Unit V: El Salvador and The Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua (5/5)

El Salvador

Dominated by two political parties for most of 20th Century
  - PDC (Christian Democratic Party) - middle class support
  - PCN (National Conciliation Party) - military support

1972 - presidential election; Jose N Duarte (former leader of the PDC) runs as member of new National Opposition Union (UNO); loses what many view as fraudulent election
Begins revolt to protest results; captured, tortured, exiled to Venezuela

President Arturo Molina enacted numerous land reform measures; reforms fail due to opposition from landed elite in El Salvador

1977 - General Carlos Romero (PCN) wins election; fraud and intimidation
Frustrations mount with populace as govt seen as representing interests of only military and/or oligarchy
Protests break out; quickly repressed by outgoing President Molina
Repression continues under Romero; suspends civil liberties, numerous disappearances, death squads

Oct 1979 - military coup against President Carlos Romero (PCN) brings Revolutionary Government Junta of El Salvador (JRG) to power; feared successful revolution by leftists and populists
Junta govt nationalized companies and privately held land; minor agrarian reforms
Established martial law
United States endorses coup to avoid "another Nicaragua"
Counter-junta forms with support of Salvadorian oligarchy; gains upper hand
Split military and society begins guerrilla war for control
By Oct 1980, major leftist groups in El Salvador had unified in guerrilla war against govt junta
Govt junta becomes more influenced by extreme right elements
United States helps form new junta to try and pacify country; invites Duarte back from Venezuela
Government uses military and death squads to suppress opposition to junta; war against leftist guerrillas and sympathizers
Number of documented killings by government forces reaches 1,796 in 1979
Catholic Church denounces government actions; clergy soon repressed

Brief overview of Civil War in El Salvador

Archbishop Oscar Romero speaks out on behalf of peasantry against ruling junta; assassinated by military death squad while saying mass - March 1980

Lecture on Oscar Romero

Warfare spirals out of control; right-wing govt with military, national guard, and death squads versus left-wing guerrilla forces
Salvadroan forces engage in 'scorched earth' policies against leftist insurgents

Civil war between government forces and leftist insurgents continued until 1992



Nicaragua

William Walker and Nicaragua in the 19th Century

1912 - US occupation of Nicaragua begins (Banana Wars)
Occupation lasts until Great Depression era; Augosto Sandino led opposition
US supports establishment of presidency of Anastasio Somoza; Somoza Dynasty dominates Nicaragua
  - son of wealthy coffee planter
  - Anastacio Somoza (1937-1947) (1950-1956)
  - Luis Somoza -son (1956-1963)
  - Anastacio Somoza - son (1963-1979)

Somoza Dynasty characterized by corruption, personal wealth building, authoritarian, totalitarian, torturous

FSLN (Sandinista National Liberation Front) founded in early 1960s; university students form core
Sandinista movement grows following Dec '72 earthquake that leveled Managua
1974 - successfully kidnap government officials; hold ransom
1975 - Somoza regime cracks down further; murder, torture, censorship, etc
Split within organization over philosophy and tactics
1978 - murder of editor of leftist newspaper; massive insurrection; suppression by Somoza draws ire of US government
1979 - FSLN reorganized and reunified; increased guerrilla warfare; supported by Castro
OAS tries to negotiate truce between FSLN & Somoza govt; Somoza refuses to hold elections
By June 1979, FSLN controls almost all of Nicaragua outside Mangua
July 1979 - Somoza resigns and flees to Paraguay; Sandinistas march into Managua
Junta made up of heads of various factions within FSLN governs Nicaragua
By 1981, Daniel Ortega became director of the governing junta

Daniel Ortega

Decade of warfare and disaster left 150,000 as refugees, 600,000 homeless (total pop about 2.8 mil)

Sandinista principles of govt espoused during revolution were: pluralism, national unity, economic democracy
Major push for Sandinista government was for agrarian reform; 4 stages
  - confiscation of property owned by Somoza and his allies (1/5 of Nic?) - 1979
  - Agrarian Reform Law - 1981
  - massive cession of individual land
  - Agrarian Reform Law - 1986
Agrarian Reform Law of '81 recognized four types of property: state, cooperative, communal, individual

Economy reformed based on central planning

Nicaraguan National Literacy Campaign; utilized secondary students, college students, and teachers
Immediate success; illiteracy drops from 50% to 13%; earns govt UNESCO award in 1980

1984 - general election; Daniel Ortega wins presidency with 67%; intl observers call it a clean election

United States criticizes elections and Sandinista govt in general; sees it as Soviet satellite

President Reagan made the case that Central America was vital to US security

Watch through minute 13 for this content topic