He Still Gives me Faith Now: Memories of Monseņor Romero
March 29, 2012
During his time as Archbishop, Monseñor Romero faithfully accompanied mothers and family members of the disappeared. Apolonia Sofia Escamía, one of the founding members of COMADRES, remembers his constant concern and guidance with tenderness.
I grew up in the campo. I remember they paid us twenty-five cents a colon to work on the big haciendas. When I was seventeen, almost eighteen, my father helped run a strike. They were able to get the wages increased to seventy-five cents a day, but my father could no longer find work. In 1974 they killed my husband, but I did not understand why until later.
I used to see Monseñor Romero when I came to mass. He always mentioned and denounced Salvadorans that had been disappeared and killed. He spoke of the dead that showed up on the side of the road, that no one seemed to know who had killed. He asked that they be buried with a name and not in anonymous graves, so that mothers and wives looking for their husbands and children could find them.
In 1978 the national police captured my son in Suchitoto. They said it was because he was linked to the church, but he was only going to the church to get married. They captured him in my presence. They hit him and took his backpack. I talked with everyone I could in Suchitoto, asking them to ghelp me speak for my son. I went to the national police’s office, to find out what I could. I was there all evening. At nine p.m. they kicked me out. I could hear them beating my son, could hear his screams. I arrived at 6:30 the next morning, to bring my son breakfast, but they told me they had taken him to San Salvador. I went to the national police in San Salvador, but they said they didn’t have him there. I went to the national guard and left a photo, so that if they found my son they could let me know. I visited all the different security forces, but they all denied having my son.
http://www.share-elsalvador.org/2012/03/he-still-gives-me-faith-now-memories-of-monsenor-romero.html