One of the last places where the indigenous of El Salvador resisted the Spanish occupiers was in Suchitoto, a large municipality northeast of San Salvador along the banks of the Lempa River. According to the town's wikipedia entry, the Potón Lenca were finally suppressed there in 1537 at the summit of Zinacatlán hill. I can not locate this hill on any map, so any help from readers in locating it would be appreciated.
1537 was also the year that Lempira was defeated in Honduras. Is it possible that the Lencas fighting in southern Honduras were coordinating with the Lencas fighting in the hills around Arcatao and Suchitoto? We know the name of Lempira but we do not know the name or names of the Lenca heroes who fell resisting the Spanish in Suchitoto. There is no monument to their leader.
The Spanish considered Suchitoto to be one of the most important places in the country, locating their first capital in La Bermuda about ten kilometers south of Suchitoto. They wanted their capital to be close to one of the major indigenous trade centers but also knew as occupiers that they could not be too close. Their first attempt in 1525 was short-lived. They faced so much resistance from the local Lenca that they retreated to Guatemala the next year. They returned in 1528 and the capital remained there for 17 years, growing into a small city with a significant indigenous population, as modern excavations have found. The site was abandoned because of a lack of fresh water and the capital was moved to the present location of San Salvador. When I visited the site in 1992 it was clear that it's main attribute was a defensive location. Fortunately for Salvadorans, the 16th Century Spanish recognized its limit.
When the Spanish began their occupation it was likely that Suchitoto was a multi-cultural city, much like its nearby predecessor from the 9th century, Cihuatán. The name Suchitoto is likely Pipil, the dominant group in western El Salvador from the 11th to the 16th century: it seems to be a nahuat name for a yellow bird, also called costototl or oriole. Both the Baltimore and Bullock's orioles migrate to Central America during the winter. But many of the nearby place names are Lenca, including Guazapa, Copapayo, Cinquera, and Aguacayo, while others are Chorti Maya, including Pepeishtenango, Ichanqueso, and Milingo.
Just as La Bermuda was a symbol of both raw power and resistance in the 16th century, it repeated that role in the 20th century. It was at the Hacienda La Bermuda that human rights leader Marienela García Vilas was killed on March 14, 1983, investigating the use of white phosphorous against civilian populations by the Salvadoran armed forces in the country's conflict. She is one of the heroines of the 20th century for progressive Latin Americans.
Now, Suchitoto is the seat of Progreso, one of the five regional organizations of CRIPDES. In the spirit of the Lenca warriors who were the last to fight the Spanish in 1537, a major protest against the privatization of water took place on July 2, 2007, in Suchitoto. There was major repression against the march and even before it began, 14 people were detained, mistreated, and charged with terrorism, in a new law forced in as part of the global wave of the so-called 'war on terrorism'. Eventually they were released. The spirit of the people and the seasonal migrations of the orioles continue forward.
[PostScript note: 'Suchitoto' does not mean oriole. More to come on the real meaning. Jan. 25, 2010]
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