Salvadoran Civil War

However, the Junta was torn by internal divisions, institutional pressure from the military, and a continuing insurgency from the FMLN. The extreme Right viewed moderates in the new government as Marxist sympathizers, and death squads linked to the junta continued to orchestrate a campaign of terror against armed and civilian opponents alike, targeting not only suspected FMLN sympathizers but local PDC leaders as well. One of the most infamous death squad assassinations occurred when the Archbishop of San Salvador, Óscar Romero, was murdered in 1980 after having publicly urged the U.S. government not to provide military support to the El Salvadoran government. Future investigations found that Major Roberto D'Aubuisson, head of Military Intelligence at the time, had ordered the assassination.

In 1986, the Human Rights Commission of El Salvador published a 165-page report on the Mariona men's prison. The report documented the routine use of at least 40 kinds of torture on political prisoners, and that U.S. servicemen often acted as supervisors. On October 26, 1987, Herbert Ernesto Anaya, head of the Salvadoran Human Rights Commission was assassinated.

Despite the controversies regarding repression and brutality from the Salvadoran Armed Forces, the U.S. continued to give aid to El Salvador. However, the country's chaotic situation did not seem to be improving.

The leftist were the poorer people in El Salvador and they wanted to change the government, that's why they were fighting. The rightest were the richer people in the country, they were the government.

Ending the Civil War

Cristiani attempted to begin negotiating an end to the war through direct talks with the FMLN, which began in Mexico City on September 13, 1989. However, a peace agreement proved elusive, and on November 11 the FMLN launched a bloody offensive on the capital city San Salvador in which hundreds of people died. In response, the armed forces stepped up their counterinsurgency war; four days later, six Jesuit priests (among them the scholars Ignacio Ellacuria, Ignacio Martín-Baró and Segundo Montes) and their two servants were shot and killed by the special military force called "Atlacatl Batallion". This event provoked international outrage, and led to a cutoff in military aid from the U.S. Cristiani attempted to calm people down by seeking to bring those responsible for the crime to justice. Four officers, three non-commissioned officers, and two soldiers were found guilty and imprisoned by a special committee set up in January 1990.

In early 1990, following a request from the Central American presidents, the United Nations became involved in an effort to mediate direct talks between the two sides. After a year of little progress, the government and the FMLN accepted an invitation from the UN Secretary General to meet in New York City. On September 25, 1991, the two sides signed the New York City Accord. It concentrated the negotiating process into one phase and created the Committee for the Consolidation of the Peace (COPAZ), made up of representatives of the government, FMLN, and political parties, with Catholic Church and UN observers. On December 31, 1991, the government and the FMLN initialed a peace agreement under the auspices of then UN Secretary General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar. The final agreement, called the Chapultepec Peace Accords, was signed in Mexico City on January 16, 1992. A 9-month cease-fire took effect February 1, 1992, and was never broken. A ceremony held on December 15, 1992, marked the official end of the conflict, concurrent with the demobilization of the last elements of the FMLN military structure and the FMLN's inception as a political party.

In July 2002, a Miami, Florida, jury determined that two former Salvadoran defense ministers, José Guillermo García and Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, were responsible for the torture by Salvadoran death squads during the 1980s of three men. The victims sued the former commanders under a U.S. law that permits such lawsuits. The former commanders were ordered by the jury to pay $54.6 million to the victims.

El Salvador Since 1992

El Salvador is struggling to cope with growing gang violence, perpetrated by groups such as Mara Salvatrucha and the 18th Street Gang. The violence is exacerbated by ongoing social unrest, economic devastation from the civil war, the breakdown of families and social structures, and the presence of refugees turned gang members from the United States who came home or were deported to El Salvador after 1996.

Agriculture was one of the sectors of the economy that was mostly affected by the civil war. Therefore, one of the biggest social problems in post-war El Salvador has been rural unemployment. This has been the explanation for increased migration to the cities and to other countries, especially the United States. Unofficial estimates say that the United States is the home of around 2 million Salvadorans.

The ARENA governments that have been in presidency since 1989 have implemented a program of policies of liberalization of the labor, goods and financial markets. In a context of unprotected markets, El Salvador's economic development has therefore relied on the income provided by exports. Since the international coffee prices fluctuate too much, ARENA governments have regarded them unreliable. Because of this they have tried to implement economic policies that stimulate the growth of non-traditional exports. The most important of these policies are measures that favor foreign investment in "maquilas", which are tax-free industrial complexes for companies from abroad that outsource their production activities, in order to take advantage of cheap labor force. However, the foreign currency coming into the Salvadoran economy has not been able to keep up with the value of the goods imported by Salvadorans, which has implied a growing deficit in the trade balance. The only thing that has kept the Salvadoran economy in balance is the growing transfers received by Salvadorans from their family members living abroad, especially in the United States. American dollars became legal tender in El Salvador and the accounting unit of the financial sector in January 2001.

Human Rights and Post-War Reforms

During the 12-year civil war, human rights violations by both the government security forces and left-wing guerrillas were rampant. The accords established a Truth Commission under UN auspices to investigate the most serious cases. The commission reported its findings in 1993. It recommended that those identified as human rights violators be removed from all government and military posts, as well as recommending judicial reforms. Thereafter, the Legislative Assembly granted amnesty for political crimes committed during the war. Among those freed as a result were the El Salvador Armed Forces (ESAF) officers convicted in the November 1989 Jesuit murders and the FMLN ex-combatants held for the 1991 murders of two U.S. servicemen. The peace accords also established the Ad Hoc Commission to evaluate the human rights record of the ESAF officer corps.

In accordance with the peace agreements, the constitution was amended to prohibit the military from playing an internal security role except under extraordinary circumstances. Demobilization of Salvadoran military forces generally proceeded on schedule throughout the process. The Treasury Police, National Guard, and National Police were abolished, and military intelligence functions were transferred to civilian control. By 1993--9 months ahead of schedule--the military had cut personnel from a war-time high of 63,000 to the level of 32,000 required by the peace accords. By 1999, ESAF strength stood at less than 15,000, including uniformed and nonuniformed personnel, consisting of personnel in the army, navy, and air force. A purge of military officers accused of human rights abuses and corruption was completed in 1993 in compliance with the Ad Hoc Commission's recommendations. The military's new doctrine, professionalism, and complete withdrawal from political and economic affairs leave it the most respected institution in El Salvador.

More than 35,000 eligible beneficiaries from among the former guerrillas and soldiers who fought the war received land under the peace accord-mandated land transfer program, which ended in January 1997. The majority of them also have received agricultural credits. The international community, the Salvadoran Government, the former rebels, and the various financial institutions involved in the process continue to work closely together to deal with follow-on issues resulting from the program.

Despite the official abolition of the National Guard and overall reduction in the Salvadoran military after the 1992 Peace Accords, human rights abuses associated with the Guard and the military during the 1980s have continued. Union activists have been targeted with harassment, violence and imprisonment. Some, such as Gilberto Soto, the former leader of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, have been murdered. Others have been disappeared. Salvadoran activists working against CAFTA, the abuse of prisoners, the privatization of water, and environmental destruction have all encountered various forms of repression.

National Civilian Police

The civilian police force, created to replace the discredited public security forces, deployed its first officers in March 1993, and was present throughout the country by the end of 1994. The National Civilian Police (PNC) has about 16,500 officers. The United States, through the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP), led international support for the PNC and the National Public Security Academy (ANSP), providing about $32 million in non-lethal equipment and training since 1992.

Judiciary

Both the Truth Commission and the Joint Group identified weaknesses in the judiciary and recommended solutions, the most dramatic being the replacement of all the magistrates on the Supreme Court. This recommendation was fulfilled in 1994 when an entirely new court was elected, but weaknesses remain. The process of replacing incompetent judges in the lower courts, and of strengthening the attorney generals' and public defender's offices, has moved more slowly. The government continues to work in all of these areas with the help of international donors, including the United States. Action on peace accord-driven constitutional reforms designed to improve the administration of justice was largely completed in 1996 with legislative approval of several amendments and the revision of the Criminal Procedure Code--with broad political consensus.