ABSTRACT
The pale blue cotton dress with the ruffled collar made the slight psychology professor seem even more like a young girl, as did the barely audible whisper in which she spoke. Appearances are deceiving however, for the shy, retiring Veronica Cáceres has already experienced enough action, danger, and difficult choices to last a lifetime. Involved in clandestine activity for the Frente in the mid 1970’s, she suffered capture and torture by the guardia, and was a blacklisted teacher under Somoza. Professor Cáceres is quietly proud of her university education, the culmination of a lifelong dream, and something previously unheard offor a girl from the remote village of Somoto on the Honduran border.
In her spartan office at UNAN, the national university, Veronica Caceres describes softly her cloistered upbringing, the once-hostile incomprehension of her domineering Somocista father, her dedication to the Frente and to her young daughter, the increasing difficulty of life in the city, and her strong desire to return to the countryside.
Professor Cáceres’ s story highlights not only the deteriorating quality of life in the capital city, but also what she terms the “dialectical relationship” between life as a committed Frente member and life as a devoted mother.
