Rene Leon

Inmigration series 4

Our fourth and final salvadoran inmigration series is about a Harvard Student. Rene Leon belongs to the few group of salvadorans who have studied at Harvard. He came to the United States in the late 90's. He emphazises the importance of education as a key develpoment for the inmigrants living in America. Thus he implies the importance of having education in El Salvador as well.

Rene talks about how important inmigrants can be. He says: "A salvadoran inmigrant goes from the guy who works in a restaurant to a World Bank official". For all salvadorans, there is no doubt that the community living in the United States is key for the development of El Salvador. Leon thinks that the efforts of the salvadorans oversees need a better coordination to help aid the sometimes caotic reality of El Salvador.

Ana Alonso

Inmigration Series 3

Ana Alonso came to the United States 8 years ago. Her story differs from the other salvadorans in the case that she was originally born in the United States in the 1970's. She explains how her father was one of the first salvadorans who came to America.

While many salvadorans were scaping the civil war, Ana and her family decided to go back to their hometown in El Salvador. They were living in Los Angeles, which according to Ana, was not the best to place to raise children at the time.

She grew up and studied in El Salvador. However, the postwar social conditions forced her to return to America. Ana stated at the beggining of the interview that she was not the typical salvadoran who comes to America. "I came to America through the big door because I had an american passport" she says.

She, like all other inmigrants in the United States believes the importance of inmigrants for the development of the United States.

Marcos Garcia

Inmigration podcast series 2

In our second podcast series of inmigration, we introduce Marcos Garcia. He is a salvadoran who came to the United States in 1980 scaping from the civil war. He is a salvadoran community leader for the Salvadoran civil war refugees commitee (CORES).

Marcos talks about the importance of being an inmigrant in the United States. How positive it is for salvadorans to live in this country and to aid the folks back home.

Inmigrants also need to share part of our culture with the United States but at the same time preserve their own for the future generations. Radicated in Summerville, Massachusetts, Marcos explains that the salvadorans who came to America in the early 1980's had to face different hardships that the new ones do not. He emphazises on the importance on gaining political power for the scalation of salvadorans inmigrants in America.

Merlin Peña

Merlin Peña is a salvadoran who came to the United States in 1980. Her story resembles the hardhships that inmigrants go through during their adaption years to their new enviroment. Thus it shows the development of their status in the United States if they work hard to achieve succes.
Peña has been involved in community service. She ran for vice-president for El Salvador in the past elections. She is an example of a succesful woman in America. She talks about the importance of working hard and erasing the stereotype of salvadorans in the international scenario.
She is our first inmigrant story on this podcast series of “inmigrants in the United States”. The series will focus on salvadorans, one of the largest hispanic minorities in the United States. Their work is not only important for the United States but for the developemt of El Salvador.