By: Daniel Nardini
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the end of El Salvador’s brutal and bloody civil war. In 1992, the Salvadoran government and the FMLN (Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front) guerrillas who had been fighting the government signed a peace treaty. Under the terms of the treaty the FMLN gave up their weaponry and became a political party. Elections were held and monitored by the United Nations. The Salvadoran civil war, which had lasted from 1980 to 1992, had killed 75,000 Salvadorans. Even today that civil war has left indelible scars on the minds of the people. It tore families apart, destroyed whole villages, and many towns and villages still have debris left from that war. One of the biggest current problems from that war has been the fracturing of families. Because so many families were torn apart, one of the end results has been the growth of gangs. Many young people, who grew up without mothers or fathers, became ideal recruits for the gangs. The gang problem has gotten so bad that El Salvador has one of the highest murder rates in the Americas.
In an effort to decrease the gang violence, the Salvadoran government has called out the army to deal with the problem. But the real problems that spawned the gangs—fractured families and dire poverty—are issues the government has to tackle first. This has not been easy due to not only the tragedy of the civil war but of a major earthquake that occurred on January 13, 2001. Part of the earthquake caused a massive landslide that killed 800 people. The resulting poverty and violence in El Salvador sent many Salvadorans to the United States. Despite all that El Salvador has suffered, the country has overall achieved economic stability. Agriculture has recovered and small businesses have made a comeback in that country. While most Salvadorans are still poor, many Salvadorans are able to now create businesses and make a living that had eluded them before and certainly during the civil war. The country’s political system has made great strides in stability. The country became a multi-party democracy. And in a show of major change, the FMLN, which had been the opposing side in the civil war, was finally elected to power in 2009. The FMLN party president, Mauricio Funes, a former journalist, is now heading a left of center government. Such an election would have been unthinkable 20 years before.
Funes has officially apologized to the country and the Salvadoran people for the government massacre of over 1,000 innocent villagers in the village of El Mozote. Will those who were involved in the massacre be held accountable for the crime? That has yet to be seen. Just as equally questionable is if members of the now ruling FMLN will be held accountable for whatever atrocities they were guilty of committing during that civil war. I believe that the greatest miracle of El Salvador is that it has recovered as well as it has given how long and bloody the civil war was, and how much bad blood there remains from that time. A lot of the things that El Salvador has accomplished since the peace treaty was signed are amazing given the circumstances. The 20th anniversary of the end of the Salvadoran civil war has given the country something it did not have back then: hope.
Since the End of the Salvadoran Civil War
By: Daniel Nardini
In an effort to decrease the gang violence, the Salvadoran government has called out the army to deal with the problem. But the real problems that spawned the gangs—fractured families and dire poverty—are issues the government has to tackle first. This has not been easy due to not only the tragedy of the civil war but of a major earthquake that occurred on January 13, 2001. Part of the earthquake caused a massive landslide that killed 800 people. The resulting poverty and violence in El Salvador sent many Salvadorans to the United States. Despite all that El Salvador has suffered, the country has overall achieved economic stability. Agriculture has recovered and small businesses have made a comeback in that country. While most Salvadorans are still poor, many Salvadorans are able to now create businesses and make a living that had eluded them before and certainly during the civil war. The country’s political system has made great strides in stability. The country became a multi-party democracy. And in a show of major change, the FMLN, which had been the opposing side in the civil war, was finally elected to power in 2009. The FMLN party president, Mauricio Funes, a former journalist, is now heading a left of center government. Such an election would have been unthinkable 20 years before.
Funes has officially apologized to the country and the Salvadoran people for the government massacre of over 1,000 innocent villagers in the village of El Mozote. Will those who were involved in the massacre be held accountable for the crime? That has yet to be seen. Just as equally questionable is if members of the now ruling FMLN will be held accountable for whatever atrocities they were guilty of committing during that civil war. I believe that the greatest miracle of El Salvador is that it has recovered as well as it has given how long and bloody the civil war was, and how much bad blood there remains from that time. A lot of the things that El Salvador has accomplished since the peace treaty was signed are amazing given the circumstances. The 20th anniversary of the end of the Salvadoran civil war has given the country something it did not have back then: hope.