Segundo Montes, Morazán (also called Comunidad Segundo Montes or Ciudad Segundo Montes) is a community in

Morazán Department Morazán () is a department of El Salvador. Located in the northeast part of the country, its capital is San Francisco Gotera. It covers a total surface area of 1,447 km² and has a population of more than 199,500. History Gotera was m ...

, El Salvador, formed in 1990Dennis P. DeMaio and Hank Brusselback. "Amid war, Salvadoran village rises anew," ''Rocky Mountain News'' (Colorado), September 5, 1990, page 45. by repatriated refugees who had fled the country's

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. The community was named in memory of

Segundo Montes Segundo Montes (May 15, 1933 in Valladolid, Spain – November 16, 1989 in San Salvador, El Salvador) was a scholar, philosopher, educator, sociologist and Jesuit priest. He was one of the victims of the 1989 murders of Jesuits in El Salvador. ...

, a Jesuit priest and scholar at the

Universidad Centroamericana "José Simeón Cañas" José Simeón Cañas Central American University ( es, Universidad Centroamericana "José Simeón Cañas"), also known as UCA El Salvador, is a private university with nonprofit purposes in San Salvador, El Salvador, run by the Society of Je ...

who was murdered by right-wing forces in November 1989 together with five other priests, their housekeeper, and her daughter. Segundo-montes-

When the settlement was first proposed, the national government opposed the return of the refugees, ceding their right to return only after the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

intervened on their behalf.Arthur Golden. "Returned refugees know little peace in desolate town," ''The San Diego Union'' (CA), December 9, 1990, page 1A. Among those who made their home in Segundo Montes was Rufina Amaya, known as the lone survivor of the December, 1981, El Mozote massacre.Timothy Gilfoil. "Salvadoran refugees return home," ''Sunday Republican'' (Springfield, MA), April 28, 1991, page A1. In 1991, Ciudad Segundo Montes became a

sister city A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

,Darrell Holland. "Helping a troubled sister: Cleveland extends hand to Salvadoran City," ''The Plain Dealer'' (Cleveland, OH), August 3, 1991, page 7D.Sam Fullwood III. "Cleveland’s family is worldwide," ''The Plain Dealer'' (Cleveland, OH), July 22, 2004, page B1. home of Dorothy Kazel and

Jean Donovan Jean Marie Donovan (April 10, 1953 – December 2, 1980) was an American lay missionary who was beaten, raped, and murdered along with three fellow missionaries—Ita Ford, Maura Clarke and Dorothy Kazel—by members of the military of El Sal ...

, two American churchwomen raped and murdered by members of the Salvadoran National Guard in 1980.William F. Miller. "Salvadoran glad to see war is over," ''The Plain Dealer'' (Cleveland, OH), January 8, 1992, page 1B. The sister-city relationship was a joint project among Central American Network, the Salvadoran Association of Ohio, the Commission on Catholic Community Action and the Community Relations Board of the City of Cleveland.William F. Miller. "Toothbrushes en route to Salvadorans," ''The Plain Dealer'' (Cleveland, OH), September 11, 1992, page 5B. The community's beginnings in a Honduran refugee camp and their return to their homeland were the subject of a 1992 documentary by

WHYY-TV WHYY-TV (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Wilmington, Delaware, United States, serving as the primary PBS member station for the Philadelphia area. It is owned by WHYY, Inc., alongside NPR member station WHYY-FM 90.9. WHYY-TV a ...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. The film was described by ''Philadelphia Inquirer'' critic Jonathan Storm as "hopeful," portraying how the town's founders increased local

literacy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, hum ...

rates "from next to nothing to 85 percent in a nine-year period" and showing the town's establishment while the war still was being waged.Jonathan Storm. "WHYY films shed light on Latin lands," ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' (PA), September 22, 1992, page E1.

Notes

Populated places in El Salvador {{ElSalvador-geo-stub

See also

Notes