Co-Madres was the first women-led organization dedicated to denouncing human rights abuses and empowering women in El Salvador since 1975. It became central in protecting human rights during the Salvadoran Civil War (1980-1992). The Committee of Mothers emerged in a context of repression, violence, and poverty, in which a group of women organized to respond jointly to the adversities and violence imposed by the Salvadoran State and the polarization in the country. The name of this organization reflects the importance that Monsignor Oscar Arnulfo Romero had in the creation of this committee and in the lives of the people who suffered poverty and violence.
This book, written in Spanish, recapitulates the testimonios of struggle, resistance, and activism of a group of women belonging to the Committee of Mothers and Relatives of the Detained, Disappeared, and Murdered Politicians of El Salvador, Monsignor Oscar Arnulfo Romero—also known as Co-Madres or the Mothers’ Committee—and its motivation for denouncing the violation of human rights in El Salvador since 1975. This work highlights the importance of the activism and struggle of Co-Madres for Central American society and contemporary global discussions of human rights in Latin America from the perspective of local women activists. This book is the outcome of more than 10 years of walking with and working alongside the mothers of Co-Madres and includes an unpublished collection of photos from the Co-Madres archives. This visual collection was published thanks to the support of the Mission Office and the Center for the Study of War Experience at Regis University.
This project is part of a larger effort to preserve the historical memory of the Committee. Since the end of the civil war in El Salvador, local organizations have been suffering a lack of material support for their work. For the past 20 years, Co-Madres has been receiving constant attacks against their office in which people have destroyed and manipulated part of their archives. As the years continued, many mothers died victims of uterine cancer, which is a direct consequence of the raping and torture that these mothers endured when the government captured them. This book is an important outcome of preserving the memories of the members of this committee that had died in the past year, such as the testimonios of mothers Alicia and Patricia who were the first and second presidents of the committee.
