{"id":290,"date":"2017-10-08T23:48:39","date_gmt":"2017-10-09T03:48:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/?p=290"},"modified":"2021-08-18T15:19:17","modified_gmt":"2021-08-18T19:19:17","slug":"posters-of-resistance-against-u-s-imperialism-in-central-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/2017\/10\/08\/posters-of-resistance-against-u-s-imperialism-in-central-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Posters of Resistance against U.S. Imperialism in Central America"},"content":{"rendered":"

While visiting the Museum of the Salvadoran Revolution in Perqu\u00edn, Morazan, what struck me most was the museum\u2019s vast dedication to displaying various international posters that specifically address and resist U.S. imperialism in El Salvador\/Central America. The posters at the museum ranged in origin from neighboring Latin American countries (Honduras, Nicaragua, Brazil, Guatemala, etc.) to (unspecified) Francophone nations and even the U.S. itself. This demonstrated a global awareness of many of the injustices being perpetuated by the U.S. against El Salvador in the events leading up to and during the civil war. Many of these posters displayed phrases like \u201cStop bombing El Salvador\u201d and \u201cU.S. out of El Salvador!\u201d in order to address the U.S. government\u2019s instrumental role in supporting the Salvadoran right-wing military through funding, trainings, and other direct involvement.<\/p>\n

Upon searching for more information on the Salvadoran Civil War in the Latin American Digital Initiatives through the University of Texas Libraries, I came across the Colecci\u00f3n Conflicto Armado, from el Museo de la Palabra y el Imagen (Armed Conflict Collection from the Museum of the Word and Image) in San Salvador, El Salvador. One of the posters I was most interested in is pictured here:<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Poster
“U.S. Hands off Central America!” poster, from the Colecci\u00f3n Conflicto Armado, Museo de la Palabra y el Imagen, El Salvador. Acquired through the Latin American Digital Initiatives from the University of Texas Libraries<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The poster depicts a man dressed in attire typical to campesinos (peasant farmers) holding a corvo<\/em> (or machete) over his head, in preparation to attack the large and imposing clawed hand that digs into the map of Central American land. The clawed hand is representative of the United States, indicated by the sleeve that bears stars and red and white stripes. Further, the specificity in relevance to the Central American region is made clear by the way the poster isolates the region from its neighboring Latin American countries, and thus centers Central America and the U.S.\u2019s particular role in Central American countries. Through its imagery, the poster characterizes the campesino, in an empowered way, as the central force to resisting the U.S. imperial hand.<\/p>\n

The use of the corvo as the campesino\u2019s method of resistance is significant in its indication of class\u2014especially in focusing on a war with origins in the exploitation of the poor and widespread socioeconomic inequalities. As Manlio Argueta remarks throughout his novel Un dia en la vida <\/em>(1980), <\/em>the first sign of a Salvadoran campesino man is that he treats his corvo like an extension of his own hand\u2014it is a tool essential to his everyday work but it is also a tool necessary to the campesino man\u2019s defense and protection of his family. In the poster, the corvo is presented as the campesino\u2019s means of resisting U.S. imperial power. While the corvo is positioned so as to attack the clawed hand, it is, interestingly, literally attacking the very word \u201cAmerica\u201d at the top of the poster. The poster therefore highlights the campesino\u2019s corvo as a critical to subverting U.S. power.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the poster\u2019s purpose is made clear in its headline: \u201cU.S. Hands Off Central America Now!\u201d Written in English and produced in the United States at Casa El Salvador in San Francisco, CA, the poster targets English-speaking audiences and is especially relevant to American citizens. It is an important record of how American communities and organizations were responding to the Reagan administration\u2019s continued support of the Salvadoran government during the civil war. This is helpful to my research because it enables a continued broadening of my understanding of the Salvadoran Civil War in both \u2018homeland\u2019 and \u2018diaspora.\u2019<\/p>\n

Although my initial research scan to find the exact purpose or role of Casa El Salvador has not been conclusive, its very name leads me to assume that it was possibly a community organization dedicated to issues in El Salvador but likely also one that was invested in Salvadoran communities living in the United States. Especially given its location in California, such an organization would have likely been accessible to many Salvadoran refugees who fled El Salvador in the events leading up to the war or once it had begun. Continuing to research primary documents will be essential to deepening my understanding of the historical contexts and sociopolitical implications of Salvadoran resistance. These sources will further inform my work, as I begin to analyze the role of resistance in Salvadoran writing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While visiting the Museum of the Salvadoran Revolution in Perqu\u00edn, Morazan, what struck me most was the museum\u2019s vast dedication to displaying various international posters that specifically address and resist U.S. imperialism in El Salvador\/Central America. The posters at the museum ranged in origin from neighboring Latin American countries (Honduras, Nicaragua, Brazil, Guatemala, etc.) to … Continue reading Posters of Resistance against U.S. Imperialism in Central America<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3612,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[145910,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2017-blog-posts","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3612"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}