Letter from Roberto Armijo to López Vallecillos, undated (1972)
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Roberto Armijo to López Vallecillos, undated (1972)
Description
Roberto Armijo (1937-1997) was one of the Generación Comprometida (Committed Generation) poets who, starting in the late 1950s, sought to renew El Salvador's modes of literary expression and raise its political consciousness. Like most of the left-wing poets, essayists and novelists of this group, he was from a humble background. He was a friend and collaborator of López Vallecillos in the 1960s and later spent the Salvadoran war years in France, where he taught literature at the University of Paris and was a representative of the FMLN guerrilla coalition.
In this letter, Armijo expresses his deep distress at the invasion of the University of El Salvador campus by army troops in 1972. The military government believed the university was a nest of leftist subversives and occupied the campus for two years. Armijo had been receiving a stipend from the university that allowed him to live in Paris and which, at the time he was writing this letter, was about to be cut off. He complains about physical ailments and poverty, but his complaint about the lack of popular reaction to the invasion of the university campus was not entirely warranted. The invasion, combined with a fraudulent presidential election a few months earlier, proved to be one of the milestones in El Salvador's march to civil war.
In this letter, Armijo expresses his deep distress at the invasion of the University of El Salvador campus by army troops in 1972. The military government believed the university was a nest of leftist subversives and occupied the campus for two years. Armijo had been receiving a stipend from the university that allowed him to live in Paris and which, at the time he was writing this letter, was about to be cut off. He complains about physical ailments and poverty, but his complaint about the lack of popular reaction to the invasion of the university campus was not entirely warranted. The invasion, combined with a fraudulent presidential election a few months earlier, proved to be one of the milestones in El Salvador's march to civil war.
Creator
Roberto Armijo
Source
López Vallecillos Family Archive
Date
1972
Format
Paper
Language
Spanish
Type
Personal letter
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Translation:
Dear Italo:
[...]
There are some things that I find really shocking: why was there no popular reaction to military occupation of the university? Why has there been no protests or responses in solidarity by the political parties, the unions, professional organizations against this injustice committed against hundreds of families who have been left without anything to eat, due to the suggestion of the president [Molina] to not hire anyone who worked in the university? How low have the people and groups who think a little in El Salvador fallen? We're wallowing in shit!
No doubt the university had lost its prestige, and that the group in power [at the university] made mistakes. I gather this from the the attitude of the student body that has not reacted. This is a serious historical responsibility for the ex-authorities who left without any glory whatsoever. How sad.
[…]
Dear Italo:
[...]
There are some things that I find really shocking: why was there no popular reaction to military occupation of the university? Why has there been no protests or responses in solidarity by the political parties, the unions, professional organizations against this injustice committed against hundreds of families who have been left without anything to eat, due to the suggestion of the president [Molina] to not hire anyone who worked in the university? How low have the people and groups who think a little in El Salvador fallen? We're wallowing in shit!
No doubt the university had lost its prestige, and that the group in power [at the university] made mistakes. I gather this from the the attitude of the student body that has not reacted. This is a serious historical responsibility for the ex-authorities who left without any glory whatsoever. How sad.
[…]
Original Format
Typewritten text
Files
Collection
Citation
Roberto Armijo, “Letter from Roberto Armijo to López Vallecillos, undated (1972),” Italo López Vallecillos, Editor to the Revolution, accessed October 4, 2024, https://rogeratwood.georgetown.domains/items/show/20.