2. PER CAPITA INCOME $1000
3. 1 IN 5 CHILDREN DIE BEFORE AGE 5 OF MALNUTRITION
4. 2/3 OF THE COUNTRY'S WEALTH IS IN THE HANDS OF 1% OF THE POPULATION
C. 1875-1900 HIGH WORLD PRICES FOR COFFEE SPURRED PLANTATION OWNERS TO EXPAND THEIR ESTATES
D. 1880s LEGAL DEGREES PROHIBITED COLLECTIVE OWNERSHIP OF LAND BY INDIAN COMMUNITIES
2. 1880-1920 COFFEE EXPORTS ALLOWED THE ELITE TO AMASS HUGE FORTUNES
3. 1870-1900 - 4 PEASANT UPRISINGS IN ATTEMPT TO PRESERVE THEIR LAND WERE CRUSHED
4. MOST OF THE INDIGENOUS CULTURE WAS DESTROYED
5. THEY WERE FORCED TO BECOME TENANT FARMERS, SHARECROPPERS, OR WAGE LABORERS FOR THE ESTATES
6. VAGABOND LAWS ASSURED LANDOWNERS A LABOR SUPPLY
7. MANY OF THE NATION'S SECURITY POLICE LIVED ON THE PLANTATIONS & SERVED AS PRIVATE ARMIES
8. 1931 90% OF THE WEALTH WAS HELD BY .5% OF THE POPULATION
THEY WERE LED BY AGUSTíN FARABUNDO MARTí:
2. COFFEE FINCAS HAD TAKEN OVER THE HIGHLANDS;
b. PICKERS WAGES WERE HALVED & MANY WERE LEFT WITHOUT EMPLOYMENT
b. MARTI WAS CAUGHT & EXECUTED IN 1932
5. "LA MATANZA" - THE GOVT. ATTACKED PEASANTS, & U.S. WARSHIPS STOOD BY WHILE THEY KILLED 20,000 (2% OF EL SALVDOR'S POPULATION)
b. THE REBELLION INSTILLED IN THE OLIGARCHY A FEAR OF RURAL WORKERS & PEASANTS--
c. WHO WERE PERCEIVED AS COMMUNISTS
d. PEASANTS CAST OFF INDIGENOUS CLOTHES & HABITS
e. INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE & CULTURE WAS EXTERMINATED, EXPLAINING WHY THERE ARE FEWER ETHNIC MINORITIES IN EL SALVADOR THAN IN GUATEMALA, FOR EXAMPLE
7. IN 1941 THE AGRARIAN CODE FORCED LANDLESS PEASANTS & UNEMPLOYED WORKERS TO LABOR ON PRIVATE FARMS
2. THE COUNTRY WAS RUN BY AN ALLIANCE OF MILTARY OFFICERS & CONSERVATIVES UNTIL THE LATE 1970s
3. DURING THE POST-WAR YEARS ISI & INDUSTRIAL GROWTH BENEFITTED THE SAME FAMILIES THAT HAD FORMED THE COFFEE OLIGARCHY
2. THE U.S. "PROFESSIONALIZED" THE MILITARY THROUGHOUT L.A. THROUGH TRAINING IN THE U.S. & L.A.
3. THE U.S. SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS IN THE PANAMA CANAL ZONE PROVIDED COUNTER-INSURGENCY TRAINING
4. FROM 1950-79 THE U.S. TRAINED 1,971 SALVADORAN OFFICERS IN COUNTER-INSURGENCY
6. ORDEN - WAS FORMED AS A GRASSROOTS PARAMILITARY ORGANIZATION
7. EL SALAVADOR IS A "NEOCOLONY" OF THE U.S.
8. YET AT THE TIME (1960s), THERE WAS LITTLE LEFTIST OPPOSITION TO THE GOVERNMENT
9. BINFORD (THE EL MAZOTE MASSACRE 1996) LINKS THE "CLASSIC ERA OF WESTERN TORTURING" (1950s-19970s) TO THE POSTWAR EXPANSION OF CAPITALISM
2. YET EL SALVADOR HAD ONE OF THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF INCOME INEQUALITY IN THE HEMISPHERE
3. SOME WAS USED FOR SOCIAL PROGRAMS
b. ILLITERACY DECLINED
c. GOVT. EXPENDITURES ON HEALTH, HOUSING & EDUCATION WERE AMONG THE HIGHEST IN L.A.
CANDIDATE FOR THE CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY
WON THE ELECTION BUT THE ARMY DECLARED THE RESULTS FALSE
2. BUT THE MILITARY GAVE POWER TO COL. ARTURO ARMANDO MOLINA
3. 80% LIVED IN THE RURAL AREA & 40% OF THEM HAD NO LAND
4. THE MIDDLE CLASS & STUDENTS TRIED TO OUST THE RULING CLASS -- THEY WERE REPRESSED 5. DEATH SQUADS DATE TO 1972
6. 1979 GUERRILLA GROUPS WERE ESTABLISHED IN RURAL EL SALVADOR
b. THE JUNTA NATIONALIZED BANKS & TOOK CONTROL OF COFFEE & SUGAR SALES
c. LANDOWNERS BEGAN TO GUN DOWN PEASANTS
d. THE OPPOSITION HAD MOVED UNDERGROUND
2. HE WAS ASSASSINATED BY RIGHT WING TERRORISTS IN MARCH 1980
3. ONE WEEK LATER, U.S. APPROVED $5.7 ML. IN MILITARY AID
4. 50 ORGANIZATIONS JOIN IN THE REVOLUTIONARY DEMOCRATIC FRONT (FDR)
5. MAY 1980 600 SALVADORAN PEASANTS MASSACRED
6. NOV. 1980 5 ORGANIZATIONS FORMED UNDER FLMN (FARABUNDI MARTí LIBERATION FRONT)
7. DEC. 1980 3 AMERICAN NUNS WERE RAPED & MURDERED & 2 U.S. LAND REFORM ADVISERS WILL KILLED;
b. REAGAN'S CONCERN WAS SOLVING THESE MURDERS, NOT THOSE OF 1000s OF SALVADORANS
b. -CAPITALISM, NATIONALISM, ANTI-COMMUNISM
b. AT EL MAZOTE IN MORAZAN PROVINCE
c. THE ATLACATL BATALLION WAS TRAINED AND ARMED BY THE U.S.
d. IT JUSTIFIED ITS ACTIONS ON THE BASIS OF ELIMINATING "COMMUNIST SUBVERSION"
e. THE WHITE HOUSE & U.S. EMBASSY DENIED THE MASSACRE HAD TAKEN PLACE
a. RIGHT: D'AUBUISSON
b. CENTER (CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS): DUARTE
c. LEFT (DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTIONARY FRONT): BOYCOTTED
2. THE U.S. WAS SUPPORTING EL SALVADOR WITH $205 ML IN ECONOMIC AID & $26 ML. IN MILITARY AID
3. U.S. POLICY MADE DUARTE A TOOL FOR U.S. INTERESTS
4. HE HAD BEEN EDUCATED AT NOTRE DAME & WAS FAVORED BY U.S. POLICYMAKERS
5. THE U.S. COUNTED ON HIM TO UNDERCUT SUPPORT FOR THE GUERRILLAS
6. HE DISTRIBUTED LAND, BUT DID NOT DISPLACE THE OLIGARCHY
7. BUT ARENA OPPOSED LAND REFORM
8. IN 1987, THE FMLN TOOK 53 MUNICIPALITIES (ARENA WON 162), THE FMLN HELD 27 (OUT OF 84 DEPUTIES, OR REPRESENTATIVES), AND HECTOR SILVA BECAME MAYOR OF SAN SALVADOR
2. THE COLLECTIVES COULD NOT PAY OFF THE DEBTS
THEY WERE FORCED TAKE ON TO COMPENSATE THE LANDOWNERS FOR LAND REFORM
b. WITHOUT CREDIT THEY COULD NOT ACQUIRE FERTILIZERS
c. YIELDS DECLINED FORCING PEASANTS TO SELL THEIR LAND
2. 75,000 LIVES HAD BEEN LOST
3. 1992 FORENSIC INVESTIGATION OF EL MAZOTE
4. CURRENT PRESIDENT - ARMANDO CALDERON SOL
POLITICAL REASONS? (RE: COLD WAR) ECONOMIC REASONS? (RE: CAPITALISM)
2. IT PROVIDES NOTHING THE U.S. CANNOT GET EASILY ELSEWHERE
3. YET REAGAN MADE SUPPORT OF THE CORRUPT, MURDEROUS SALVADORAN MILITARY A CENTRAL PART OF HIS FOREIGN POLICY
4. HE DECLARED EL SALVADOR A "TEXTBOOK CASE" OF U.S. ABILITY TO WITHSTAND "SOVIET AGGRESSION"
b. EL SALVADOR BECAME A SYMBOL OF THE CLASH BETWEEN WORLD POWERS
2. HE REPORTED THIS THE THE U.S. CONGRESS
b. HE WAS SENT BACK TO EL SAVADOR
B. CONDITIONS:
("THE FMLN IS A MARXIST-LENINIST GUERRILLA ORGANIZATION..ATTEMPTING THE VIOLENT OVERTHROW OF THE LEGITIMATE, DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED GOVERNMENT OF EL SALVADOR)
...THEY MUST BE DEPORTED
2. BUT TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR ASYLUM, THEY HAD TO FEAR PERSECUTION FROM THE GOVERNMENT!
ALSO SEE PAGES ON THIS SITE WITH THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND FOR GUATEMALA AND NICARAGUA