Broadcasting The Civil War in El Salvador / Santiago / 2010

Broadcasting The Civil War in El Salvador / Santiago / 2010

I started to read this in grad school, but like Miguel Marmol, I got distracted and finally returned to it this year. It’s an absolutely incredible memoir that recreates the lost diary of Santiago during the rise of Radio Venceremos. The diary was lost after a military attack, and Santiago was so distraught that his comrades agreed to help him reconstruct it. Narratively, the work is incredible, not only giving readers a glimpse of the drama of the war, battle after battle, but also tracking how the guerrilla nurtured their humanity, love, and joy throughout the process. The meat of the project is a 5/5. 
That said, I was surprised by epilogues that celebrate the end of the war, heralding it as a win, despite the less than ideal circumstances that prompted the new era of neoliberal democratization. This makes it seem like the guerrilla was fighting for democracy and not for social and economic justice. On one hand, I understand the need to present the peace accords as a viable pathway forward and the need to put aside the bitterness with your best foot forward. The FMLN didn’t have a pathway to win the war, so they had to bend to what they could achieve. It just reads poorly knowing all that was to come.