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Isabel Ayala, a peasant leader from El Salvador, gave 27 presentations to more than 1,000 people in nine Montana communities during her visit in April. She described the impact of U.S. intervention during the civil war in her country (1980-1992), the current impact of U.S. involvement in the war in Colombia, and the on-going economic war against the poor in El Salvador. Ayala's visit was the first international tour organized by the Montana Human Rights Network, and is part of its program to develop relations with human rights organizations outside of the U.S.

During the war in El Salvador, the U.S. gave more than $5.5 billion to the Salvadoran government and military. Ayala's youngest brother was taken from their home and tortured and killed by the National Guard. She had to flee from El Salvador and spent nearly eight years in a refugee camp in Honduras. Ayala and 700 other refugees returned to El Salvador in October 1989 and began to rebuild what is now Comunidad Ignacio Ellacuria. The community is named in honor of Father Ellacuria - one of six Jesuit priests murdered by the Salvadoran military on November 16, 1989.

Ayala said that U.S. support for the Salvadoran military prolonged the war and resulted in the deaths of more than 75,000 people and the disappearance of 8,000 others. She expressed her concern that U.S. support for the Colombian military is having the same impact in the war there. In the past two years, the U.S. has given more than $1 billion to the Colombian military and police. The military and police maintain relations with the paramilitaries who are responsible for 80 percent of human rights violations.

In July 2001, Ayala and Montana Human Rights Network organizer Scott Nicholson spent two weeks accompanying human rights activists in the city of Barrancabermeja ("Barranca") in Colombia. The day that they arrived in Barranca, a human rights lawyer was captured and taken away in Morales (70 miles northwest). Two days later, the lawyer's mutilated body was found. During their second night in Barranca, paramilitaries broke into the house of Pedro Ospino and shot him to death. Ospino was a community leader who had denounced the collaboration between the police and the paramilitaries. Ayala said that the paramilitaries in Colombia use the same tactics as the death squads did in El Salvador -- torturing and killing to instill terror so that people will not speak out or organize.

Ayala also described the suffering caused by the "free market" policies being implemented in El Salvador. The distribution of electricity has been deregulated and privatized and rates have increased. The government is gradually privatizing health care and education, putting these essential services out of reach for increasing numbers of people. Thousands of public employees have recently been fired. The dollar began circulating in January 2001 and the colon, the national currency, is being withdrawn. It's difficult for people to calculate the conversion of prices between colons and dollars, and U.S. coins don't have numbers.

Ayala gave presentations in Missoula, Butte, Pablo, Polson, Great Falls, Helena, Bozeman, Hamilton, and Kalispell.