For Two Remote Salvadorian Villages, the Iraq War Hits Close to Home

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AHUACHAPAN province, El Salvador -- To the naked eye, Tacuba and Guaymango resemble any other isolated, poor Central American mountain villages defined by timelessness and obscurity. Mangy dogs lounge lazily near rutted roads stirring only when a rare vehicle rumbles by, and only the roosters who crow at daybreak seem eager for another day of poverty and struggle to begin. The affairs of the outside world would appear to have little bearing here.

Yet this remote outpost near the Guatemalan border has not been isolated from George W. Bush's war on terrorism. As part of El Salvadorian president Antonio Saca's decision to join the United States-led "coalition of the willing," he has sent a force of 380 soldiers to fight in Iraq. Nearly 10 percent of them hail from the rural towns of Tacuba and Guaymango in the Ahuachapan province -- three hours by travel in rickety "chicken busses" west of the capital, San Salvador, and almost impossible to locate on the map without a microscope.

Even though Saddam Hussein never posed a threat to Central America, and the national security of the U.S. is a concern only to those Salvadorians lucky enough to survive the harrowing migratory journey to "El Norte," some 35 local boys have fought side-by-side with the American armed forces near Najaf, north of Baghdad.

The war in Iraq has given them a chance to see the outside world and people far from the dusty streets of their home villages. Many have returned with the spoils of war from the deserts of the Middle East, along with eye-popping stories.

Only one, Natividad de Jesús Méndez Ramos, didn't make it home. "Tivito" died on April 4, 2004 in Najaf when his 16-member squad ran out of ammunition while fighting Iraqi insurgents, and were forced to wield knives. His body now rests in an elaborate gravesite in the cemetery outside of Guaymango, which was given by the Salvadorian military. Tivito's mother, Herminia, received condolences from her government, but today she struggles to continue forward. She is a widow and mother of five living in a humble dwelling where sickly chickens and flea-infested dogs compete for every inch of shade and drop of water.

Six-year-old José Antonio and four-year-old Marcos sleep on a dirt floor, and the family has had no stable source of income since their older brother Tivito was killed in Iraq last year.

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