Adrian Esquino Lisco (died September 8, 2007) was an

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by ...

an activist and spiritual chief and advisor to El Salvador's

indigenous community Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

. Lisco rose to international prominence during the

Salvadoran Civil War The Salvadoran Civil War ( es, guerra civil de El Salvador) was a twelve year period of civil war in El Salvador that was fought between the government of El Salvador and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition or ...

when he called attention to

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

atrocities committed against El Salvador's indigenous peoples, who number about 1 percent

of the country's 7 million people.

Early life

Adrian Esquino Lisco was born in Comarca San Ramon, in western

Sonsonate Department Sonsonate () is a department of El Salvador in the western part of the country. The capital is Sonsonate. The department has a population of over 463,000 and an area of 1,226 km². Created on June 12, 1824. The El Salvador National Parlia ...

. He was of indigenous

Nahua The Nahuas () are a group of the indigenous people of Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. They comprise the largest indigenous group in Mexico and second largest in El Salvador. The Mexica (Aztecs) were of Nahua ethnicity, ...

heritage. Esquino Lisco's older brother had been killed during the suppression of the

1932 Salvadoran peasant uprising ''La Matanza'' (Spanish for "The Massacre") refers to a communist- indigenous rebellion in El Salvador that took place between 22 and 25 January 1932. It was succeeded by large-scale government killings in western El Salvador, which resulted ...

(also called ''La matanza'') by the Salvadoran dictatorship. Esquino Lisco was described as a short, soft-spoken man who was less than 5 feet tall. He was a

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mig ...

and

artisan An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art, ...

by profession. Esquino Lisco's father founded the Asociación Nacional de Indigenas de El Salvador (ANIS) in 1954. The main purpose of ANIS was to preserve the culture, customs and

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

of El Salvador's indigenous groups, including the

Lenca The Lenca or Lepawiran "people of the jaguar" are from present day southwest Honduras and eastern El Salvador in Central America. They once spoke many Dialects such as Chilanga, Putun, Kotik etc. Although there were different dialects, they un ...

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a popu ...

and Nahua. The organization generally worked behind the scenes to preserve El Salvador's indigenous heritage. Many indigenous Salvadorans considered it too dangerous to speak their native languages or even wear traditional clothing ever since the massacre that ended the

. Adrian Esquino Lisco inherited the title of ''spiritual chief'' in 1976 and became head of the Asociación Nacional de Indigenas de El Salvador. He attended a number of

indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

conferences during the late 1970s throughout the world. Through Esquino Lisco's work, ANIS finally won legal recognition from the Salvadoran government of President

José Napoleón Duarte José Napoleón Duarte Fuentes (23 November 1925 – 23 February 1990) was a Salvadoran politician who served as President of El Salvador from 1 June 1984 to 1 June 1989. He was mayor of San Salvador before running for president in 1972. He lo ...

in 1980.

Salvadoran Civil War (1980 - 1992)

Adrian Esquino Lisco first appeared in international news coverage of the civil war when he began calling attention to the February 23, 1983 Salvadoran army-led attack on an indigenous farm

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...

in Las Hojas, El Salvador. Salvadoran soldiers captured 74 male villagers, tied their thumbs behind their backs, and shot them. A Salavadoran federal judge later reported just 18 dead. An El Salvadoran federal human rights commission, charged with investigating the Las Hojas massacre and other violations, did not accomplish much, reportedly because of pressure from the country's army. The

commanders Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

of the Salavadoran troops at Las Hojas were given amnesty in the 1990s as part of a broader

Central American Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. C ...

peace plan. Esquino Lisco and others blamed wealthy Salvadoran

landowners In common law systems, land tenure, from the French verb "tenir" means "to hold", is the legal regime in which land owned by an individual is possessed by someone else who is said to "hold" the land, based on an agreement between both individual ...

for the

atrocity Atrocity or ''Atrocities'' or ''Atrocious'' may refer to: * Atrocity (band), a German metal band * ''Atrocities'' (album), the fourth album by Christian Death * Mass atrocity crimes, international crimes of genocide, war crimes, and crimes again ...

at Las Hojas. Lisco accused influential landowners of using the army to destroy the Las Hojas cooperative. Landowners often considered the

farm cooperatives An agricultural cooperative, also known as a farmers' co-op, is a cooperative in which farmers pool their resources in certain areas of activity. A broad typology of agricultural cooperatives distinguishes between agricultural service cooperativ ...

to be subversive, even

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

. Attempts at farm reforms were begun in the late 1970s, but were soon halted, leading to resentment from both peasants and wealthy landowners. Esquino Lisco once had an encounter with Colonel Elmer Gonzales Araujo, one of the leading commanders at Las Hojas. Gonzales Araujo reportedly told Lisco that his soldiers were defending themselves against "armed subversives." Lisco later told ''The New York Times'' that, "I asked the army high command how

guerrillas Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tacti ...

could die with their hands tied behind their backs." Esquino Lisco went to

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

at the height of the Salvadoran Civil War to draw attention to the war's atrocities. He soon found receptive supporters in the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

, most notably Senator

Ted Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...

and U.S. Representative

Joe Moakley John Joseph Moakley (April 27, 1927 – May 28, 2001) was an American politician who served as the United States representative for Massachusetts's 9th congressional district from 1973 until his death in 2001. Moakley won the seat from incumbent ...

. His work in Washington put pressure on the Salvadoran government. According to Francisco Acosta, a Salvadoran activist based in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...

, Lisco's lobbying of Congress led to the release of more than 100

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their politics, political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, al ...

s from government custody.

Death

Adrian Esquino Lisco died of complications from

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level (hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

, including

kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as end-stage kidney disease, is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney failure is classified as eit ...

, at a hospital in El Salvador's capital, San Salvador on September 8, 2007. He was 68 years old.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Esquino Lisco, Adrian 2007 deaths Indigenous activists of the Americas Nahuatl Salvadoran human rights activists Salvadoran people of indigenous peoples descent Year of birth missing Deaths from diabetes Deaths from kidney failure

Early life

Salvadoran Civil War (1980 - 1992)

Death

See also

References