Two Sons of Teosinte

Blanca Alas and Two Sons of Teosinte

Blanca Alas lives with her husband Abel and her mother in the tiny community of Teosinte, El Salvador.  Blanca has five children: three in El Salvador, one in Indiana, and another in Houston.  The two in the States are among the eleven million undocumented migrants who fled their countries to escape poverty, violence and oppression in search of work and a better life in the US.

I was visiting with Blanca

the very week that the community of Teosinte buried one of their own sons.  On March 5, 2013, Jorge Vladimir Tobar, a 29 year old member of the National Police, was killed in the line of duty in a shootout with several gangs in the San Salvador area.  His death was a tragic blow to all of Teosinte.

Jorge was born on May 13, 1983 in the northern hills of El Salvador.  During those early years of the 1980s there was so much violence and so many military actions in the Chalatenango area that the people had fled their homes, hiding in the hills to avoid detection by the military.  It was there that Jorge was born.

Jorge's parents struggled to care for their newborn along with their other young children while on the run.  Other community and family members, especially grandma, helped out.

Their fears grew as they heard the sounds of helicopter gun ships overhead, and the screams and cries of their neighbors.  Some of those in hiding, including several family members, decided to abandon their country for the safety of a refugee camp in Honduras.  

Preferring to stay near their village of San Jose Las Flores, Jorge's father asked his mother to take the infant Jorge with her.  Several days later Jorge and his grandmother managed to make their way to the Mesa Grande refugee camp in Honduras.  Jorge continued to build a strong maternal bond with his grandmother.

In 1988, when thousands left Mesa Grande to resettle in their own country, five year old Jorge was brought by his grandmother to her home in Teosinte.  Sometime later, when Jorge's parents came to Teosinte to take their son back home to San Jose Las Flores, Jorge refused to go along, preferring to stay with his grandmother.  From that day on Jorge became the "adopted" son of Estebana Arce, his grandmother, who would care for Jorge in Teosinte until his death on March 5, 2013.

Laying flowers at the tomb of Jorge Vladimir Tobar Hernandez in Teosinte, El Salvador

Blanca's youngest son lives outside of Teosinte in a nearby village.  Recently, he mentioned to his mother that he too wanted to join the National Police.

I asked Blanca how she felt about her son wanting to join the National Police.  With tears welling up in her eyes Blanca said that she didn't want him to join.  She related how her father, her first husband, and all five of her brothers were killed in the war.

Crying, Blanca said "I've lost so many of my family; I don't want to bury my son like we just buried Jorge."