current history of el salvador
...-minded wing of the military ousted the extreme right-winged government of General Romero and established a revolutionary junta. Duarte (PDC), who was more left than the previous government but more right than extreme leftist guerrilla groups, headed this provisional government. The junta initiated a land reform program, the first stage of the nation’s most important economic change since the abolition of common lands a century before. Elections for a constituent assembly in March 1982 divided power between the PDC and two right-winged parties, the PCN and the National Republican Alliance (ARENA). Following those elections, the assembly agreed on transferring authority to a new provisional president, Alvaro Magana Borja. In 1983, under the new president’s guidance, the major parties agreed to a new constitution, which provided for a new democratic political process and involved the essential principles of economic reform. Duarte won the 1984 presidential election and the following 1985 National Assembly election resulted in an absolute majority held by the PDC. Duarte failed to make progress towards both negotiations on settlement of the war and social and economic reforms. In the 1988 National Assembly election, ARENA won majority and in 1989 its candidate, Alfredo Cristiani, won the presidential election. As civil war continued on over this period, the FMLN and the government attempted to negotiate peace several times. Those attempts were founded on two key issues: the future role, control, and structure of the military and the integration of the FMLN into the national political sphere. The two sides could never meet each others needs and resulted in the continuation of guerrilla activity from the extreme left, and terror tactics and assassinations from the extreme right-winged “death squads”. The FMLN launched a nation-wide offensive in November of 1989, which proved to be the most formidable challenge to the government in 10 years of civil war. In early 1990 however, following a request from the Central American presidents, the United Nations became involved in an effort to mediate talks between the two sides. In April, representatives of the government and the FMLN met in Geneva, Switzerland under the chairmanship of the UN Secretary-General. Following a series of difficult negotiations, the two sided came to a final agreement on December 31, 1991. This agreement, called the Chapultepec Accords, was signed in Mexico City on January 16, 1992 and on February 1 a formal cease-fire was implemented. Finally, the day of December 15 marked the official end of the conflict, was named National Reconciliation Day, and marked the official recognition of the FMLN as a legitimate political party. During the course of the 12-year war, an estimated 80,000 people were killed, and the US government donated a staggering $6 billion to the Salvadorian government's war effort, despite knowledge of atrocities carried out by the military. Under a new government, the Truth Commission identified 103 military personnel alleged to have participated in human rights abuses in the civil war, but the government was reluctant to remove them from the armed forces. This delayed the demobilization of the FMLN forces. Finally in 1993, under international pressure, the military personnel identified by the Commission were dismissed. Although political violence and human rights violations had decreased since the end of the war, criminal violence increased as a result of unaccounted weapons circulating from the war. These were the leading issues of the 1994 elections. These elections posed the first time the people of El Salvador could express their political preferences peacefully, freely, and fairly. The three major contending parties were...