Wall Honors Salvadoran Victims

Inspired by the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, a wall of 10,000 names has been unveiled in Exposition Park as a tribute to the men, women and children who have lost their lives in El Salvador’s civil war.

Several hundred Salvadoran refugees and peace activists, along with a group of Vietnam veterans, built the wall in March with the support of Los Angeles City Councilman Robert Farrell.

The wall will remain on a lawn next to the Museum of Natural History until September. The refugees said they hope to establish the wall as a permanent memorial at a still undetermined site in the Pico-Union district, the heart of Southern California’s 350,000-strong Salvadoran community.

Susan Kandel of El Rescate, a support agency for Central American refugees, said the wall also has a political motive--to stop U.S. military aid to the Salvadoran government and to push for a negotiated settlement of the conflict.