A Mother's Day tribute to COMADRES

For Mother's Day (a day late), I want to highlight the work of the organization COMADRES, the Committee of Mothers Mons. Romero. COMADRES grew up as an organization of the mothers of victims of political violence and disappearances in the turbulent 70s and 80s. The organization demanded justice for their family members throughout the civil war and beyond:
Comadres was set up in 1977, when 'disappearances' were the order of the day in El Salvador. The group came into existence because relatives of 'disappeared' persons felt the need to share their grief with partners in misfortune and to unite forces with them. At the moment Comadres is working on 4,000 cases of 'disappearances', an emotionally arduous job for the relatives. On the one hand the women know that their 'disappeared' husbands and children probably have been killed, on the other hand, as long as the body hasn't been found there is always a spark of hope that makes them believe that one day the missing person may return home. This glimmer of hope gives strength to the organization: the fight goes on.

Meanwhile the women of Comadres have extended their activities. They are involved in human rights education. On the social and economic level they undertake joint activities too. Because of the 'disappearance' of their husbands or sons, the economic situation of the women, already belonging to the economic lower class, has become worse. Most of them demand financial compensation from the government. But financial compensation isn't the most important issue; much more important is the social, mental and political support. Finally, the women of Comadres are trying to get psychological help for children who have been traumatized by the events that took place during the civil war in El Salvador.

Learn much more at the COMADRES website. In a 1996 decision, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights detailed a series of attacks against COMADRES and its members during the civil war which had been left uninvestigated and unpunished by El Salvador's government.

Comments

El-Visitador said…
Oh boy.

Those ladies need a half-decent P.R. agent.

#1: Do they really need to include a link to FMLN on their "links" page? Does not make them look very apolitical at all.

#2: Do they need to state on their home-main page: «Yet death-squads are still operating,» with no attribution nor supporting evidence. Is this an uncontroversial fact now? Makes them look a bit loony.

Anyway, I don't know if I am looking at a legitimate entity or just a hack job left from the old Soviet-written propaganda manual: create as many front entitities as possible to discredit your enemy and put them in the defensive. Control the dialog.
Hodad said…
take your meds el-v
what ignorancy against women which are the backbone of El Salvador, versus the true fact,

and yes I am a gringo, that which w/o you yourself would still be living in a palapa,
and eating cocos

and again 99.99% of ALL Guanco men are not worth a crap
just true fact, no huevos

you take cheap shot, I take one closer to the facts

be there in 9 days, glad to meet you. pal...............

love to invite for free fishing trip, ALL CIA,Spec Forces,any others taught-brainwashed to mistreat or try to kill 'little brown skinnned peoples'

as glad to have been doing since the 70's

your lack of heart and ignorance quite often betrays you but this time, ....

any so called man, with words such as these against females is not forgotten, and never forgiven
your genetic machisimo is revealed

obviously you cannot neither swim,surf, or any other type of in-tuneness or 'enligtenedment'
as per your /rant/

que vergenzueza este tipo de boca sucio
llamame, su tipo es mejor 'adiosito'
Hodad said…
again all on this blog , of whcih there are many educated and enligtened folks anyway, are quite amused at your weak attempts at propagandizing along with all the other paid gringo wannna be's
which are quite obvious
we get a laugh, but this, contra mujeres, es de typical de los en la paga de USA mierda

vale verga
see you in ES
meet you any time any place,
solo es mejor
o me llegas con un bus lleno de pescadores, hombre quienes tenen valor para la mujeres
Anonymous said…
Okay people, let's vote to throw E-V off this blog. Dude's a cyber troll and he's gotta go.
Mara said…
Hello all,
I can confirm that Co-Madres are indeed a legitimate 35-year-old organization and that all of the information that Tim poted about them is accurate. I have been working (volunteering) with them since 2008, and though I live in New York, I am in regular contact with them in El Salvador, and make an annual visit to El Salvador.

We have formed a solidarity organization for Co-Madres called Friends of Co-Madres. Please "like" our page on Facebook to stay updated on Co-Madres' recent activities, as well as what we are doing in NYC.

Thank you, Tim, for all that you do!

Mara
Unknown said…
I'm writing a thesis paper on Comadres, and would really like your opinion on something. how much of an influence did comadres have on redefining what a mother is and how do Salvadoreans in general view them?