My militaria collector friend in El Salvador sent me a "Red" hat and t-shirt (pic)...

[canoeguy]

My militaria collector friend in El Salvador sent me a "Red" hat and t-shirt (pic)...

I have been trading militaria with a friend in El Salvador who I met through church/mission trip contacts. He is a young man, a hard worker (construction) who gets to do a bit of shooting here and there through military and police contacts. Being a young man in a poor country means he doesn't have a lot of money to spend on militaria (which he loves), so even a small trinket like a unit patch means a lot to him.

I've been feeding him some hats and patches, and he sends me similar stuff in return. Recently, he sent me some interesting "FMLN" gear, a hat and t-shirt...

The FMLN was the "Left Wing" armed group that fought the government of El Salvador during their Civil War. We, the United States, supported and armed the government of El Salvador during that conflict, so FMLN were bad guys to us. They were armed and supported by many leftist (Communist) countries like Cuba, Vietnam, etc. A lot of the M-16's we left in Vietnam wound up in FMLN hands in El Salvador.

One mans "Rebel" is another mans freedom fighter, today the FMLN is a legitimate political party that has been elected to power through free elections, and most in El Salvador feel that is a good thing.

So, here's a picture of the hat and t-shirt, I think I'll wear it to my next "Tea Party" meeting:

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I think the slogan on the t-shirt reads "Unity, Solidarity as we strive for Socialism"....

 

[arjay]

Pics or it didn't happen [emoji1]

 

[Grog]

One mans "Rebel" is another mans freedom fighter

That means so much now, in so many different ways/places.

OBL = our friend when he was fighting Ivan

OBL = our enemy when he goes after us on 9/11

 

[JayCeeNC]

I've got two FMLN red bandana/neckerchiefs I picked up in El Sal in 1993. Neat stuff!

 

[zzzippper]

Were they made in China?

 

[Smith357]

He should have sent you a machete, some of the finest machetes come from El Salvador.

 

[canoeguy]

Machete:

Got one! Wife brought me back a dandy machete and sheath on her first trip to El Salvador in 2002, it stays sharp and is lethal on brush....

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I have painted it orange so I can see it when I lay it down in the shady brush.

The owner of a small hardware store in Ahuachapon, ES gave everyone in my wife's church mission team a machete in appreciation of their work. The sheath she got from the local market. At the time, 2002, every adult male in town carried a machete openly for self defense. This practice has eased in the last few years, maybe folks are feeling safer....

Maybe not....

Guns can be purchased and carried by citizens of El Salvador, but they are crazy expensive, like $2000 for a new S&W snubby Airweight, what we would pay $400 for. In a country where the average school teacher or pastor earns only $300 a month, that kind of money for a firearm is out of reach.