Visiting ARENA

I had mixed feelings about visiting the ARENA office but decided to go along with the group. What I saw confirmed to me that I do not belong among their ranks.

Our group was received warmly even though we were a few minutes early. Three women busily brought us coffee and water. A number of male party officials introduced themselves and shook everyone´s hands, said they were glad we came to visit and hope we would see that the upcoming elections are fair and democratic. All this was pretty standard political fare. But the inanimate objects in the office told the rest of the ARENA story.

We were taken on a brief tour and the majority of meeting rooms and even some hallways had groupings of 8-10 promotional images from the movie 300. All of the images were of heavily muscled Romanesque men killing one another. The film was said to the the ARENA leaders favorite because it is a story of struggle and victory.

In the main office we spoke with Adolfo Torrez, the Director General for the department of San Salvador. He is a well tanned fit man with lots of jewelery and a substantial flashy watch. His demeanor was casual and he often joked with us. But all the while that we were in the ARENA office, a young man of about 6 feet was video taping us and during the meeting with Torrez, 2-3 people were photographing us from ever angle. If one of the group asked a question, the video lens closed in on them and remained there for a disproportionate amount of time.

In the main office the walls are covered with photos of previous ARENA presidents as well as global leaders such as Agusto Pinochet. The ARENA leader who is widely named as the leader of the death squads, D´Aubuisson, was shown in many pictures. Also decorating the room were models of warriors, some fictional such as elf fighters from the Lord of the Rings series, others Roman gladiator types. There were also a number of racks displaying long swords from various cultures.

All of these pictures, model figures, constant videotaping and photographing as well as some sexist remarks created a very tense atmosphere. Of course, that is the intention. ARENA has come as far as they have largely through force and intimidation and even though they claim to be wanting a fair, democratic election, their aggressive platform and continued intimidation techniques suggest it is business as usual.

Our group, consisting of mainly internationals but many Salvadorans discussed the meeting at length afterwards. Emotions ran high as one of the members broke down into tears as she tried to release the stress from the day and express how she would never have felt safe in the ARENA office if she had not been surrounded by our group of supportive, like minded individuals. Other Salvadorans expressed similar cathartic feelings and one Chilean woman told of having to not look at the Pinochet portrait for fear of forgetting her herself and being overcome by her emotions.

I am sure the next time I see the ARENA officials, they will be using the same intimidation techniques but now that I have been into the heart of their operation, I feel I am better prepared to anticipate their actions and steel myself for them.