The UN brokered Peace Accords signed by the government and the FLMN, January 1992 ended twelve years of civil war in which 75,000 people had died. Although overt military action ended, and death squad activity subsided somewhat, justice, either civil or economic, remains a chimera. Recovery is seen soley in terms of the neo-liberal model transfering the countries debt to the poor and the country's wealth to the elites
Our national El Salvador support organization, Salvaide, put us in touch with the Señorío de Cuscatlán shop in San Salvador which sells items from many artisans, co-ops, and collective workshops. The language of communication is Spanish. Luckily we have some fluent Spanish speakers among our volunteers. We seem to be their only foreign customer, for which they have expressed their appreciation.
Salvadoran handicrafts are quite distinctive. The wooden boxes, crosses, trays, etc., have been a great hit, as have the fabric birds. The birds are modeled after local species and include parrots, tucans, and the, possibly aptly named, happy widow.
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Teardrop Crafts
2600 Columbia Avenue
Castlegar, B.C., Canada, V1N 2X6
tdrop@web.ca
© 1998-01-22 George Richards pupdate=220704