Thoughts on the Presidential Election in El Salvador.

It was the day before the presidential election in El Salvador. We, were having breakfast with one of the country’s national heroes, Salvador Sanchez.

He began his career as a primary school teacher but when many of his fellow teachers were assassinated by death squads, Sanchez took up arms. He rose to a senior position among the guerillas. Now Sanchez was the vice presidential candidate for the FMLN. The next day he would become the second most important person in the country.

The surprising thing to our group is that this leader would take the time on the day before the election, to meet with a roomful of national and international election observers from churches. Following his talk and a question and answer period, people lined up for autographs and pictures. Sanchez was not familiar to most of us but from the adoring looks of Salvadorans, we had a sense of what a significant figure he was to them.

After he had been whisked away to another event, I sat down in a shady chair. I fell into a conversation with a man sitting next to me. Luis was his name. Luis told me he was a Lutheran deacon, working in a town in the west of the country.

It had been a difficult couple of years for him. A group of other ministers had confronted him about his ministry. They were not in favour of his work. He was not taking the bible as the literal word of God. His theology was too concerned with this world rather than with saving souls for the next. And yet he felt that he was being faithful to his call, putting programs in place that were dealing with the whole person and the very practical needs of the community.

Nobody was lining up for pictures with Luis, but I felt the goodness of the man and of his work. I will remember him in prayer.


Peter


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