Spending last week in El Salvador will help Montgomery County Councilman George Leventhal, D-at large, better understand his constituents, he said Wednesday.
Officials who participated in the trip — like Leventhal, County Executive Ike Leggett, Maryland Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez and former U.S. Congresswoman Connie Morella — emphasized the importance of connecting with the county’s more than 50,000 Salvadoran residents by understanding their roots.
“The United States has much to atone for,” said Leventhal, referring to the United States’ involvement in the Salvador Civil War that began in the late 1970s. “It’s important that we understand that history.”
Salvadoran immigrants began arriving in Montgomery County in the 1970s, said Gutierrez, and the population has only grown since then. She said “every Montgomery County person” should go to Morazan, the area where the delegation went last week, to see for themselves what kind of life Salvadorans in Montgomery County had before.
The purpose of the trip was to establish a “Sister City” relationship with Morazan. All members of the nearly 70-person delegation paid their own way.
