One Parish Priest in El Salvador's Popular Movement...the FMLN

The Journal of Latin American Studies (now on Twitter at @JLAScamb) has two interesting articles on El Salvador in their most recent edition. The first takes a look at the life of Tecoluca's Father David Rodriguez. "Ideas and Leaders in Contentious Politics: One Parish Priest in El Salvador's Popular Movement" written by Loyola University Chicago's Peter Sanchez.

This paper examines the actions of one Salvadorean priest – Padre David Rodríguez – in one parish – Tecoluca – to underscore the importance of religious leadership in the rise of El Salvador's contentious political movement that began in the early 1970s, when the guerrilla organisations were only just beginning to develop. Catholic leaders became engaged in promoting contentious politics, however, only after the Church had experienced an ideological conversion, commonly referred to as liberation theology.

A focus on one priest, in one parish, allows for generalisation, since scores of priests, nuns and lay workers in El Salvador followed the same injustice frame and tactics that generated extensive political mobilisation throughout the country. While structural conditions, collective action and resource mobilisation are undoubtedly necessary, the case of religious leaders in El Salvador suggests that ideas and leadership are of vital importance for the rise of contentious politics at a particular historical moment.

While we generally tend to identify the Salvadoran civil war as beginning in 1979 (following the failure of the October 15 coup) or 1980 (Romero's murder or the creation of the FMLN), it is important to remember that the Salvadoran guerrillas spent the entire 1970s, even as early as the late 1960s, preparing for war. They were recruiting new members, developing their ideology, and raising money, often through kidnappings.

In this article, we learn about Father Rodriguez who integrated into the FPL in 1974. He went on to live a pretty interesting life which isn't covered in this article except for Footnote number 62 - always read the footnotes.

Padre Rodríguez worked for the FPL from 1975 until the end of the civil war in 1992, also working for the FMLN when the FPL joined that organisation. Rodríguez did not serve as a combatant, but rather helped to organise CEBs and later raised money for the armed rebellion and for communities in guerrilla-controlled territory, travelling to the United States, Europe and Latin America. At the end of the conflict he made an effort to return to the Church, but the bishop of San Vicente at the time insisted that he issue an apology for the revolutionary and political path he had taken, a condition that he found unacceptable. Eventually Padre Rodríguez continued working with the FMLN, which was transforming itself into a political party, and became a candidate for the Legislative Assembly in 1997. He was elected in 1997 and 2000, and more recently in 2009 and 2012. Thus Padre David Rodríguez, a traditional parish priest, became a liberationist priest, a guerrilla priest and finally a political priest, always retaining close ties to the Salvadorean peasantry

The second article comes tomorrow.