Welcome Karen Cucufate! -CSPG's 2026 Getty Marrow Undergraduate Intern!

¡Paz con Justicia y Libertad!

Comite de Madres y Familiares de Presos, Desaparecidos y Asesinados Politicos de El Salvador (Comadres)

Offset, circa 1975-1986

El Salvador

50333

"Hello everyone. My name is Karen Cucufate, and I am from Inglewood, California. I recently graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) with a bachelor’s degree in History. My time at UCSC provided me with the opportunity to work with archival material, which helped me develop a curiosity in engaging in historic preservation.

Luckily, I can continue this curiosity by working as the Collections and Research Intern at the Center for the Study of Political Graphics (CSPG). This opportunity was provided to me by the Getty Marrow’s Undergraduate Internship Program. Through this internship, I am gaining real hands-on experience with the preservation of materials like political posters. During my time handling these materials I have had the chance to reflect on how people involved in movement challenge systems of power, which encourages me to reconsider significant moments in history from new perspectives. 

One of the subjects I have worked on since starting at CSPG are posters from El Salvador about women’s issues. One that caught my attention in particular was a poster issued by the Comité de Madres y Familias de Presos, Desaparecidos y Asesinados Políticos de El Salvador “Monseñor Oscar Arnulfo Romero” (Comadres). The organization was established by the archbishop of El Salvador, Oscar Romero, in 1975 to make the government have an honest dialogue with the families of prisoners, missing people, and those assassinated at the time. Despite being 40-50 years old, it is interesting to see legacies of this line of activism continue in El Salvador with organizations like Movimento de Víctimas del Regimen (MOVIR).

MOVIR is led by families of people unjustly captured by the current regime of Nayib Bukele. Many of these victims were captured under Bukele’s “State of Exception” which enabled the Salvadoran government to suspend certain constitutional rights during extraordinary circumstances. It was enacted in March of 2022 to deal with the country’s serious issue of gang violence, however many Salvadoran have been unjustly placed in prisons without due process or legal rights. This has led to victims of families to demand that human rights be protected and the release of wrongly incarcerated people. Archival materials like posters do more than preserve history; they remain relevant, highlighting ongoing struggles for justice and revealing how new generations continue to challenge systems of oppression."