Football War - Consequences

Consequences

In the end, both sides of the Football War suffered extensive casualties. Some 300,000 Salvadorans were displaced due to the battle. Many had been forcibly exiled or had fled from war-torn Honduras, only to enter an El Salvador in which the government was not welcoming. Most of these refugees were forced to provide for themselves with very little assistance. Over the next few years, more Salvadorans returned to their native land, where they were surrounded by overpopulation and extreme poverty.

El Salvador suffered about 900 troops and civilians killed during the war. This wasn't the first time that the military of El Salvador saw combat; in 1811 the Independence Movement "The First Shout of Independence" was the first of a series of revolts in Central America in El Salvador against Spanish colonialism and dependency on the Captaincy General of Guatemala. Later El Salvador also fought against Guatemala three times: once in 1822, again in 1851, and finally in 1885. El Salvador won all three wars.

Honduras lost 100 combat troops, and over 2,000 civilians were killed during the four days, since most of the war was fought on Honduran soil. Thousands more had been ultimately made homeless. Trade between Honduras and El Salvador had been greatly disrupted, and the international border had been officially closed. This damaged the economies of these nations tremendously and threatened the Central American Common Market (CACM).

• The war led to a 22-year suspension of the Central American Common Market, a regional integration project that had been set up by the United States largely as a means of counteracting the effects of the Cuban Revolution.
• The political power of the military in both countries was reinforced. In the Salvadoran legislative elections that followed, candidates of the governing National Conciliation Party (Partido de Conciliación Nacional, PCN), were largely drawn from the ranks of the military. Having apologized for their role in the conflict, they proved very successful in elections both at the national and local levels. However, these elections were considered fraudulent, especially on the part of the military dictatorship that virtually ruled El Salvador. In contrast to the gradual democratisation process of the 1960s, the military establishment in El Salvador would return to institutionalised fraud. The 1972 presidential election was blatantly manipulated to deny Jose Napoleon Duarte a certain victory.
• The social situation in El Salvador worsened, as the government proved unable to satisfy the economic needs of its citizens deported from Honduras. The resulting social unrest was one of the causes of the El Salvador Civil War, which followed 10 years later.