province) of Las Cabañas in the country's northeast, considered one of the poorest regions of the country, according to the Office of Human Development of the UN in 2001. Chalatenango follows in numbers of emigrants, as one of the provinces most affected by the recent civil war.

In the year 2001 immigrant numbers increased, because of the great earthquakes of January and February which pushed the slow development of the country back four years, closing sources of work and causing more emigration. During 2001 at least 50,000 jobs were lost.

Cross-culturalization is another aspect of life which has been brought about by emigration and immigration patterns in the far east of the country, where concentrated populations of poor people live in towns where the streets are named after “gringo” names, and where in 2001 the dollar circulated as the local money. (This was before the official “dollarization” of El Salvador in 2003, which directly linked El Salvador's local currency to the fluctuations of the U.S. dollar.)

Official data indicates that in 2002 alone $2 billion entered the country as “ remesas ” (small checks sent to Salvadoran families by their emigrant families abroad). This amount, along with the economy of the maquila (low-wage factories owned by multimational corporations operating outside of the country) has been converted into the most important base of the economy. Many say that without these remesas from our brothers and sisters abroad we would not be able to survive. According to the UNDP, a third of the rural population survives thanks to the remesas , which have also caused a reduction of dependence on local agricultural production.

In addition, the report indicates that one-fifth of the population has emigrated, primarily to the United States. International emigration is primarily men, who thus have left 30 percent of Salvadoran homes overseen by women. The remesas have helped with education, as more young people have lengthened the time spent in formal education, and have entered the labor market later.

This same UN document indicates that young people who have the opportunity to continue studies in higher education tend to stay in El Salvador, while those who do not have this opportunity tend to emigrate. Also, international immigration of Salvadorans has generated new ideas, values and aspirations, especially among children and young people.

There are, however, a certain percentage of the youth population who in the face of a lack of opportunities choose to emigrate. In the process some encounter suffering, such as José Elizardo Guerrero, who fell from a moving train in the town of Chachauites, Oaxaca, México. He is now an invalid without work.

Guerrero traveled in July toward the North with a friend, José Osmin Alvarado who died having been run over by the train. Guerrero had to have his right foot amputated.

Both of these Salvadoran young people, who grew up in San Agustin in the Department of Usultan, were on the way to Texas. Since July of 2003, nine persons have fallen from trains, and eight have had to undergo amputations. According to authorities, 18 Salvadorans have been killed during the first 6 months of 2003 falling off trains, trying to cross the frontier from Mexico to the United States, or in automobile accidents or as victims of violent assaults in southern Mexico.

Since August of 2003, more that 13,712 Salvadorans were detained by Mexican authorities. Since January of this year, 83,372 Central American emigrants have been detained by Mexican police, with 11% of those arrested being minors.

On the road to the United States, Salvadoran emigrants are victims of assault, rape and other violence at the hands of organized bands of delinquents. . . Many arrive at their destination, others die on the way, and others, like Marquez, return with their hopes destroyed, with less energy to search for life in their own country.

On the road to the United States, Salvadoran emigrants are victims of assault, rape and other violence at the hands of organized bands of delinquents.

The famous Terminal de Occidente (bus terminal) in San Salvador is the place of departure for dozens of Salvadorans going north. Many arrive at their destination, others die on the way, and others, like Marquez, return with their hopes destroyed, with less energy to search for life in their own country.

Six years ago the Anglican Church of El Salvador developed a program to address the phenomenon of migration. It all began, explained Bishop Martin Barahona, when in 1997 the United States threatened to deport 250.000 Salvadorans who did not have legal documents needed to reside in the U.S.

“We organized many churches to help us work with congress members such as Luis Gutierrez, Javier Bizarra and others to create laws that would help Salvadorans. . . For us there do not exist non-documented persons. God has created the Creation for everyone, and there are no “illegals,” reflected Barahona.

In 1997 the Anglican Church of El Salvador and the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles worked together to help an office of ASOSAL (Association Salvadorena) to be founded in San Salvador to offer help to immigrants. Later the Church developed its own office, SOS Imigration under the direction of Reynaldo Alvergue.

When no one was discussing the theme of immigrants it was the Anglican Church of El Salvador, along with other sister churches, under the organization of the Forum of Immigrants, who created a program called “Welcome Home,” which offers orientation and accompaniment to Salvadorans returned from the north to their country.

This program originated in responding to the need that in the late hours of the night and early morning chartered flights arrived from the United States carrying deported Salvadorans without any help on arrival. At the beginning of this program the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador offered some financial help, added the bishop.

“The church is interested in these problems for humanitarian reasons. These deportations affect human beings and the well being of all our people. In our mind governments ought to create optimal living conditions here, in this land, so that our people will not encounter death in other countries as they try to search for life.”

In this same way the Conference of Mexican Bishops (Roman Catholic) insisted that the government of Vicente Fox search for an authentic immigration policy which would guarantee the security and fundamental rights of Central Americans and other foreigners passing through its borders.

“In addition,” affirmed that Conference, “United States needs and benefits from the work of our migrants,” and insisted that the US should improve its immigration laws and policies, under the principle of the value of the work offered by migrant workers, who have enriched the United States, not only in the economy, but also culturally and religiously.

As of September 2003, 250,000 Salvadorans have applied for the renewal of their TPS documents (Permit for Temporary Work) that will give them more time to reside in the United States.

In El Salvador, in the light of the reality that a new president will be elected this month, several political parties and institutions have been making campaign promises. So far there have not been any proposals for immigration policies, or words about social and economic development.

Poverty is being reduced, says the common citizen, it is true.   But it is true only because every day dozens of Salvadorans weighed down by debt, the high cost of living and the lack of opportunities, make the same decision: “to run away,” to emigrate.

“Poverty is lower,” says one of the principal morning Salvadoran newspapers. But inside the paper one finds only election propaganda. Poverty is being reduced, says the common citizen, it is true.   But it is true only because every day dozens of Salvadorans weighed down by debt, the high cost of living and the lack of opportunities, make the same decision: “to run away,” to emigrate.

Meanwhile, as this flight is occurring, and as the United States strengthens it laws and frontiers, many Juan Perezes and José Marguezes leave each day in search of hope and for life even though they might encounter death.

On the 1 st to the 7 th of September each year in El Salvador we celebrate the Week of the Migrant. The poster says “los hombres, no cambiarían su patria por una tierra extraña, si la patria le da posibilidad de vivir, desahogadamente” (Men and Women would not exchange their country for a foreign land if their country would give them the possibility to live, with the relief of new opportunities).

And, we might add: No more deaths of those searching for survival.

Susana Barrera is the communications officer for the Anglican Church of El Salvador. She may be reached by email at barreraponce@yahoo.com .

References:

• La Prensa Gráfica and El Diario de Hoy (daily newspapers), November 2003
• UNDP Report on Human Development 2003, Coordinator, William Pleitez
• The Rt. Rev. Martín Barahona, Iglesia Anglicana de El Salvador

Related Links :

“Living with AIDS in El Salvador – One Woman's Story” by Susana Barrera

“Is There Hope for the Future of El Salvador?” by Luis Serrano