El Salvador: From Bloody Civil War to Devastating Criminal Violence During 1979-1992 El Salvador was engaged in a civil war, with the government fighting the rural indigenous citizens. Violence and gang culture were taking over the country and creating a cycle that can’t be easily broken. El Salvador’s citizens were searching for new power, opportunities, and a way out of poverty. El Salvador’s geography left their country and people extremely exposed to invasions. The people had to create a certain image in order to keep their country safe. “To survive, El Salvador had to develop tough-and often violent-stance toward the outside world” (37,38). This situation is one of the many reasons that gang violence is so present in El Salvador. The country is only connected to one ocean (the pacific) and is surrounded by …show more content…
The U.S, entered El Salvador and trained young men in combat. They taught them how to win a war. After they left and left the country in chaos and the men with only one skill. How to fight. As Kris said in the discussion “The U.S. is training soldiers and then leaving the country with hundreds of men with only one skill”. The country was left in distraught after the war with families torn apart, and with no paying income for these men anymore they had to find a new way to earn a living. These men turned too gangs, gangs would allow them to use their strengths and earn money in their country. Yet because of El Salvador’s overpowering neighbors drug exports and imports wouldn’t be the more efficient way to make money. So again they moved to the U.S. where they hoped to dominate gangs and drug distributing. The El Salvadorian gangs were greeted by more violence in the U.S. and with a higher tolerance to violence they received their title as aggressive and violent people, when they were only trying to keep their image and defend
Before reading this, I, like I am sure so many others, had no idea of the magnitude of injustices that can occur during these conflicts. Also, this was not very long ago, nor far away, and it speaks volumes of the differences in government ideology and politics. El Salvador is an extreme case of how a government will treat its citizens. Massacre at El Mozote truly was an eye-opener and I doubt I will soon forget it.
When focusing on Nicaragua one will need to pay close attention to the rebel group called the Sandinistas who took over Nicaragua’s previous dictator, Anastasio Somoza in 1979, in which the United States Congress decided it would be best to provide them with aid that lasted till 1981.1 Nicaragua’s geographic location made it a big concern for President Reagan based on his philosophy that surrounded the Reagan Doctrine. At that point, President Reagan ended the aid deal and adamantly advised that support be sent to those who were trying to over throw the new socialized, Sandinista leadership.2 Furthermore, the Nicaraguan’s were dealing with some of the worst warfare ever, by the mass killings that took place, which were at the mercy of death squads.3 This gruesome realization allowed President Reaga...
The war on crime is constantly being fought in El Salvador. El Salvador is one of the
The Civil War in El Salvador lasted from 1980 to 1992, and the El SAlvadoran government was doing their best to minimize the threat of their opposition. Their main opposition, The Frente Farabundo Marti Para La Liberacion Nacional; otherwise known as the FMLN, was a guerrilla group that was organized to fight the corruption in the country. 175). One of the main goals of the organization was to create a new society that is not degrading its citizens and promotes equality. Throughout El Salvador’s history, one organization to the next would run the country through repressive actions and social injustice. One of the main reasons that the FMLN fought the acting government were due to these social restraints on the lower- class citizens in El Salvador.
America had begun to indulge in the unilateral environment afforded to it during the Cold War. As the Soviet Union began to collapse in the 1980s, the United States was on its way to becoming a solo super power. This acquisition of complete power would inevitably lead the country into new problems, including those foreign and domestic. One of the main issues that came around in the 1980s for the Unites States was the Iran-Contra Affair, which involved the Reagan Administration. With the United States readily inserting influence across the globe, the Iran-Contra Affair proved how foreign intervention can lead to scandal and disgrace in the modern world. Along with detrimental scandals, the Iran-Contra Affair showed how America’s imperialistic behavior in South America was beginning to catch up. In order to remain a dominant influence in South America, the United States had no choice but to topple governments that did not align with American ideology. Using guerillas like the Contras insinuates America’s cornerstone of doing what is necessary in order to satisfy foreign interest.
This essay will study the Central Intelligence Agency’s intervention in Guatemala, and how they assisted Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas in the coup d’état against Jacobo Arbenz. It will describe the reasons of the intervention, the United States’ interest in Guatemala, and how it affected Guatemalans. Such events help explain much about the role that the United States has in their own migration. The paper argues that the United States’ political interest in Guatemala played a fundamental role in the migration of Guatemalans to its borders. As a result of this intervention, Guatemala suffered one of its worse political periods in their history. Guatemala experienced a period of political instability that led the country into social chaos, where many Guatemalans opted to migrate to the United States.
From the time of its colonization at the hands of Spanish Conquistadors in the early 1500’s, Guatemala has suffered under the oppression of dictator after dictator. These dictators, who ruled only with the support of the military and only in their own interests, created a form of serfdom; by 1944, two percent of the people owned 70 percent of the usable land.
Guatemala held democratic elections in 1944 and 1951, they resulted in leftist government groups holding power and rule of the country. Intervention from the United States and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) backed a more conservative military minded regime. A military coup took place in 1954 to over throw the elected government and install the rule of Carlos Castillo Armas. Carlos Armas was a military general before the coup and with the CIA orchestrated operation he was made President from July 8th 1954 until his assassination in 1957. Upon his assassination, similar militant minded presidents rose to power and continued to run the country. Due to the nature of military dictatorship, in 1960, social discontent began to give way to left wing militants made up of the Mayan indigenous people and rural peasantry. This is the match that lit Guatemala’s Civil War, street battles between the two groups tore the country and pressured the autocratic ruler General Miguel Ydigoras Fuentes to fight harder against the civilian insurrection. Similar to the government Abductions th...
April 9, 1948, was a tragic day in Colombia’s history. On this day, Jorge Eliécer Gaítán, a candidate for the presidency of Colombia, was assassinated. In the 10 hour period that followed the assassination, angry mobs marched throughout the city of Bogota, looting and burning down over 100 buildings. Before the night would end, nearly 3,000 people would die in the streets. This terrible event in Colombia’s history is today referred to as the Bogotazo. This paper examines some of the underlying reasons contributing to the outbreak of this violence and the events that transpired during the Bogotazo. The paper concludes that the events leading to the violence of the Bogotazo are still present in Colombia today and will hamper its prospects for peace in the future.
This was the US verse the USSR, with the idea of democracy against communism. Because of the mutual assurance of destruction, there was no direct fighting between Soviet Union and America, but instead other tactics were used to prevent the spreading of communism (The Cold War). In effort to prevent this, America went to extreme measures, becoming secretive in the way in which they handled situations. In the Red Scare, a time in which American’s feared communists in the country, citizens were analyzed to determine if they were spies for Soviet, or against America’s government values. Innocent Americans were accused of these assumptions, sent to jail, shunned from society, creating a large amount of mistrust with the citizens and government. Other events during the Cold War included Coup d’états led by the American government. These consisted of actions intended to change another country’s government, in a forceful way. In 1954, the Guatemalan coup d’état was carried out by the United States CIA to change Guatemala’s government, as they feared they were taking communist actions. This took place during the Guatemalan revolution, where the reforms happening included minimum wage laws, and increase in education funding. This affected the United Fruit Company; an American company ran in Guatemala. The United Fruit Company owned 47% of Guatemalan land, most of which was unused. During the reform, Guatemala’s government redistributed that unused land to citizens, causing America to become upset (1954 Guatemalan Coup D’état). With the minimum wage laws, the UFC would also have to pay their workers more in order to stay, and they were against that. The hope was to end foreign companies leading Guatemala, but because of events around the world, the US took this as a communist threat. America teamed up with dictator Carlos Castillo Armas, to scare Guatemala into thinking he had a huge army of men coming to potentially
In El Salvador, in the late 1970’s, there was major political unrest. El Salvador had a military government, that oppressed the lower class, and tried to keep them poor. The military controlled everyone and everything in the country, and if someone opposed them, they would torture and murder the offender. The poor were fighting for their rights, but due to the militaries immense power, they labeled the poor as communists, causing others to think the country was in danger of communist influences. This caused a group known as Guerillas to rise up and fight the military. The Vatican appointed Oscar Romero, a bishop in El Salvador, to the position of Archbishop, as they believed his calm nature would prevent him from getting involved in the crisis.
The root cause of the conflicts that occurred before, during and after the civil war in El Salvador is the disparity between the rich and the poor. Built upon the backs of the colonial system introduced by the Spaniards during the colonial period, the hacienda system, sustaining unequal distribution of wealth and land, polarized the country. While the Spaniards acquired labor through the economienda system in which the Spanish crown gave a set number of natives to Spanish elites, the elites acquired land through haciendas. Attempting to exploit the production of cash crops and monopolize agriculture, the Spanish elites made haciendas, large landowning estates. (Kraft)
To begin understanding the intricate sociopolitical situation faced in Honduras today and causing migration, the rich history of the nation must be understood. Honduras is a country with a
El Salvador (The republic of The Savior) is known to be the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America. San Salvador has been announced as the Capital City. It is considered to an important cultural and commercial center for the whole Central America. It borders with Guatemala, Honduras, The Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Fonseca. It’s the only country in this region not on the Caribbean Sea.
El Salvador is in Central America and borders the Pacific Ocean. It is between Guatemala and Honduras. Its land area is 8,000 square mile, and its water area is 199 square miles. Most of El Salvador’s land is covered in mountains ranges. El Salvador's highest land elevation is a mountain shared with Honduras called Cerro El Pital and is 9,000 feet above sea level. The lowest land elevation in El Salvador is the Pacific Ocean at 0 miles below sea level. El Salvador is divided into three different land regions. The first region is on a hot, narrow, pacific belt. The second region is made up of the central plateau betwee...