Christians for Peace Coordinator to Speak about El Salvador September 26

Francisco Mena Ugarte, country coordinator for Christians for Peace in El Salvador, and a witness to the many horrors of a conflict that took 75,000 lives from 1980 to 1992, will make a special presentation in Indianapolis on Sunday, September 26 at 5:00p.m., at St. Mary’s Catholic Church parish hall, 317 North New Jersey Street.  Mena, (whose father was a soldier for this tiny Central American nation, changed sides during the conflict, joining the struggle with the FMLN, the guerilla force that fought against the Arena-backed government for a dozen years), had to flee his homeland like many Salvadorans, seeking shelter first in Los Angeles, and then Mexico, before returning home to his native land just a few years ago.

Mena will provide insights into the Salvadoran view of free trade, fair trade, globalization, politics and human rights in his presentation, offering a unique view of how a small nation stacks up against the giant economies, huge multinational corporations and tremendous social needs of the population as a whole.

Mena also will address the current political realities in El Salvador, where just this year the opposition party, the FMLN (now a political institution instead of a military organization) won control through elections in March.  Mena will explain the difficulties the new administration faces with an extremely difficult economy that took charge with virtually no money left in the country’s treasury by the departing political party.  A skilled speaker and grass roots organizer, Mena’s presentation promises to bring a new view of events in this part of the Western Hemisphere that most have not witnessed.