Flor Belloso is the country coordinator for AFSC in El Salvador.

Like many places around the world, El Salvador continues to see a rise in COVID-19 cases. Our country has struggled with the pandemic as we continue to face a range of pressing issues, including violence, deep poverty, and a lack of access to adequate health care.  

And in late May, Tropical Storm Amanda hit Central America, causing devastating floods and landslides. In El Salvador, the storm killed more than 20 people and destroyed more than 30,000 homes, exacerbating the public health crisis, particularly in rural and more impoverished communities.  

These remarks were made at a Black Lives Matter solidarity event in Media, PA by Sarah Willie-LeBreton, a sociologist and Black Quaker.

We are each other’s people, and we have inherited the lie that we are not each other’s people. That the people of the pastnare not our people; that the people of the future are not our people; that the people of the present who live in different skins, or have different hair, or speak different languages, who practice different religions, who vote for different parties, or have different bodies are not our people.