Military dictatorship in El Salvador

Background

Meléndez–Quiñónez dynasty

Manuel Enrique Araujo became President of El Salvador on 1 March 1911. He was president until his assassination on 9 February 1913 by farmers. He was succeeded by Carlos Meléndez who served as acting president until 29 August 1914 when he was succeeded by Alfonso Quiñónez Molina.

Carlos Meléndez and Quiñónez established a political dynasty under the National Democratic Party (PND) which lasted from 1913 until 1927. Carlos Meléndez was president from 1 March 1915 until his resignation on 21 December 1918. Meléndez was succeeded by Quiñónez until his younger brother, Jorge Meléndez, was elected President. Quiñónez's vice president, Pío Romero Bosque, succeeded him on 1 March 1927.

Unlike his predecessors, Romero Bosque did not appoint a successor and held El Salvador's first free election, ending the Meléndez–Quiñónez dynasty. In the election, Labor Party (PL) candidate Arturo Araujo, a relative of Araujo, won 46.65 percent of the vote and became president on 1 March 1931. Araujo's vice president was General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez of the National Republican Party.

Economic crisis

Araujo became president during a severe economic crisis due to the effects of the Great Depression. However, because of the Great Depression, coffee prices fell 54 percent and the Salvadoran economy was unable to sustain itself. Araujo attempted to implement a tax reform to combat the economic crisis, however, resistance from wealthy landowners caused the reforms to fail.

Araujo cut expenditures to the military and refused to pay its soldiers which caused anger within the military. The coup was a watershed moment in Salvadoran history since it began the nearly 48 year long military dictatorship of the country.

{{lang|es|Martinato}}

The military established the Civic Directory, a junta composed of military officers, to govern the country on 2 December 1931. The directory was co-chaired by Colonels Osmín Aguirre y Salinas and Joaquín Valdés. Martínez promised to hold a legislative election in January 1932, but when the Communist Party won many municipalities, he canceled the election results. Further elections were also canceled. The elections did, however, give the government a list of communist party members.

The communist party believed that democracy had failed them, and communists and peasants across the country, led by Farabundo Martí, Feliciano Ama, Mario Zapata, and Alfonso Luna. Peasants rose up on 22 January 1932 in Ahuachapán, Santa Tecla, and Sonsonate, killing at most 100 people in the uprising. Martínez responded by sending the military to crush the revolt. In Martínez's crackdown, around 10,000 to 40,000 peasants were killed.

Because of the 1923 Central American Treaty of Peace and Amity, the United States refused to recognize Martínez's government's legitimacy. The US only recognized his government after the events of La Matanza. Martínez eventually denounced El Salvador's membership of the treaty on 26 December 1932.

Martínez helped El Salvador's financial situation improve during his presidency. On 23 February 1932, Martínez suspended payment on foreign debt, and again on 1 January 1938, but the debt was eventually paid off in 1938. The Central Reserve Bank of El Salvador was established during his administration on 19 June 1934 to help stabilize the colón, the national currency. He appointed Luis Alfaro Durán as president of the Central Bank.

The Martínez regime sought to maintain the image of democratic legitimacy in the nation. Martínez won the 1935, 1939, and 1944 presidential elections under the banner of the National Pro Patria Party (PNPP).

World War II

Martínez was personally sympathetic to Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The Salvadoran Air Force purchased aircraft from Italy in 1938 for US$39,000 with some of the payment being made with coffee. Minister of National Defense Andrés Ignacio Menéndez attempted to purchase planes from the United States but North American Aviation refused to accept coffee as a percentage of the payment. El Salvador was also the first country after Japan to recognize the independence of Manchukuo.

Some Salvadorans supported the Axis as on 10 June 1940, the day Italy joined the Second World War, 300 men dressed like the Italian Blackshirts marched in the streets of San Salvador in support of Italy; however, the government suppressed the march. Under pressure from the United States, the government fully supported the Allies on 8 December 1941 after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. El Salvador declared war on Japan on 8 December and then later Germany and Italy on 12 December. El Salvador never provided soldiers to directly fight in the war but it did send workers to maintain the Panama Canal. During the war, George Mantello and Colonel José Castellanos Contreras saved 40,000 Jews from Central Europe, mostly from Hungary, by providing them false Salvadoran passports and political asylum.

In 1944, Martínez held an election and elected himself to a third term as president. On 2 April 1944, Palm Sunday, pro-Axis military officers attempted a coup against Martínez. Martínez was able to take control of the situation and ordered military units still loyal to put down the uprising which was accomplished by 3 April. Reprisals lasted for two weeks, martial law was declared, and a national curfew was established.

Civilians wanted to remove Martínez from power and so on 2 May 1944, students took to the streets of San Salvador in the Strike of Fallen Arms to force his resignation. The students engaged in non-violence to oppose the government. Martínez resigned on 9 May and left for exile in Guatemala. His term in office was short-lived as he was overthrown in a military coup d'état on 20 October 1944 and replaced by Aguirre. Aguirre held the promised elections in January 1945. Castaneda was deposed in a coup d'état on 14 December 1948 by young military officers. The coup, known as the Major's Coup, forced all Salvadoran military officers above the rank of lieutenant colonel to resign. The young officers established the Revolutionary Council of Government which governed the country until Major Óscar Osorio, the chairman of the Revolutionary Council of Government, was elected President in 1950.

Revolutionary Party rule

Osorio Hernández ran under the banner of the Revolutionary Party of Democratic Unification (PRUD). Osorio Hernández's policies supported economic development, agricultural reform, and social security programs, although policies like agrarian reform were not implemented as to not alienate wealthy landlords and oligarchs.

Osorio Hernández was succeeded by Lieutenant Colonel José María Lemus on 14 September 1956 following the 1956 presidential election. In the election, Roberto Edmundo Cannessa of the National Action Party, his primary and most popular opponent, was disqualified by the Central Electoral Council a month before the election which led to his landslide victory.

The military established the Junta of Government and was led by Lieutenant Colonel Miguel Ángel Castillo. Fabio Castillo Figueroa, one of the three civilian members of the junta, had pro-Castro views who was seen as a potential threat by the military. The military overthrew the junta and replaced it with another junta, the Civic-Military Directory. Lieutenant Colonel Julio Adalberto Rivera Carballo served as the chairman of the new junta and promised new elections for 1962.

Conciliation Party rule

The junta was dissolved on 25 January 1962 and an independent politician, Eusebio Rodolfo Cordón Cea, was appointed as Provisional President. During the 1962 presidential election, the newly formed National Conciliation Party (PCN) ran unopposed and its candidate, Rivera, won 100% of the vote.

Although only the PCN had a candidate in the 1962 presidential election, other parties had formed and ran in the 1961 legislative election but gained no seats. The party formed in 1960 and had broad support from the middle class. The party came under attack from both the political left and right, with the left believing the party would uphold the capitalist economic system and increase wealth gaps while the right saw the party as a socialist reactionary movement that threatened their wealth and power. The party, under Abraham Rodríguez Portillo and Roberto Lara Velado, believed Christian democracy was the best path forward for El Salvador's modernization. The party's ideology was inspired by Pope Leo XIII's Rerum novarum and from the works of Pope John XXIII and French philosopher Jacques Maritain. The party was also inspired from other Christian democratic movements in Chile and Venezuela.

Rivera got El Salvador involved in US President John F. Kennedy's Alliance for Progress, an initiative to improve relations between Latin America and the United States through economic cooperation. He supported the implementation of agrarian reform but it was never actually implemented. He established the National Security Agency of El Salvador (ANSESAL) in 1965. It served as the national intelligence agency of the country and it oversaw the operations of the National Democratic Organization (ORDEN), a group of paramilitaries that killed peasants, rigged elections, and intimidated voters.

Rivera instituted electoral reforms by allowed opposition political parties to run in presidential elections and compete in legislative elections. Previously, whichever party won the most votes in a certain department, that party won all seats and all representation for that department, but under his reforms, seats and representatives were elected proportional to how many votes a party got. The reform allowed the PDC to gain 14 seats and the Renovating Action Party (PAR) won 6 seats in the Constitutional Assembly in the 1964 legislative elections. In the election, José Napoleón Duarte, a prominent PDC politician, was elected as Mayor of San Salvador.

The PCN maintained its control on power with United States support and through the country's continued economic growth. Fidel Sánchez Hernández of the PCN became president on 1 July 1967.

Football War

Main article: Football War

In the late 1960s, around 300,000 Salvadorans migrated to Honduras, many of whom entered the country illegally. On 3 October 1963, Oswaldo López Arellano overthrew President Ramón Villeda Morales of Honduras and established a military dictatorship. During López Arellano's regime, the Honduran economy staggered and he blamed the country's economic issues on the Salvadoran immigrants who were stealing Honduran jobs.

During the 1970 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Honduras and El Salvador competed in separate groups for the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) qualifications, Honduras was in Group 3 and El Salvador was in Group 4, both winning their respective groups. Salvadorans were murdered, assaulted, and had their homes burned, forcing 17,000 to flee back to El Salvador. The Salvadorans called the attacks on the Salvadorans a massacre.

A third match was held in Mexico City on 26 June to decide who would go on to the final round against Haiti. The Salvadorans defeated the Honduras 3–2 in extra time and the Salvadoran team advanced to the finals. The defeat caused further attacks against the Salvadoran immigrants and led to a migrant crisis in El Salvador since the government was unable to provide housing for all the refugees coming from Honduras.

Due to the ongoing crisis, El Salvador severed diplomatic ties with Honduras on 26 June and declared war on 14 July 1969. The Salvadoran Air Force attacked the Toncontín International Airport to disable the Honduran Air Force and the Salvadoran Army launched a two prong invasion following two major roads connecting the two countries.

Initially, Salvadoran politics were united against Honduras, but the Communist Party and the left eventually turned against the war and continued to oppose the government. The war also caused the Salvadoran economy to stagnate and many refugees overcrowded the country.

Political and social tensions

The refugees coming from Honduras to El Salvador received little to no aid or support from the Salvadoran government.

The PDC gained more support from the refugees as well.

The PDC lost 3 seats in the Constitutional Assembly in the 1970 legislative elections while the PCN gained 7 seats. Colonel Arturo Armando Molina was the candidate of the PCN while Duarte was the PDC candidate. A recount was conducted and the statement was changed and it declared that Molina won by 10,000 votes. The final result was that Molina won 43.42% of the vote while Duarte won 42.14%. Duarte and Guillermo Ungo, his running mate, petitioned for a second recount but the petition was denied. UNO also lost 9 seats in the 1972 legislative election while the PCN gained 5 more seats.

On 25 March 1972, a group of young left-leaning military officers called the Military Youth attempted a coup d'état against Sánchez Hernández to prevent Molina from becoming president. By 26 March, the coup was over and 200 were killed. Sánchez Hernández retook power and Duarte was arrested. He was initially sentenced to death but it was commuted to torture and he was exiled to Venezuela.

Molina took office on 1 July 1972. On 19 July, he had tanks attack the University of El Salvador. Around 800 were arrested and another 15 were exiled to Nicaragua.

UNO selected Ernesto Antonio Claramount Roseville as its candidate for the 1977 presidential election while the PCN selected incumbent Minister of National Defense General Carlos Humberto Romero as its nominee. Romero was declared to have the election with 67.30% of the vote while according to witnesses, Claramount actually won with 75% of the vote.

Collapse of the regime

When the Nicaraguan Revolution began in 1978, Romero grew concerned that the revolution would spread to El Salvador. He attempted to begin negotiation with the opposition to ensure that did not happen, but his attempt emboldened opposition forces who took to the streets of San Salvador to strike in March 1979. Romero cracked down on the strikes and ordered his soldiers to fire live ammunition into the crowds to end the strike. The event was broadcast in the United States and Europe which resulted in Costa Rica, Japan, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and West Germany closing their respective embassies in El Salvador.

President Anastasio Somoza Debayle of Nicaragua was finally deposed by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) in September 1979 which caused alarm among young military officers in the Salvadoran Army. The Military Youth, led by Colonels Adolfo Arnoldo Majano and Jaime Abdul Gutiérrez staged a coup d'état against Romero on 15 October 1979 with the support of the United States. Romero fled for exile in Guatemala, as did Federico Castillo Yanes, the Minister of National Defense.

On 18 October 1979, the military established the Revolutionary Government Junta. The junta was composed of five men: Colonels Majano and Gutiérrez, Ungo, Mario Antonio Andino, the former president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of El Salvador (CCIES), and Román Mayorga Quirós, a member of the Central American University.

The coup of October 1979 marked the end of the military regime of El Salvador and many mark it as the start of the Salvadoran Civil War.

Notes

References

Bibliography

References

1. Wood, Elizabeth. (2003). "Insurgent Collective Action and Civil War in El Salvador". Cambridge University Press.
2. (1971). "Matanza: El Salvador's Communist Revolt of 1932". University of Nebraska Press.
3. (2000). "Peace without Justice: Obstacles to Building the Rule of Law in El Salvador". Pennsylvania State University Press.
4. Stanley, William. (1996). "The Protection Racket State Elite Politics, Military Extortion, and Civil War in El Salvador". Temple University Press.
5. Veytskin, Yuriy, Lockerby, Claire, & McMullen, Steven. (2009–2013). "The Soccer War". Duke University.
6. "Presidentes de El Salvador - Primera Junta Revolucionaria de Gobierno".
7. (1982). "El Salvador". Duke University Press.
8. "Presidentes de El Salvador - Doctor Manuel Enrique Araujo".
9. Kuny Mena, Enrique. (11 May 2003). "A 90 años del magnicidio Doctor Manuel Enrique Araujo".
10. "Presidentes de El Salvador - Don Carlos Melendez".
11. "Presidentes de El Salvador - Doctor Alfonso Quiñonez Molina".
12. (1993). "Coffee and Power in El Salvador". The Latin American Studies Association.
13. (9 October 1919). "Carlos Melendez Dies". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
14. "Presidentes de El Salvador - Don Jorge Melendez".
15. "Presidentes de El Salvador - Doctor Pio Romero Bosque".
16. Haggerty 1990, p. 14
17. (1971). "The United States and the Rise of General Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez". Journal of Latin American Studies.
18. (2005). "Elections in the Americas: A Data Handbook".
19. From 1871 to 1927, El Salvador was called a "coffee republic" due to its heavy reliance on [[coffee]] exports to sustain its economy.Haggerty 1990, pp. 9–10
20. Haggerty 1990, p. 200
21. Haggerty 1990, p. 15
22. "Presidentes de El Salvador - Directorio Civico".
23. (1996). "El Salvador in the Eighties: Counterinsurgency and Revolution". Temple University Press.
24. (2005). "Elections in the Americas: A Data Handbook".
25. The list allowed the government to arrest prominent communist leaders on 18 January 1932.Haggerty 1990, p. 16
26. Santacruz, Domingo. (12 November 2006). "Aproximación a la historia del Partido Comunista Salvadoreño". El Centro de Documentación de los Movimientos Armados.
27. (22 January 2007). "Las huellas de la muerte en el presente de los indígenas".
28. (1971). "Matanza: El Salvador's Communist Revolt of 1932". University of Nebraska Press.
29. Payés, Txanba. (January 2007). "El Salvador. La insurrección de un pueblo oprimido y el etnocidio encubierto".
30. Astilla 1976, p. 50
31. Astilla 1976, p. 84
32. (2019). "Washington Treaties of 1907 and 1923". Encyclopedia.com.
33. (1934). "The Recognition of the Government of El Salvador". Cambridge University Press.
34. Astilla 1976, pp. 118–123
35. "Historical Review".
36. Martínez established Social Improvement, a welfare program to support poor peasants in July 1932.Haggerty 1990, p. 17
37. 1936]], [[1939 Salvadoran Constitutional Assembly election. 1939]], and [[1944 Salvadoran Constitutional Assembly election
38. He appointed [[Wehrmacht]] General [[Eberhardt Bohnstedt]] as the director of the Military School.Astilla 1976, p. 161
39. (25 April 1938). "Army Shifts in Salvador; German Officer Named to Direct Country's Military Academy".
40. Astilla 1976, pp. 155–157
41. El Salvador was one of the first nations to recognize the [[Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War)
42. Armstrong 1982, p. 31
43. Shen, Simon. (29 August 2018). "Why El Salvador has Always been a Wild Card in World Diplomacy".
44. Nish, Ian Hill. (2002). "Japanese Foreign Policy in the Interwar Period". Praeger.
45. Astilla 1976, p. 167
46. Armstrong 1982, p. 34
47. The government arrested German, Italian, and Japanese nationals and seized their land.Astilla 1976, p. 188
48. Astilla 1976, pp. 189–191
49. Lamperti, John. "El Salvador's Holocaust Heroes". Dartmouth College.
50. Zunes, Stephen. (October 2010). "Movements and Campaigns - El Salvador: 1944".
51. (2015). "A Force More Powerful: A Century of Non-violent Conflict". St. Martin's Press.
52. On 7 May, the police shot and killed José Wright Alcaine, a 17-year-old who was a US citizen, which put pressure on Martínez to resign.Armstrong 1982, p. 35
53. "Presidentes de El Salvador - General Salvador Castaneda Castro".
54. Haggerty 1990, p. 201
55. Armstrong 1982, p. 38
56. Haggerty 1990, pp. 19–20
57. "Presidentes de El Salvador - Teniente Coronel José María Lemus".
58. In office, he granted amnesty to many political prisoners and exiled politicians. He also repealed several repressive laws instituted by his predecessors. Following the [[Cuban Revolution]] in 1959, students in El Salvador were influenced by the nationalistic and revolutionary movement of [[Fidel Castro]] which led to protests for a truly democratic system to be implemented in the country. In response, Lemus abandoned his reforms and cracked down on freedom of expression and arrested political opponents. Lemus' turn to authoritarianism caused the military to turn against him and he was [[1960 Salvadoran coup d'état|overthrown]] on 26 October 1960.Haggerty 1990, p. 21
59. Armstrong 1982, pp. 41–42
60. "Presidentes de El Salvador - Doctor Rodolfo Cordon".
61. Haggerty 1990, pp. 22–23
62. Kennedy, John F.. (3 April 1961). "Modern History Sourcebook: President John F. Kennedy: On the Alliance for Progress, 1961". Fordham University.
63. Haggerty 1990, p. 23
64. Allan Nairn. (1984). "Behind the Death Squads: An exclusive report on the US role in El Salvador's official terror".
65. "The 1970s: The Road to Revolt". U.S. Library of Congress.
66. In the [[1967 Salvadoran presidential election
67. "Presidentes de El Salvador - General Fidel Sanchez Hernández".
68. Haggerty 1990, p. 25
69. Armstrong 1982, pp. 53–54
70. Armstrong 1982, p. 60
71. Williams 1997, pp. 80–81
72. The Central Election Board stated that Duarte had won by 9,000 votes with 327,000 votes compared to Molina's 318,000, but the PCN called for a recount.Armstrong 1982, p. 62
73. (1984). "Demonstration Elections: U.S.-Staged Elections in the Dominican Republic, Vietnam, and El Salvador". South End Press.
74. Armstrong 1982, p. 63
75. "Presidentes de El Salvador - Coronel Arturo Armando Molina".
76. Armstrong 1982, p. 64
77. He closed the university for two years to "eliminate the opposition." Molina attempted to institute land reform in 1976 but it only increased political unrest since the reforms redistributed little to no land to the peasants.Williams 1997, p. 90
78. Haggerty 1990, p. 31
79. Haggerty 1990, pp. 32–33
80. "Presidentes de El Salvador - General Carlos Humberto Romero".
81. "El Salvador - The Reformist Coup of 1979". U.S. Library of Congress.
82. Pastor, Robert. (1984). "Continuity and Change in U.S. Foreign Policy: Carter and Reagan on El Salvador". Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.
83. Gleijeses, Piero. (1983). "The Case for Power Sharing in El Salvador". Council on Foreign Relations.
84. Williams 1997, pp. 99–100
85. (1980). "Oligarchs and Officers: The Crisis in El Salvador". Council on Foreign Relations.
86. (19 September 2013). "Jaime Abdul Guitérrez, memorias de un golpista".
87. (16 October 1979). "La junta militar salvadoreña decreta el estado de sitio".
88. Rabasa, Angela. (2007). "Money in the Bank: Lessons Learned from Past Counterinsurgency (COIN) Operations". RAND Corporation.
89. Jung, Harald. (1982). "The Civil War in El Salvador". Centrum voor Studie en Documentatie van Latijns Amerika (CEDLA).
90. Martínez, Carlos. (15 September 2008). "La Tormentosa Fuga del Juez Atilio".
91. (29 March 1993). "Report of the UN Truth Commission on El Salvador". Derechos Human Rights.