Originally Published in Madras Courier
Editorial Note
The resurgence of hard power in geopolitical dynamics across the world is unmistakable.
On the morning of 24 March 1980, Archbishop Oscar Romero was shot through the heart while elevating the chalice during Mass in a small chapel in San Salvador. He had been vociferous for years, documenting the atrocities of El Salvador’s US-backed military junta — the disappearances, murders of clergy, the torture, the death squads. His final sermon, delivered on the eve of his assassination, became a final plea for conscience, directly addressing the American-trained soldiers, “In the name of God…I beg you; I command you: stop the repression.”