This week on Voices for a Cause, the writer Julia Navarro talks with Óscar Meléndez, Head of the Historical Collection and researcher at the Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas, better known as the UCA.. With him, we approach the important role of the historical memory center on the Salvadoran Civil War that took place between 1979 and 1992.

Oscar tells us about this Archive specialized in the Salvadoran armed conflict, which has thirty thousand documentary pieces, compiled since the 1970s at the initiative of Jesuit Ignacio Ellacuría. In Oscar’s words, “these memory centers are important because they lead us to processes of reconciliation, the search for peace and political dialogue, so necessary in Salvadoran and Central American society today”.

In addition, Oscar and Julia also discuss what El Salvador should learn from its history so as not to repeat the same mistakes, emphasizing the idea that any totalitarian regime “It only leads to the strengthening of different manifestations of violence, such as the one experienced in El Salvador, when accompanied by economic and political crises.

“Finally, ‘Voices for a Cause’ is Entreculturas’ weekly podcast. The programs are broadcasted every Thursday on our Youtube channel, on Spotify, on Ivoox, and on Apple Podcast.