El Salvador Country

El Salvador Country






Men Strumming Guitars in Parque Libertad, San Salvador, El Salvador

Photographic Print

Plummer, Anthony


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El Salvador -- A young German Molina enrolled in business administration classes near his hometown in the mountains of southern El Salvador, with hopes of starting his own business. Then the war came.

As his government fought leftist guerrillas, turning the countryside in which he was raised into a tropical battlefield, Molina fled to the United States, moved in with his brother and began working odd jobs.

As the civil war showed signs of waning, he headed home intent upon fulfilling his dream. He saved up cash working as an illegal immigrant and received enough remittances sent by his brother, a painter in Washington D.C., to build a hotel in the lush mountains.

``Most people here don't take advantage of remittances, they use them as play money to go out on the town,'' Molina said, proudly pulling out his own business card. ``But in the United States the situation has changed. The money tree in the U.S. will one day dry up, and those who didn't take advantage of what they got will be the same as before.''