Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador was a great hero of the struggles for liberation in Latin America during that region's "long dark night," a period lasting from the 1960s through the 1980s. He was an archbishop very briefly, a mere three years, 1977-1980, and he was an unlikely hero. The upper hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church in Latin America was firmly allied with the economic and political elite. But Archbishop Romero emerged as the "voice of the oppressed" in El Salvador after he reached the pinnacle of that hierarchy. His remarkable transformation into a defender of the poor and oppressed when he had reached such a privileged professional and institutional status marks him as one of the most extraordinary figures in history. His assassination elevated him to the level of martyr for almost all of the peasants and workers who fought in desperation to free themselves from the oppressive conditions they faced in El Salvador. His martyrdom is honored throughout many......
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