Women & Guerrilla Movements: Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chiapas, Cuba

205 Pages·2003·0.873 MB·English

by  Karen Kampwirth

WOMEN AND GUERRILLA MOVEMENTS

WOMEN
&
GUERRILLA
MOVEMENTS
Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chiapas, Cuba
Karen Kampwirth
The Pennsylvania State University Press | University Park, Pennsylvania
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kampwirth, Karen, 1964–
Women and guerilla movements : Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chiapas, Cuba / Karen Kampwirth.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-271-02185-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Women in politics—Latin America. 2. Women revolutionaries—Latin America—Interviews. I. Title.
HQ1236.5.L37 K35 2002
305.428098—dc21 2002005322
Copyright © 2002 The Pennsylvania State University
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Published by The Pennsylvania State University Press,
University Park, PA 16802-1003
It is the policy of The Pennsylvania State University Press to use acid-free paper for the first printing of all clothbound books.
Publications on uncoated stock satisfy the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1992.
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
1 New Roles for Sandino’s Daughters 21
2 Feminine Challenges to Military Rule in El Salvador 45
3 Also a Women’s Rebellion: The Rise of the Zapatista Army 83
4 Rethinking Women and Guerrilla Movements: Back to Cuba 117
Appendix: Social Origins of the Central American Guerrillas 137
Bibliography 157
Index 187
v

Acknowledgments
A
project like this book, which is
the result of more than a decade’s work, is invariably an example of what
Latin Americans call “trabajo de hormigas,” or “ants’ work.” It is unfair for
me to take sole credit for something that would have never happened
without the cooperation of many individuals, all contributing their parts
to the anthill. First and foremost, I am grateful to the hundreds of Latin
American women, and scores of Latin American men, who helped me
out, generously sharing their time and knowledge, sometimes even tak-
ing me into their homes.
To the following citizens or residents of Nicaragua, I owe a great deal:
Angela Rosa Acevedo, Agnes (Xochiquetzal), Raquel Aguirre, Humberto
Aragón Morales, don Manuel Aragón, doña Teodora Morales de Aragón,
and the whole Aragón Morales Fong family, Klemen Altamirano, Danilo
Barrios, Maribel Arostegui Bravo, Gladys Baez, Amy Bank, Blanca
(CST), María Teresa Blandón, María Lourdes Bolaños, Alan Bolt, Mary
Bolt, Berta Inés Cabrales, Elizabeth Castro de Velásquez, doña Elena
Cajina de Quiñónez, Lupita Cárdenas, Silvia Carrazco, Amalia Chamorro,
Georgina Cordón, Ana Criquillion, Mirna Cunningham, José Dávila,
Violeta Delgado, César Escobar, Yolanda Espinoza, Ana Esquivel, Rosa
Julia Esquivel, Alan Fajarda, Fatima (ISNIM), Azucena Ferrey, Mario
Flores, Hazel Fonseca, Briceyda Fuentes, Idalia García, Luis and Veronica
González, Violeta Granera de Sandino, Dora Herrera, doña Laura and
Nancy, Patricia Lindo, Carla López, María Isabel López, Rosa Argentina
López, Rosalio López, Marvin Marenco, Arle Martínez, Julio Martínez,
Tania Mairena, Marcos Membreño, Lesbia Mendieta, Nora Meneses,
Donald Méndez, Juan José Montenegro, Sofía Montenegro, Vanexa
Moralla Mora, Zoilamérica Narvaez, Reinaldo Núñez, Gloria Ordóñez,
Ligia Orozco, Patricia Orozco, Pedro Ortega Méndez, Alba Palacios, Dina
Palacios, Andrea Pérez, Paola Pérez Alemán, María Auxiliadora Pérez de
vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Matus, Elena Quiñónez Cajina and the whole Quiñónez Cajina family,
Mario Quintana, Ana Quirós, Carolina Ramírez, doña Esperanza de
Ramos, don Joaquín Ramos and the whole Ramos family, Sandra
Ramos, Fátima Reyes, Miriam Reyes, Napoleon Rios, Hortensia Rivas,
Ninoska Robles de Jarquín, Matilde Rocha, Nubia Rocha, Irene Rojas,
Reyna Isabel Rodríguez, Julio Ruiz Morazán, Feliz Ruiz, Liliana Salinas,
Rosa Argentina Silva, Judith Silva, Nubia and Maritza Silva Flores, Dora
María Téllez, Ursula Thöt, Doris Tijerino, María Auxiliadora Valario,
Milú Vargas, Bladimir Varela, Sara Velázquez, Reina Isabel Velázquez,
Donna Vukelich, Lois Wessel, Dorotea Wilson, Yolanda Zamora, Fátima
Zelaya, Rosa Marina Zelaya, and José Antonio Zepeda.
In El Salvador, the following people generously shared their time and
insights with me: Elba Aguilar, Sonia Aguinada, Irma Amaya, Ana Zulema
Argueta, Carmen Argueta, Luis Alberto Avilés, Sonia Baires, Lucía
Beltrán, Silvia Briseño, Gladys Colato, Cristina (Flor de Piedra), Deysi
Cheyne, Sister Nydia Delgadillo, Rosibel Flores, Doris García, Marta Elena
García de Rodríguez, Esperanza Gómez, Rebeca de González, members of
the Grupo de Identidad 2001 of the UCA, Sonia Gualdamez, Isabel de
Guevara, Norma Guevara, Yolanda Guirola, Isabel Hernández, María Julia
Hernández, Virginia Hernández, Morena Herrera, Juana Lemus Flores,
Zoila de Innocenti, Eva Linares, Rosi Flores, Aracelis López, Ofelia López,
Ana Guadalupe Martínez, Omar Martínez and Juanita, Yanira Marroquín,
Mirna Medina, Carmen Elisia Mejía, Guadalupe Mejía, Irma Mejía, Lety
Méndez, María Trinidad Mejía, Conchita Menjivar, Violeta Menjivar, Ura-
nia Morales, Clara Murguialday, Alicia Panameña de García, Lorena Peña
(Rebeca Palacios), Marina Peña Flores, Guadalupe Portillo, Isabel Ramírez,
Sandra Ramírez, María Consuelo Raymundo, Aura Rivera, Carmen
Rodríguez, Mirna Rodríguez, América Romualdo, Marielos Romualdo,
Marta Segovia, María Elena Sánchez, Sara Quintanilla, Marta Valladares
(Nidia Diaz), Antonia Vichés, Silvia Vidal, and Evelyn Zelaya.
Unfortunately, the ongoing nature of the war in Chiapas, and the fact
that many peaceful human rights promotors have been victimized by mil-
itary and paramilitary violence in recent years, makes me hesitate to pub-
licly thank the many who generously offered me their time and insights.
Given the difficult circumstances within which they must work, I am
especially grateful to the many who permitted me to interview them.
A number of institutions offered important support over the course of
my researching and writing this book. The sociology departments at the
Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) in Managua and San Salvador were
quite helpful. Special thanks are due to Marcos Membreño in Managua
viii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
and Zoila de Innocente in San Salvador. The staff and volunteers with the
Boston chapter of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Sal-
vador (CISPES) and its San Salvador affiliate, the Centro Internacional de
Solidaridad (CIS), especially Sarah Clarke, Mike Prokosch, and Marceline
White, played a big role in my initiation into the world of Salvadoran pol-
itics. Special thanks are due to David Amdur of the national CISPES office
for sharing his insights, along with the photo for the front cover of this
book. The staff at CIESAS-Sureste (Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios
Superiores en Antropología Social) in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas,
especially Gabriela Vargas, Aida Hernández, Xochitl Leyva, and Guada-
lupe Salazar were tremendously helpful during 1995, when I was an affil-
iated guest researcher, and during my later visits to the region. I am grate-
ful to the staff at the Center for U.S.–Mexican Studies (at the University of
California, San Diego) for helping make that institute a wonderful place
to be when I was a visiting research fellow in the winter of 1997–98.
Finally, I’d like to thank the staff at Global Exchange for organizing a
women’s tour of Cuba in October 1998, with special thanks to Teresa
Walsh and Diana Russell.
For its moral and economic support, I thank the gender studies section
of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) for awarding me first
place in the Elsa Chaney Competition in 1998 for an earlier version of
Chapter 3. I also would like to thank the staff at the Carrie Chapman Catt
Center for the Study of Women and Politics for awarding me the Carrie
Chapman Catt Prize in 1999 in support of the ongoing research project
that has become this book.
The final critical source of economic support for this project was Larry
Breitborde and the rest of the administration at Knox College. Because
the many requests I made for faculty research grants were never denied,
it was possible to make the repeated trips to Latin America that were nec-
essary in researching this book. Very special thanks go to many people at
Knox College for interest in my work, especially Brenda Fineberg. Few
people ever have the privilege of returning to teach at the very place
where they spent their college years. Thanks to all current and former fac-
ulty whose courses influenced my thinking on an array of topics. Special
thanks to the two faculty members who had the greatest influence on my
college years and to what I was to become (for better or worse): Bob Sei-
bert and Isabel Livosky. Thanks also to students who were kind enough to
take my courses and engage me in years of interesting conversations, espe-
cially to those students who directly supported the project through their
own research: Alicia Stephens, James Mutti, Liz Rice, and Monica Novak.
ix