Our time here has now turned political - we are officially credentialed by the Salvadoran government as foreign election observers. To better understand the political climate, our Greater Milwaukee delegation had a meeting with theologian Dean Brackley of the University of Central America, a Jesuit university. Dean Brackely has been in El Salvador for 19 years. He volunteered for ministry here after the assassination of 4 Jesuit priests on campus. Dean is held in high regard in areas of history, philosophy, politics, and theology.
The ruling party has been in power for 400 years. They have gone by different names but it is still the economic ruling class. This structure rules by fear, threats, and violence. The polls of many different sources show that that the population is seeking change and this election will be significant for the future of the people of the country. The elections are two phased - the voting for the mayors and parliamentary deputies (6 parties) is this Sunday - voting for the presidential candidates is in March. If the March vote is so close it cannot be decisively determined, another election will be held in May. Everyone hopes that this will not happen. San Salvador is a pivotal area so all of the international observers have been assigned to precincts in this area. That will be another story on Monday. The mayors position was won by 44 votes 3 years ago and it was very controversial! The opposition party needs to win San Salvador on Sunday as this momentum will carry into the March election.
We have had two days of training for being observers. Observers have been taught to monitor the voting process with emphatic emphasis on areas of past and potential fraud. Many components of the training focused on the Salvadoran constitution, human rights, and their democratic process. We have been receiving history lessons as well as specific training. The important message we have been receiving is that our presence ensures that the voice of the people is able to be expressed without coersion or deception.
We have had many God moments today - we have met many new people who will be links for our service and ministry here. We have also reconnected with past friends and we are all happy to to be reunited, We met people from the NGO we will be visiting next week to determine our volunteer placement. It is amazing that in a crowd of more than 100 people, we have past, current and future relationships.
Vaya con Dios,
David and Nancy
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