Montgomery sister city agreement strengthens ties to Salvadoran city

When Neftali Granados left his home town of Guatajiagua in Morazan, El Salvador, he promised his family that he would never forget about them.

After he arrived in the Washington area nearly 30 years ago, he started to help pay for a house for his parents in El Salvador. Then he sent money home for the education of his younger siblings.

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Nine years ago, the Poolesville resident and other Guatajiagua natives in the area formed the Comite Pro-Guatajiagua, a group that has helped get potable water into the town’s most remote areas and has purchased computers and supplies for schools.

Their efforts and those of other Salvadoran immigrants in Montgomery County inspired a “sister city” agreement between Montgomery and Morazan, a region in the northeastern part of El Salvador that borders with Honduras.

The agreement, signed in July, builds on the work Salvadorans in the county have been doing for years to reach out to one of the poorest regions of El Salvador, said County Executive Isiah Leggett (D).

“It opens up opportunities for Montgomery County residents to collaborate with the residents of Morazan, to learn and to lend a hand,” Leggett said.

Morazan is Montgomery’s first sister city, but county officials say they would like four more in the next three years. The county already is planning an agreement with Beit Shemesh, Israel, about 18 miles from Jerusalem and 25 miles from Tel Aviv. Officials said they are exploring agreements with Luhansk in the Ukraine and Gondar, Ethi­o­pia, and are considering an as-yet-undecided city in China.

The program, coordinated by the nonprofit group Montgomery County Sister Cities, encourages cooperation through educational, cultural, social, economic, humanitarian and charitable exchanges.

“It helps us to better understand and work with the citizens who are here . . . making contributions in Montgomery County,” Leggett said.

El Salvador is the No. 1 country of origin of Montgomery’s immigrant population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Many Salvadorans have continued to invest in their home country through remittances and small economic-development efforts.

Nearly 53,000 Salvadorans live in Montgomery, according to the census, and approximately 2,000 are from Morazan, according to estimates from the Salvadoran Embassy in Washington.

Granados, 55, whose first job here was as a dishwasher at a Bethesda golf club, met his wife in the Washington area, and they raised three children in Montgomery. He is actively involved in county politics and in the business community as owner of Morazan Groceries, which has two stores in Gaithersburg and one in the District.

“I love this country. I feel this country adopted me and has treated me right, and I am thankful,” Granados said. “But I am not going to forget where I come from just because I have found success. I believe we can all make a difference — we can bring change to those areas where there’s need.”

Civil-war battleground

Morazan, one of El Salvador’s 14 “departamentos” — similar to a state — was a battleground during the country’s 12-year-long civil war that prompted hundreds of thousands of Salvadoran nationals to come to the United States in the 1980s.