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El Precio de la Dignidad
Este libro narra la conmovedora historia de Patrocinia Polanco Rivas, una campesina salvadoreña que personifica la lucha por la dignidad en medio de la adversidad. A través de su testimonio y el análisis del autor Andrés McKinley, la obra recorre su vida, desde una infancia marcada por la pobreza extrema y la opresión de la oligarquía cafetalera, hasta su participación en la guerra civil como operadora de radio del FMLN tras el asesinato de su mentor, el padre Rutilio Grande. La guerra le arrebata a su padre, pero forja en ella una resistencia inquebrantable.
Tras los Acuerdos de Paz de 1992, la esperanza de una vida digna se desvanece ante la persistente pobreza y las políticas neoliberales que mantienen a las familias campesinas en la miseria. Para sobrevivir, Patrocinia trabaja incansablemente cortando caña de azúcar, mientras la falta de oportunidades lleva a su esposo y, posteriormente, a sus seis hijos a emprender el peligroso viaje migratorio hacia Estados Unidos. El libro documenta los horrores de este periplo: el abandono, la extorsión, el secuestro y la constante amenaza de la muerte.
Una vez en el norte, los hijos de Patrocinia se enfrentan a la dura realidad de la vida indocumentada y a la maquinaria represiva del ICE, especialmente bajo la administración de Donald Trump. La autora establece un poderoso paralelismo entre la violencia de los escuadrones de la muerte en El Salvador y la persecución sistemática de los migrantes.
El Precio de la Dignidad es un testimonio de la resiliencia humana, mostrando que la dignidad no reside en el éxito de la lucha, sino en la propia lucha, un legado que Patrocinia heredó de su padre. El libro se erige como un recordatorio urgente de las consecuencias humanas de la guerra, de la injusticia económica y de las políticas migratorias despiadadas.
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The Price of Dignity
USD $ 21.50Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
The Price of Dignity
USD $ 21.50The Price of Dignity chronicles the extraordinary life of Patrocinia Polanco Rivas, a Salvadoran peasant woman whose personal story embodies the Central American struggle for survival and justice. The narrative follows her from a childhood of desperate poverty in the 1970s, through her family’s involvement in grassroots movements inspired by liberation theology and the murdered priest Rutilio Grande.
As civil war engulfs El Salvador, Patrocinia’s family is drawn into the conflict. She experiences the horror of scorched-earth tactics, lethal aerial bombardments, and the trauma of forced displacement (guindas). After losing her father to a bomb and suffering severe injuries herself, she leaves the war at her mother’s request. The postwar period, however, brings new struggles. Despite the hope of the 1992 Peace Accords, neoliberal policies and enduring poverty force Patrocinia’s family into a relentless battle for survival, cutting sugarcane for meager wages.
This economic desperation ultimately dismantles her family, as her husband and, one by one, her six children are forced to migrate illegally to the United States. The book’s second half becomes a searing indictment of U.S. immigration policy. It juxtaposes the dangerous journeys of her children—marked by cartel violence and exploitation—with the cruel, dehumanizing rhetoric of Donald Trump, who labels them “criminals” and “rapists.” Patrocinia is left alone in El Salvador, her utopian dream of dignity replaced by the anguish of a separated family, haunted by a past of war and a present of political disillusionment under Nayib Bukele. Her story is a powerful testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the ongoing price of dignity.
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WItness to War
USD $ 10.00 USD $ 26.00Price range: USD $ 10.00 through USD $ 26.00Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
WItness to War
USD $ 10.00 USD $ 26.00Price range: USD $ 10.00 through USD $ 26.00Witness to War: An American Doctor in El Salvador offers a personal account of Dr. Charles Clements’ year-long mission providing medical care behind rebel lines during El Salvador’s brutal civil war from 1981-1982. Clements, a former decorated U.S. Air Force pilot disillusioned by his Vietnam experiences, transformed into a Quaker doctor committed to non-violence and the principle of “bearing witness”—observing a situation firsthand and speaking truth about power.
The book chronicles his harrowing struggle, at times one of only two fully trained physicians, for approximately 10,000 people in a guerrilla-controlled zone, confronting “scenes of almost unbelievable horror” and an “anguished view of the low value on life”. With virtually no supplies, Clements improvised, performing amputations with a Swiss Army knife and suturing with dental floss, all while battling dysentery, malaria, and hunger himself. His narrative is extraordinarily restrained yet both disturbing and gripping.
Witness to War serves as a testimony from behind the lines, vividly portraying a conflict of constant aerial bombardments by U.S.-supplied aircraft. Clements’ commitment to medical neutrality, treating any patient regardless of their affiliation, is a central theme, challenging readers to confront uncomfortable truths about U.S. foreign policy and the immense human cost of conflict. This new edition, published decades later, underscores the enduring relevance of imperialism and militarism, urging new generations to reflect on their potential impact on the Global South.
First published in 1984, and again in 1985, the book has long been out of print. This is an expanded edition including materials previously absent in previous editions.
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