Salvadoran Civil War - Background

Background

El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America. As in many nations of Latin America, the history of El Salvador was characterized by marked socioeconomic inequality. In the late 19th century, coffee became a major cash crop for El Salvador, bringing in approximately 95% of the country's income, which was confined within only 2% of the population. Thus the population was sharply divided between a small powerful elite and an impoverished majority. Extreme tensions between the classes grew through the 1920s, which were only compounded by a drop in coffee prices following the stock-market crash of 1929. In 1932, Augustin Farabundo Marti formed the Central American Socialist Party and led peasants and indigenous people against the government. The government brutally suppressed the uprising in what became known as the 1932 Salvadoran peasant massacre or simply "La Matanza" (the Massacre). In suppressing the uprising, the military murdered between 10,000 and 40,000 Indians. Marti was eventually arrested and put to death, and the military subsequently assumed power over the country. From the 1932 to the 1970s, a succession of military governments employed political repression and limited reform to maintain power, despite the trappings of democracy. The National Conciliation Party was in power from the early 1960s until 1979. The impact of "La Matanza" lasted for decades, as the event served to engender and reinforce feelings of strong distrust and animosity towards the government, the military and the wealthy land elite among the working class.

On July 14, 1969, an armed conflict erupted between El Salvador and Honduras over immigration disputes caused by Honduran land reform laws. The conflict (known as the Football War) lasted only four days, but had major long term effects for Salvadoran society. Trade was disrupted between El Salvador and Honduras, causing tremendous economic damage to both nations. An estimated 300,000 Salvadorans were displaced due to battle, many of whom had been forcibly exiled from Honduras or forced to flee their homes. The government subsequently proved unable to satisfy the economic needs of the refugees. The Football War also served to reinforce the political power of the military in El Salvador, which stifled efforts at democratization in El Salvador and led to heightened corruption and institutionalized fraud.

In the 1970s, the ongoing instability in El Salvador intensified due to a variety of both foreign and domestic factors, and a crisis ensued. The 1973 oil crisis led to rising food prices and decreased agricultural output due to the lack of obtainability of imported goods and petrol-based fertilizers, further compounding the economic situation caused by the Football War. To stem the economic and political problems, a series of token land reform measures were implemented in the mid-1970s by president Arturo Armando Molina. The largest measure, implemented in June 1976, called for the redistribution of approximately 59,000 hectares of land among 12,000 peasant families. The subsequent failure of these reforms due to opposition from the land elite, coupled with rising levels of repression against workers unions and left-leaning political parties, only served to reinforce the widespread discontent with the government.

During presidential elections held on 20 February 1977, a blatant electoral fraud favored the Salvadoran military's preferred candidate, General Carlos Humberto Romero, representing the National Conciliation Party (PCN), against the center-left Revolutionary Party of Democratic Unification (UNO). The electoral fraud itself was met with massive protest and civil disturbance from the popular movement. The short period between the election on 20 February 1977 and the formal inauguration of President Romero on 1 July 1977 was characterized by high levels of social upheaval and state repression. On 28 February 1977, eight days after the elections, a crowd of political demonstrators gathered in an area of downtown San Salvador near 'La Plaza Libertad' to protest the electoral fraud. State security forces arrived on the scene and opened fire on the demonstrators. A large massacre ensued as the security forces spread out for several hours and indiscriminately executed large numbers of civilian demonstrators. Reports on the number of protesters killed ranged from several hundred to over 1,500; fire-hoses were reportedly used in the aftermath to wash away the blood. President Molina blamed the protests on "foreign Communists," and in the immediate aftermath of the massacre a number of top UNO party members were exiled.

Violent repression continued after the inauguration of President Romero, as the government responded to the unrest with state-of-siege declarations, the suspension of civil liberties and systematic use of torture, forced disappearance and extrajudicial killing against the opposition. Government death squads and security forces regularly abducted, tortured and killed unionists, intellectuals, independent farmers, university officials and demonstrators. According to Socorro Jurídico Cristiano (Christian Legal Assistance, a legal aid office within the Archbishop's office and El Salvador's leading human rights group at the time), government repression killed 687 civilians in 1978 and an additional 1,796 in 1979. The repression further alienated the population and prompted many in the Catholic Church to denounce the government. The government responded to the dissent of the Catholic Church by attacking clergy with death threats, "disappearances" and torture.