Comunidad Octavio Ortiz (COO), also known as La Canoa is a small community located on the banks of the Rio Lempa, approximately 18 km south of the Litoral Highway in the Lower Lempa region of El Salvador. The community is named for Father Octavio Ortiz, a Catholic Priest who the Salvadoran military killed for his work with the poor in San Salvador. Current residents resettled in COO on November 30, 1992 from the Department of Morazán. The majority of COO’s 80 families are former FMLN combatants or refugees from the Colomoncagua refugee camp in Honduras.

The community, which is incorporated as a cooperative, is well organized with a strong local governing body (la Directiva). COO has one school that serves grades K-6, a Child Development Center, a small community health clinic, and a community center. In addition, COO has a strong women’s committee, a youth organization, a health committee, a parent’s association, a Catholic Pastoral Team, and an ALGES chapter for the war-wounded. Though the community dissolved the agricultural cooperative, farmers continue to work together to raise livestock, process sugarcane, and cultivate vegetables. While agriculture is the primary economic activity, the community is served by five small stores, and several families are engaged in other activities such as making hammocks and piñatas.

COO has a partner-community relationship with the South Bay Sanctuary Covenant (SBSC) in Palo Alto CA. This has been a very productive exchange over the years. Voices coordinates an annual SBSC delegation to visit COO that visits with their local partners, checks on projects they’ve funded over the year, and learns about the reality in COO.

For more information about COO or the partner community relationship, contact Arlene Schaupp at schaupp@aol.com, or Thomas R. Hughes at voices@votb.org or (202) 529-2912.