The violence and disruption of war drove more than a million Salvadorans to flee. Many entered the United States illegally, and tens of thousands found their way to Washington. I became obsessed with telling people's stories. Even fiction seemed pallid compared to what was really happening. His best-known work is a 1993 novel about the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero in San Salvador in 1980, a pivotal event in the country's political struggle.
Teachers say many of their American students are shocked and moved by it.
Bencastro enjoys expanding their awareness by giving classroom talks and readings. Barbara Mujica, a professor of Spanish at Georgetown who is a good friend of Bencastro's and often assigns his works, said that much contemporary writing about El Salvador has tended to be political, with a dry or polemic style. Bencastro, she said, is one of the few Salvadoran writers to give a human dimension to the conflict he chronicles. Yes, he is taking a stand, but you never feel you are reading a diatribe. Bencastro also reaches out to nonacademic audiences, including Salvadoran American teenagers who may not understand the forces that drove their parents to flee their homeland and who often feel they do not belong in either society.