Don't Be Afraid, Gringo: A Honduran Woman Speaks From The Heart: The Story of Elvia Alvarado

212 Pages·1989·5.819 MB·English

by  Elvia Alvarado

Don
TRANSLATED AND EDITED BY MEDEA BENJAMIN
“In the clearest of language, this bravest of humans, this courageous woman, Elvia Alvarado, tells the
story of her life and the life of the people of Honduras. Read it and understand the straggle against
tyranny of the poor. Read it and act."—Alice Walker_

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It's a wonderful book! Elvia Alvarado makes the connections
so many have made, and are making, in the continental fight for
survival. Medea Benjamin has done us a great service by giving
us the voice of this Honduran woman."
—Margaret Randall
Author, photographer, teacher
Here is a voice seldom heard, the voice of Latin America's
majority, those who bear the burdens of society. If we are to
understand Honduras, Central America, or, for that matter,
Latin America, we must listen attentively to this voice. It has
much to teach us. It commands the future."
—E. Bradford Burns
Professor of History, UCLA
//Elvia's story provides the reader with a perspective on
Honduras—indeed, on all of Central America—that even the
best reporting from the outside cannot offer."
—Most Reverend John R. Quinn
Archbishop of San Francisco
/y Elvia Alvarado's insights are simple and penetrating. Her
account of the life of a campesina is deeply moving, as is her
courage and achievement."
—Noam Chomsky
Professor and author
y/Elvia Alvarado speaks as a woman, a mother, and as a
peasant organizer. Her story tells of the courageous efforts of
peasant communities to obtain such basic needs as land, food,
education, and health care. It is an important contribution to the
firsthand accounts that communicate the everyday effects of
political and social forces."
—Isabel Letelier
Chilean human rights activist
/yThis peasant woman's touching and open account can help
us understand why the turmoil in Central America is not an
East-West conflict, but a metaphor for first and third world
disparities."
—Dr. Charlie Clements
Author, Witness to War

DON'T BE AFRAID, GRINGO
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DON'T BE AFRAID, GRINGO
A Honduran Woman Speaks
from the Heart
THE STORY OF ELVIA ALVARADO
Translated and Edited by Medea Benjamin
jjhl Harper Perennial
feMfl A Division o/HarperCollinsPwWisAm
This book was originally published in 1987 by The Institute for Food and
Development Policy. It is here reprinted by arrangement with The Institute for
Food and Development Policy.
don't be afraid, gringo. Copyright © 1987 by The Institute for Food and
Development Policy. Photos copyright © 1987 by Susan Meiselas/Magnum Photos,
Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this
book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written
permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and
reviews. For information address Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., 10 East 53rd
Street, New York, N.Y. 10022.
First perennial library edition published 1989.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER 88-45725
ISBN 0-06-097205-X
95 96 97 RRD 15 14 13