Óscar Arnulfo Romero

Forbidden Stories of Pulgarcito is a film produced in 1980 by the FAPU, a mass organization of the National Resistance, one of the five organizations of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, FMLN. The film was filmed in El Salvador in late 1979 and early 1980 and is a testimony of the daily struggle of the people against the military regime. The team of filmmakers coordinated by Paul Leduc collects the testimonies of the main actors in the conflict that led to a civil war that lasted 12 years, causing 75,000 dead and a million displaced, in a country of 5 million inhabitants. During those years, the United States sent a million dollars a day in aid to the Salvadoran army.

Filmed during the Salvadoran civil war, La luz que te decía documents the struggles of the country’s labor and trade union movement amid escalating political violence. Through strike footage, congress meetings, marches, and first-person testimonies, the film portrays a society marked by state repression, workers’ mobilization, and efforts to build national and international solidarity. The documentary pays particular attention to the strike of the National Water Authority workers (ANDA), featuring members of the SETA union who describe the causes of the protest, the repression they faced, and the survival strategies adopted during the conflict. Testimonies from other unions, grassroots organizations, and international labor groups broaden the film’s perspective beyond a single labor dispute.

This documentary narrates the causes and revolutionary process in Central America, primarily in Nicaragua and El Salvador. Produced in 1985, it comes from the Radio Venceremos communication system, the media outlet of the Salvadoran insurgency during the civil war (1980-1992).

The title refers to the legacy of Archbishop Oscar Romero who was assassinated in his cathedral in March 1980.

Using rare footage from his own collection as well as interviews and photographs, this documentary profiles Óscar Romero, the Salvadoran priest whose championing of the poor and downtrodden against a corrupt government made him a global hero.