Aim: How did the late cold war
threaten the stability of
central American nations?
How does this sentiment compare with the role
of the Church in the Dirty War in Argentina?
• In less than three years, more than fifty priests have been attacked,
threatened, calumniated. Six are already martyrs—they were murdered.
Some have been tortured and others expelled [from the country]. Nuns
have also been persecuted. The archdiocesan radio station and educational
institutions that are Catholic or of a Christian inspiration have been
attacked, threatened, intimidated, even bombed. Several parish
communities have been raided. If all this has happened to persons who are
the most evident representatives of the Church, you can guess what has
happened to ordinary Christians, to the campesinos, catechists, lay
ministers, and to the ecclesial base communities. There have been threats,
arrests, tortures, murders, numbering in the hundreds and thousands....
• But it is important to note why [the Church] has been persecuted. Not any
and every priest has been persecuted, not any and every institution has
been attacked. That part of the church has been attacked and persecuted
that put itself on the side of the people and went to the people's defense.
Here again we find the same key to understanding the persecution of the
church: the poor.
• —Óscar Romero, Speech at the Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium,
Feb. 2, 1980.
Central America as a battleground in
the Cold War
• Despite the rise of rightwing military junta’s in
Brazil, Chile, and
Argentina, left-wing
revolutionary
movements persisted
elsewhere.
• In the 1980s, the main
battleground between
leftist rebels and military
forces backed by the US
was Central America.
Secretary of State Alexander Haig, Mar
19, 1981
• What we are watching is a
four-phased [Soviet] operation
of which phase one has already
been completed — the seizure
of Nicaragua, next is El
Salvador, to be followed by
Honduras and Guatemala. It's
clear and explicit. I wouldn't
call it necessarily a domino
theory. I would call it a priority
target list — a hit list, if you will
— for the ultimate takeover of
Central America.
Nicaragua: From the Somozas to the
Sandinistas
• The US had intervened in
Nicaraguan domestic affairs
in the early 20th century,
with US marines stationed
there for long periods of
time.
• After the leader of the USsupported National Guard,
Anastasio Somoza, seized
control of the government
in 1937, his family remained
in power for 43 years and
ruled the country as brutal
dictators.
Anastasio Somoza
Nicaragua: From the Somozas to the
Sandinistas
• Opposition to the Somoza
regime arose from Marxist
guerrilla forces known as the
Sandinista National Liberation
Front, named after
revolutionary leader Augusto
Sandino.
• By 1979, they were in virtual
control of the country and the
Somoza regime was
overthrown.
• Inheriting a poverty-stricken
nation, the Sandinistas
organized a provisional
government aligned with the
USSR.
Nicaragua: From the Somozas to the
Sandinistas
• From the United States, the Reagan and Bush
administrations financed the Contra rebels in a
guerrilla war against the Sandinista government.
• The Contra War and an American embargo
damaged the Nicaraguan economy and
undermined support for the Sandinistas.
• In 1990, the Sandinistas agreed to free elections,
and lost. However, they remain the strongest
party in Nicaragua.
Back in Power
• In 1996, the former
leader of the Sandinista
National Liberation
Front, Daniel Ortega,
returned to the
presidency of
Nicaragua.
Conflict in El Salvador
• Tensions between the elites who controlled 95% of the
wealth in El Salvador intensified at the start of the 20th
century
• In 1932, Agustin Farabundo Marti formed the Central
American Socialist Party and led peasants and
indigenous people against the government.
• In response, the government supported military death
squads which killed anyone who even looked Indian or
may have been supporting the uprising.
• In a killing known as La Matanza (the Massacre, 1932)
left more than 30,000 people (mostly peasants)
dead. Marti was eventually arrested and put to death.
Mass Grave – Victims of La Montanza
Memorial to the Victims
in El Salvador
The struggle continued through the
1970s
• Both sides continued to fight back and forth in an
endless string of assassinations and coups.
• As the presence of guerillas existed, the military
reinstated the death squads in order to combat
the rebel forces.
• In 1979, yet another military junta overthrew the
government.
• When the Junta failed to improve living standards
in the country, discontent with the government
provoked the five main guerrilla groups in the
country to unite in the Farabundo Marti National
Liberation Front (FMLN).
Archbishop Oscar Romero
Archbishop Oscar Romero's Letter to
President Carter
Archbishop Oscar Romero sent this
letter to President Carter on Feb. 17,
1980.
1. Describe the tone of this letter.
2. What is the intended audience of this
open letter to the President?
3. In your opinion, what were Romero’s
primary goals in writing this piece?
Underline/highlight the passages that
suggest his motives.
Civil War (1980-1992)
• In 1980, El Salvador's civil war officially began.
• The government-supported military targeted anyone
they suspected of supporting social and economic
reform.
• Often the victims were unionists, clergy, independent
farmers and university officials, anyone who could gain
the support of the masses of peasant farmers.
• Over the ensuing twelve years, thousands of victims
perished. Some of the most notable were Archbishop
Oscar Romero (shot to death 1980), four US church
workers (raped and murdered 1980) and six Jesuit
priests, their housekeeper and her daughter (shot to
death at home 1989).
Murdered US Church Workers
The objective of death-squad-terror seemed not
only to eliminate opponents, but also, through
torture and the gruesome disfigurement of
bodies, to terrorize the population.
Civil War cont’d
• The military death squads wiped-out entire
villages believed to be assisting the guerrilla
efforts. This effort was known as “draining the
sea” or eliminating all possible support for the
rebels from the countryside.
• In 1981, the military killed over 1,000 people in
the village of El Mozote. The first reports of the
attacks were denied by both El Salvador and the
United States, but after the mass graves were
uncovered, it was hard to deny what had taken
place.
Memorial to the El Mozote Massacre,
Dec. 11th, 1980
Civil War cont’d
• The war persisted despite efforts from both sides to
bring an end to the fighting.
• The Salvadorian government was able to continue its
efforts with help from the US, which had begun
supporting the government with financial and military
aid/training through the famous School of the
America’s in Panama as soon as the war started.
• Although the US temporarily suspended funds after the
rape and murder of the church women in 1980,
apparent growing socialist support in Nicaragua
encouraged President Reagan to reactivate support for
El Salvador.
Civil War cont’d
• Military and monetary aid supporting the
Salvadoran government from the US continued
until 1990. During the height of the war, aid
averaged 1.5 million dollars per day.
• The US finally ceased support only in 1990 after
the United Nations became involved, and reports
of human rights violations were confirmed.
• Eventually, the military aid from the US became
reconstruction aid.
• Currently, the US sends about 30-35 million
dollars annually to El Salvador, one of the poorest
countries in Central America.
President Obama visits Romero’s
Tomb, 23 March, 2011.