The El Salvadorian Truth Commission and its Cooperation with Regional, National and International Actors
Abstract:
Introduction and Political Background
Between 1980 and 1991, El Salvador[1] went through a violent civil war which broke out when the introduction of new agricultural and social reforms failed. The reforms aimed at changing the unequal ownerships in the countryside and at the limitation of power of the small but mighty “coffee oligarchy”[2]. Thus the civil war was primarily a social class war fuelled by economic inequality and corrupt political elite. The Salvadorian military suppressed all (preceding) attempts to limit the power of this small elite group. As it became clear in 1980 that the latest striving for reform failed, five communist and revolutionary groups joined to a coalition named “Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional” (FMLN; National Liberation Front Farabundo Martí). In 1981, the FMLN called up the people of El Salvador for an armed rebellion against the Salvadorian regime. The following civil war cost approximately 75,000 lives and led to the displacement and emigration of roughly 1.2 million people out of a population of six million.[3] Under the patronage of the United Nations and in cooperation with the Colombian, Spanish, Mexican and Venezuelan Governments, peace negotiations started in 1988 / 1989. In the following three years tough negotiations between the FMLN and the Salvadorian Government led to the signature of several agreements in order to achieve peace. In the contracts, the parties agreed on reformation of the military and of the police, the improvement of the legal and electoral system, as well as the official acknowledgement of Human Rights. By mediation of the United Nation (UN) Secretary-General at that time Javier Pérez de Cuéllar an extensive peace agreement called “Acuerdos de Chapultepec” (Agreement of Chapultepec) was signed on January 16, 1992. The first post civil war elections in March 1994 was won by the Nationalist Republican Alliance with 68% of the votes and Afredo Cristiani who was president since 1989, kept his position.[4]
Between 1979 and 1993, eleven Latin American countries passed through a transition from authoritarian to democratic governance – usually accompanied by civil violence. Every society that goes through a period of violence will sooner or later face the difficult challenge of how best to deal with the past. Seven of these countries have used a Truth Commission (TC) to work up the committed crimes[5]. Based on a proposal of the UN, the peace agreement of El Salvadorforesaw the establishment of a TC to examine the “serious acts of violence that have occurred since 1980…” committed by the Government and the FMLN “…and whose impact on society urgently demands that the public should know the truth”[6]. The TC was called the Commission on the Truth for El Salvador (Comisión de la Verdad Para El Salvador, CVES) and operated between July 1992 and March 1993.
This paper examines and describes the cooperation between the CVES and international, national and regional actors. Subsequent to the provision of elementary background information about TC’s, this assignment critically reviews the cooperation of international actors such as the United Nations, the USA and the Organization of American States with the CVES. Afterwards, the nature of cooperation with the El Salvadorian Government, the military, the Supreme Court and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights as national actors will be investigated. An assessment to what extent civil rights organizations as national actors cooperated with the CVES and how the TCs staff and its appointment were linked to it will follow. The (catholic) church, as it is an important national and a regional actor, and its cooperation with the CVES is presented in the following chapter which completes the framework of examination. Based on such analyses it will finally be elucidated and demonstrated that there was extensive cooperation such as with the UN for instance; though, occasionally cooperation did not take place in an adequate way, especially with the Government and the military.
[1] Cf. Overview 1 for a map of El Salvador.
[2] During this period coffee was the most important agricultural export product but only a few families had access to the knowhow of the cultivation of coffee. Thus only fourteen families controlled and owned the coffee plantations, the coffee’s processing and trade. They as well controlled all bigger banks and invested big amounts into the industrial and service sector. Therefore a middle class or a strong work force could not been established. Cf. Zinecker (2004: 24)
[3] Cf. Paris (2007: 214)
[4] Cf. Ib. (2007: 214 – 16)
[5] Argentina (1984), Bolivia (1984), Uruguay (1985), Chile (1991), Honduras (1993), El Salvador (1993), Haiti (1995)
[6] Cf. Report of the Commission on the Truth for E Salvador (1993: 12)
