María Cristina Gómez

A copy of the 'Maria Gómez Cross' showing scenes from her life

María Cristina Gómez (c.1938 - 5 April, 1989) was a Baptist primary school teacher and community leader in El Salvador who was abducted and murdered on April 5, 1989.

Christian mission

A member of Emmanuel Baptist church in San Salvador, Gómez was a national leader both of Baptist women and in the teachers' union.^[1] She was a founder of the National Coordination of Salvadoran Women (known by its Spanish-language initials CONAMUS), founded in 1986. Since then, CONAMUS has addressed the issues which directly affect poor women in El Salvador, including domestic violence, rape, economic survival, lack of political participation, and social inequality. In 1989, CONAMUS opened a clinic to respond to women who were victims of domestic violence and rape. In her spare time, Gómez went out into the rural villages and taught the peasant women to read so that they in turn could teach their children, principally in order to be able to read health and farming leaflets and improve the quality of their lives. However, some people in authority became concerned that the previously illiterate peasants would learn more about their rights, and would begin to demand them.^[2]

Abduction and murder

According to witnesses, on April 5, 1989, as Gómez was returning from the John F. Kennedy School in Ilopango, El Salvador, heavily-armed men dressed in civilian clothing forced her into a car. An hour later, she was pushed alive from the car in front of hundreds of witnesses near a cemetery in Antiguo Cuscatlan, on the outskirts of San Salvador. Four shots were fired at her and she died immediately.

On examination, her body showed signs of torture and burns, most likely caused by chemicals such as acid. The murdered teacher had been taken from an area that was the operational base for the Salvadoran Air Force. General Juan Rafael Bustillo, the then-head of the Salvadoran Air Force, has been implicated in the murder.^[3] The National Association of Salvadoran Educators (ANDES) has stated that General Bustillo had publicly threatened Gómez on previous occasions.^[4][5]

ANDES ordered a two-day shutdown of all educational activities to protest Gómez's murder, and demanded that the country's chief prosecutor begin proceedings to bring those responsible to justice. Leaders of the National Union of Salvadoran Workers (UNTS) also said they believed Bustillo had ordered the killing.

An organization known as the Movement for Bread, Work, Land and Liberty (MPTL) staged a protest, calling on the people to resist the new nation-wide wave of repression that marked the weeks following the Nationalist Republican Alliance's (ARENA) I electoral victory. The protesters ended their march at the vigil that was held for the murdered schoolteacher.

In its defense, the Salvadoran government denied any involvement, stating instead that the apparent intent behind Gómez' abduction and murder was primarily to discredit the Air Force (which is in charge of the area in which the murder occurred). Government officials added that Gómez had never been officially arrested by any government agency, and that she had never even been questioned by the authorities.^[6]

Legacy

After her death, her church commissioned a local artist to paint a wooden cross with scenes from Gómez's life, portraying her work among the poor women of El Salvador. Images of this cross have become internationally recognized, as they are used by churches and schools around the world to tell the story of Gómez's life and death.

Gómez was married to Salvador Amaya and had several grown children.

References

1. ^ Pixley, Jorge 'Baptists and liberation theology: Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean'. From: Baptist History and Heritage January 1, 2000
2. ^ Isabel Ramírez, 'Opening a Door to Women in El Salvador' EPICA website
3. ^ [1] Notorious Salvadoran School of the Americas Graduates
4. ^ Radio Venceremos (RV), the Official Voice of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front from El Salvador Weekly Report 04-03-89 to 04-10-1989
5. ^ International Socialist Review Issue 9, Fall 1999
6. ^ Complaints against the Government of El Salvador presented by the European Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), etc, Report No:268 Case(s) No(s):1494

External links

• Gómez on the Official Voice of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front from El Salvador
• Gómez on The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions website
• Gómez in the New York Times.
• Gómez on the School of the Americas website
• Gómez on the EPICA website
• Gómez in Return to Babel: Global Perspectives on the Bible.
• International Socialist Review Issue 9, Fall 1999

Persondata
Name	Gomez, Maria Cristina
Alternative names	Maria Christina Gomez
Short description
Date of birth	1938
Place of birth
Date of death	1989
Place of death