Volcan de Izalco in rage,
Ashes cloud the sky,
Sombrero azul se vuelve gris,
521 years of smoky blood, spills,
and red rivers.
In the halls of national palaces, dark energies
dictate economic deceit,
Nunca olvides 1932,
coffee oligarchs and cronies cut open
a wound so deep, the volcanoes rumble
and the earth cracks open.
New shoots of healing herbs resist,
with our nahuales and dreams,
Feliciano Ama
presente!
In the heart of the blue Ocelotl,
they come from the Earth
warriors the color of timelessness.
-by Alicia Siu
Ashes cloud the sky,
Sombrero azul se vuelve gris,
521 years of smoky blood, spills,
and red rivers.
In the halls of national palaces, dark energies
dictate economic deceit,
Nunca olvides 1932,
coffee oligarchs and cronies cut open
a wound so deep, the volcanoes rumble
and the earth cracks open.
New shoots of healing herbs resist,
with our nahuales and dreams,
Feliciano Ama
presente!
In the heart of the blue Ocelotl,
they come from the Earth
warriors the color of timelessness.
-by Alicia Siu
We are not from the right, we are not from the left, we are from the Earth!
“Warriors the Color of Earth” depicts the jaguar nahual (spirit protector) and Guazapa guerrilla fighters (Special Forces of the FMLN Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front) during times of armed conflict. El Salvador endured a twelve year civil war from 1980 to 1992 in which the right wing government of ARENA, backed by U.S. military aid, launched a war against activists, the civilian and Indigenous population. This scene breaks away from the stereotype of FMLN (Frente Farabundo Marti de Liberacion Nacional) guerrilla fighters as moved only by leftists/communists doctrines, and shows them backed by a jaguar spirit protector and parallels the native warrior role as protectors of the people. This painting’s main purpose is to illustrate the continuity of Native resistance, in defense of land and life, prior to ideologies such as Marxism, communism, or capitalism for that matter. Indigenous people's have been misunderstood and labeled as communists and targeted for communists ideals because we are simply an obstacle to their extrativist, profit making drives.
The three warriors depicted in the painting are from a photograph taken during an FMLN training in the late 1980's in Guazapa. The photograph is part of the Museo de la Palabra’s “Fototeca Collection, Conflicto Armado 1980- 1992”. I received permission to reproduce the photograph from the current Museum curator, who became an orphaned boy during the 80’s and became apprentice to the warrior depicted in the front. During this time, many children were left orphaned and it was common that children would be protected by guerrillas from the government’s forced recruitment into their armies. He explained that these fighters in the photograph were part of the most highly trained frontline guerrillas. They were selected because of their deep knowledge of the land and intuitive capabilities to identify danger. They also relied on their dreams to forecast whether the enemy was near, and to plan accordingly based on their dreams. The background ash storm invokes the repression of 1932, and the foreground invokes the strategy of armed resistance to imperial domination and in defense of life and land during the twelve year armed conflict of the 1980’s.
Huellas del Jaguar Exhibition,
Centro Cultural Centroamericano, Los Angeles
Centro Cultural Centroamericano, Los Angeles