Figure 1.--The FMLN insurgeny was primarily waged in the countryside until the final yeas of the War. The resulting Government pacification effort drove people from the conflict creating large numbers of refugees. The press caption for this photograph read, "Watching and Waiting: Thousads of Salvadorans, many of them children, have been driven from their homes by the war in El Salvadior. This young boy lives with 500 other refugees in an abandoned sugar mill on the edge of the guerrilla territory. Soldiers guard the makeshift camp, which has been attacked by guerrilla forces. Southern Baptist hunger and relief funds provide food and medicine for many refugees." The photo was mailed September 26, 1984 by Baptist missionaries. Photographer: Joanna Pinneo.

The Civil War in El Salvador was part of the Cold War, but had long-simmering domestic roots. A left-wing military junta seized control of the government (1960). A more moderate military government replaced it (1961). An elected president, Julio Adalberto Rivera, was elected (1962). The country's tenous democratic institutions were unable to moderate the conflict between consrvatives and the military on one side and Cuban influenced left-wing insurgents on the other side (1970s). Cuba and El Salvador were very different. Cuba had been one of the mot prosperous Latin American countries before Castro whie El Salvador was one of the poorest. There is a tendency throughout Latin America to glorify the Cuban Revolutiion despite its abject failure. Salvadoran society was marred by gross inequality. A small, wealthy elite dominated the government and owned much of the land. Most of the population lived in poverty. Marxists guerrillas commited to the same dead-end Communist ideology that cripples Cuba launced an insurection. The success of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua (1979) meant that the guerillas had access to arms and other support. The Civil War thus swung into a particuilarly deadly stage during the 1980s. The upswing in violence followed the Sandanista takeover in Nicaragua (1979). With a Communist Government installed in Managua, the Cubans could funnel aid to the Communists in El Salvador. An estimsted 75,000-100,000 Salvadorans were killed in the fighting and attacks by both sides on civilians. Damage to the economy my have reached $2 billion. The two sides after extended negotiations finally signed peace accords ending the war (1992). As part of the agreement the military was brought under civilian control. The guerillas laid down their arms and were allowed to form a legal political party and participate in elections.

Background

FMLN-FDR partisans claim that the Salvadoran Civil War had its origins Anastasio Aquino's rebellion (1833). Anastasio Mártir Aquino (1792-1833) was a Salvadoran indigenous (Native American) leader who headed the Insurrection of the Nonualcos--a campesino uprising in what is now El Salvador. At the the time it belonged to the Federal Republic of Central America. More recently they pointed to the rural campesino insurrection led by Agustín Farabundo Martí and other Communist organizers (1932). The allusions to the Aquino rebellion is rather far fetched, but there were certainly relations to the 1932 peasant inserection. The Great Depression affected Salvadoran exports, primaroly coffee. Unemployment increased causing great suffering in the countryside among landless peasntgs. The insuection occurred in western El Salvador and was quickly and brutally supressed by the Salvadoran Army (January 1932). Maximiliano Hernández Martínez ordered that the rebels be treated harshly, even those who were meerly protesting. The well-armed Salvadoran Army executed some 10,000-40,000 people, many of whom were imdigenous people, in what became known as the Mantanza -- The Slaughter. [Payés] La Mantanza was an aberration in its scale, but certainly showed the intensity of the simmering violence in Salvadoran society. This violence began to surface again with the Cuban Revolution (1960) and even more importantly the Sandinisa victory in neighboring Nicaragua (1979). This gave the FMLN access to modern weapons.

Military Juntas (1960)

A left-wing military junta seized control of the government (1960). A more moderate military government replaced it (1961).

Presidental Election (1962)

An elected president, Julio Adalberto Rivera, was elected (1962).

Presidential Election (1972)

moderate José Napoleón Duarte Fuentes, one of the founders of the Christian Democratic Party (Partido Demócrata Cristiano--PDC), won the 1972 presidential election. TheSalvadorn military, however, refused to accept his election. Historians tend to see the military's refusal as the first in aseries of events tht led to the Civil War. There is no doubt that the country had very serious social and economic probklems which the political system wa not addressing. The militry's action convinced mny moderates that there s no hope of addressing these problems through the country's existing political system. This weakened support from the emerging middle class for the existing system. This strengthened the position of the left-wing parties on the political fringe who advocated a Cuba-style revolutuion. As a result, a diverse coalition began to form supporting violent revolution to overthrow the military government. The growing coalition included students, disillusioned leftist politicians, 'liberationist' Roman Catholic clergy, and laymen, campesinos, and extremist groups with ties to Cuba. The extremists saw themselves as the vanguard of a revolution.

Failure of Democracy

The country's tenous democratic institutions were unable to moderate the conflict between consrvatives and the military on one side and Cuban influenced left-wing insurgents on the other side (1970s). Cuba and El Salvador were very different. Cuba had been one of the mot prosperous Latin American countries before Castro whie El Salvador was one of the poorest. There is a tendency throughout Latin America to glorify the Cuban Revolutiion despite its abject failure. Salvadoran society was marred by gross inequality. A small, wealthy elite dominated the government and owned much of the land. Most of the population lived in poverty. Marxists guerrillas commited to the same dead end Communist ideology that cripples Cuba launced an insurection.

Sandinistas (1979)

The success of the Sandistias in Nicaragua (1979) meant that the Salvadorian guerillas now had access to Cuban-supplied arms and other support.

Farabundo Marti Liberation Front -- FMLN (1980)

The Farabundo Marti Liberation Front (FMLN) was name after Farabundo Marti who led a peasant rebellion in 1932. The uprising was connected with the Izalco Volcano, classic stratovolcano, mening perfect conical volcano arising out of the earth, in this case at the side of the Santa Ana Volcano. It first erupted (1770) and has been almost continuously cr=tive since through 1958. There was a particularly severe eruption (1926), burying the village of Matazano. The lava and devris flow covered highly arable land on the southern slope of the Santa Ana volcano which was used for the production of coffee, cacao and sugar cane. This meant that the affected compesinos lost their land and livlihood. Many more compesinos by the Great recession which caused the value of export crops to fall. Marti led compesions and workers in an uprising seeking to radically change Salvadoran society. The Salvadoran Army brutally supressed the rising killing some er 30,000 workers and compesions. The FMLN was formed with Cuban backing, uniting when four left wing parties (the Popular Liberation Forces -- FPL, the Revolutionary Army of the People --ERP, the National Resistance -- RN, and the Revolutionary Party of Central America Workers -- PRTC) in an effort to overthrow the Salvadoran government by force. Although the Salvadoran Civil War officially began in 1980 following the formation of the FMLN, some of the groups involved had been waging a low-level insurgency against the government throughout the 1970s. The Communist Party of El Salvador (PC) and to a lesser extent the FPL, were by far the most iimportant of the different factions.

Reformist Military Coup (1979)

The civil-military Junta Revolucionaria de Gobierno (Revolutionary Government Junta — JRG) deposed President General Carlos Humberto Romero (Octobr 15, 1979). The reformist military coup was an effort by some of the more progressive elements in the miitary to provide moderate reform as an alternative to Communist Revolution as had occurred in Cuba and now Nicaragua. They wanted to project a moderate, progressive image tht could defuse the growing descent and Cuban military support for the revolutionary extremists through Nicaragua. The JRG was composed of Col. Adolfo Arnaldo Majano Ramo, Col. Jaime Abdul Gutiérrez Avendaño, Guillermo Ungo, Mario Antonio Andino, Román Mayorga Quirós. They governed El Salvador (1979-82). The JRG Government carried out some land reform (Decree No. 43, 6-XII-1979). This restricted landholdings to a hundred-hectare maximum. Here the JRG was limited by the fact that there was not nearly enough land for the campesinos that wanted land. Of course maximum landholdings could have been made even smaller, but smaller units were not economiclly viable beyond providing basic subsistence meaning perpetual poverty. Few of the campesinos involved were aware that in Communist countries such as Cuba, land was seized by the Government and farmed through collectives rather han given to the peasantry. The JRG also nationalised the banking, coffee, and sugar industries. Notice the Socialist oeientation even in the opposition to the Communists. (We will see this same dynamic repeated in Venezuela.) The JRG also moved to outlaw the paramilitary private death squad ORDEN. José Napoleón Duarte, the Christian Democratic Party (PDC) leader, joined the JRG as provisional-head-of-government (1980) until the scheduled March 1982 elections. This added some political credibility. The JRG was not, however, unified on the policies to pursue. They were unsure as to how to respond to the FMLN's armed insurrection. There was also the military's institutional resistance to the JRG's reforms. Many saw the JRG as FMLN sympathizers. U.S. Ambassador Robert E. White described his view of the developing situation. "The major, immediate threat to the existence of this government is the right-wing violence. In the city of San Salvador, the hired thugs of the extreme-right kill moderate-left leaders, some of them well-trained Cuban and Nicaraguan terrorists, and blow up government buildings. In the countryside, elements of the security forces torture and kill the campesinos, shoot up their houses and burn their crops. At least two hundred refugees from the countryside arrive daily in the capital city. This campaign of terror is radicalizing the rural areas, just as surely as Somoza's National Guard did in Nicaragua, also backed by the USA Government. Unfortunately, the command structure of the army and the security forces either tolerates or encourages this activity. These senior officers believe, or pretend to believe, that they are eliminating the guerrillas." [U.S. Department of State, p. 3.] The FMLN receiving Cuban arms was able to escalate attacks. Government forces (National Guard, National Police and Treasury Police) responded in kind. The Government retailated by both attacking the guerrillas as well as civilian sympathizers. The result was a greatly increased body count. Government foirces killed nearly 12,000 people (1980). [Socorro Jurídico Cristiano, pp. 1-2, 222.] Reltively few appear to have been FMLN guerrila fighters, but mostly unarmed campesinos, peasants, trade unionists, teachers, students, journalists, human rights advocates, priests, and virtually anyone working with the rural peasantry.

Assassination of Archbishop Romero (1980)

Archbishop Óscar Romero was the most respected and best known Salvadorian figure at the time. He played a major role in trying t defuse the escalating tensions violence during the 1970s. Archbishop Romero published an open letter to President Carter in which he pleaded with the Oresudent to cut off military aid to the Salvadoran military. "While it is clear that our Church has been the victim of persecution. It is not that just any Priest or just any institution has been persecuted. It is that segment of the Church which is on the side of the poor and has come out in their defense that has been persecuted and attacked. Here we once again encounter the key to understanding the persecution of the Church: the poor. It is again the poor who permit us to understand what has happened. That is why the Church has come to understand what persecution of the poor is. The persecution comes about because of the Church's defense of the poor, for assuming the destiny of the poor." [Romero] A right-wing death squad assasinated the Archbishop while he was giving mass (March 24, 1980). It was only a month after his letter top President Carter. The previous day he called upon Salvadoran ssecurity forces not to follow orders of their commanders to kill Salvadoran civilians, especially camesions in the couuntryside. The JRG had just announced Phase I of its agrarian reforma. At his funeral a week later, snipers firing from the National Palace and/or posted around periphery of the Gerardo Barrios Plaza in front of the National Cathedral shot into themourners. There we 42 people who \died, eitgher shot or trampeled to death. Soon after former Army Major Roberto D'Aubuisson was arrested with a group of civilians and soldiers at a farm outside San Salvador (May 7, 1980). The Goverment raiders found documents connecting D'Aubuisson and the civilians with the asaination. They were also plotting a coup d’état against the JRG. Right-wing threats and institutional pressure from the miitary forced the JRG to release Aubuisson. A 1993 U.N. investigation aubsequentkly found that Maj. D'Aubuisson ordered the assassinated. [UN Truth Commission]

Civil War (1980-92)

The result was a vicious civil war (1980-92). The left-wing terrorist and right-wing paramilitary violence escalated (early-1980s). This further restricted the range of political action and possibiity for compromise. The guerrilla claims that they were seeking address socioeconomic inequities in Salvadoran societ brought them domestic recruits and foreign support. The nature and accurate description of the El Salvador conflict varies. We use the term civil war. Others prefer civil conflict or insurgency. The conflict was waged on several fronts. Militarily a battle-hardened and politically committed corps of FMLN guerrillas defied the Government's best efforts to eliminate them militarily. A lparallel effiort continued to win the 'hearts and minds' of the rural population. There was also an effort to win the international image. There was also a political front with the electoral process and efforts to reform the judicary. The War would last more than a decade. An estimated 75,000 people died in the fighting and attacks by both sides on civilians. Damage to the economy may have reached $2 billion.

American Involvement

The Reformist Military Coup (1979) did not prevent the Civil War which what was hoped. The militarry'action altered the dynamic of Salvadoran events which was moving oward a Communist take over. The Coup reintroducing Duarte's PDC into the political arena. And it provided an entrée for the United States government to play a major role in the unfolding events. President Carter if he had been reelected in 1980 may have moved strongy against the Government which would have ensured a Communist cvictory. (Notice how Carter helped legitimize HUgo Chavez in Venezuela.) President Reagan as presodent strongly supported the Government. He helped fund and fashion a political and military response to the the FMLN. Without United States support, it is likely that the FMLN would have seized power like the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. With American support and active involvement, the Salvadoran armed forces expanded both their force levels and acquire modern weaponry. This forced the FMLN to adopt the classic guerrilla tactics of hit-and-run attack, sabotage, intimidation, propaganda, and rural mobilization.

Peace Accord (1992)

The FMLN briefly captured parts of San Salvador city in their major offensive (November 1989). They paid an enirmous prize in coming out in the open. And they failed to seize power. Negotiations resumed (April 1991). A truce was concluded endingthe fighting. The two warring sides after extended negotiations finally signed peace accords ending the war--the Chapultepec Peace Accords (January 1992). As part of the agreement the military was brought under civilian control and aivilian police fiorce established. The guerillas laid down their arms and were allowed to form a legal political party and participate in elections. An amnesty law was approved (1993).

Comments

Sources

Payés, Txanba. "El Salvador. La insurrección de un pueblo oprimido y el etnocidio encubierto" (January 2007).

Romero, Óscar. Quoted in "A Year of Reckoning: El Salvador a Decade After the Assassination of Archbishop Romero" Human Rights Watch, 1990.

Socorro Jurídico Cristiano (Stanley 1996).

UN Truth Commission. Report on El Salvador (April 1, 1993).

US Department of State, "Preliminary assessment of situation in El Salvador," (March 19, 1980).

Created: 1:15 PM 9/19/2012
Last updated: 9:03 AM 11/1/2017