El Salvador
By For some reason, I find this particularly stirring:
Even though Saddam Hussein never posed a threat to Central America, and the national security of the United States is a concern only to those Salvadorans lucky enough to survive the harrowing migratory journey to “El Norte,” some 35 local boys have fought side-by-side with the American armed forces near Najaf, north of Baghdad.
The war in Iraq has given them a chance to see the outside world and meet people far from the dusty streets of their home villages. Many have returned with the spoils of war from the deserts of the Middle East, along with eye-popping stories.
Only one, Natividad de Jesús Méndez Ramos, didn’t make it home. “Tivito” died on April 4, 2004 in Najaf when his 16-member squad ran out of ammunition while fighting Iraqi insurgents. His body now rests in an elaborate gravesite in the cemetery outside of Guaymango, which was given by the Salvadoran military. Tivito’s mother, Herminia, received condolences from her government, but today she struggles to continue forward. She is a widow and mother of five living in a humble dwelling where sickly chickens and flea-infested dogs compete for every inch of shade and drop of water.
Roughly 75000 Salvadorans died in the civil war between 1980 and 1992. This kid must have been born no more than halfway into the war, and his mother must have lived through the whole thing. To survive that, and then die as part of a political favor to some US neocon fantasists. . .