New Dawn Community

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Last weekend I visited this wonderful community of former refugees who have created a community called New Dawn. One member was a refugee because a member of his local credit union he had worked to education people on human rights and agriculture and that was enough to label him a guerrilla. He was tortured for days and ended up being one of the few who was released after they forced him to sign a statement claiming the he was a guerilla. After he made it home, they watched his house and he feared that anyone who visited would be considered a guerrilla, so he fled to Mexico. Another community member was a woman from an indigenous community which was destroyed under President Montt “scorched earth” policy which exterminated over 400 villages in the name of fighting communism and with the support of the USA government. She survived because she happened to be away from home on the day and fled to Mexico. The lives and overall history of Central American countries has been forever tainted through civil wars, where the USA government was always on the side of the oppressors and against democracy. The New Dawn Community was setting an example of how to work together to start over and create an example of a sustainable community.

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