They carry trauma from the civil wars of the 1980s but are thriving here. Their story...
CRECEN executive director Teodoro Aguiluz, center, rallies outside the Harris County Democratic Party offices in Houston, Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021. The staff inside refused to talk and take a letter the activists brought with them demanding a path for citizenship.David Benítez and his daughter Allison rehearse their quinceañera waltz to the soundtrack of the heartthrob Chayanne singing “Tiempo de Vals.
Over nearly four decades, I’ve explored this paradox — the trauma that Central Americans carry and how we can still thrive — in my writing and performance. Houston tells us this story with its own Central American community, how it was formed and how the city at large has responded to it. Exploring the arc of this story can guide us towards responding to the latest influx of migrants and refugees as they begin to settle into their new lives here.
Houston’s version of Little Central America appears to be on the verge of catapulting to the next level of placemaking. The first wave of immigrants and refugees arrived rapidly. The Central American population of Harris County expanded from 5,400 in 1980 to nearly 50,000 by the end of that decade. The only way to survive trauma and upheaval of that scale is to seek solace — and safety — in numbers. Thus, Little Central America: communities forged in shared vulnerability and agency along with solidarity from allies.
Just as the Benítez family is emerging from El Salvador’s painful memory and reaching for the American mainstream, the community writ large is increasingly intersecting with the greater cultural life of Houston. The Central American Collective, an arts agency run completely by women, has produced events with partners such as the Holocaust Museum and the Fine Arts Museum.
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