Armed Forces of El Salvador

In the 19th century, soldiers in El Salvador may have been nominally employed by the governing body. However, if not paid their wage, the soldiers would supplement their income as mercenaries and militia for local politicians and landowners.[4]

In the late 19th century, El Salvador went through a period of internal discord. In 1871, Santiago Gonzales seized power by military coup. General Carlos Ezeta did the same in 1890 and General Rafael Gutierrez in 1894.[5] However, these changes in power were fought between networks of rival landowners (coffee barons) and politicians under their patronage rather than between official military and government forces.[4]

Military operations in El Salvador continued in a similar way until the early 20th century.[5] During the Great Depression, coffee prices fell, the wages of indigenous Salvadoran workers were cut and unemployment was widespread. For three days in 1932, the indigenous workers rebelled.[6] The ruling general, Maximiliano Hernández Martínez (1882 – 1966), responded with force. Under his command, the national army proper, slaughtered up to 40,000 peasants.[7]

Twelve years of autocratic rule followed. Martínez withheld democratic and civil rights. On 2 March 1944, a Palm Sunday, the landowners, intellectuals, students and also some sections of the Salvadoran armed forces rebelled. The First Infantry Regiment and the Second Artillery Regiment of San Salvador joined the rebels as did the Garrison of Santa Ana. Santa Ana was bombed from the air.[8] The rebellion was put down by the remaining loyal sections of the military. Reprisals of torture and execution of those who had joined the rebellion followed. Martial law was put in place. However, in May 1944, non-violent protest leading to a general strike caused Martinez to fall from power.[9]

During the years that followed, young military officers became increasingly dissatisfied with their situation. They saw the generals clinging to senior posts for which they had little training and without making way for the younger officers. They saw the generals failing to prepare for the social and economic changes coming to Central America. They objected to unfair disciplinary measures and unfair surveillance. In 1948, fighting broke out between the younger officers and troops under their command and the senior generals and the police force under their command. The president, Salvador Castaneda Castro (1888 – 1965) was imprisoned. Senior officers and politicians were dismissed. The new government promoted the formation of a truly national, apolitical and professional army in El Salvador.[10]

From 1947 to 1953, El Salvador held an agreement with the US whereby an American military aviation mission would be sent to El Salvador; El Salvador would seek advice from the US preferentially and purchase arms from the US.[11][12] Some Salvadoran military officers were trained in North America and the Panama Canal Zone. Nevertheless, the amount of American military aid purchased by El Salvador in the 1950s was small; just enough in munitions and light arms to suppress internal conflict such as communist activity.[10]

In the 1950s, Salvadoran men underwent one year of national service before being discharged to a reserve army. They then underwent further training on a regular basis and could be called to join active provincial patrols (patrullas cantonalles). Regular meetings of the men were held reinforcing loyalty to the nation and opposition to communism. Men from disadvantaged circumstances were offered monetary and practical assistance and education for their children. The number of reservists grew to approximately 40,000.[10]

In the 1960s, a junta of conservative military officers and landowners took power in a coup and then organised elections. In 1961, the junta's candidate Lieutenant Colonel Julio Adalberto Rivera was elected president. In 1967, Colonel Fidel Sanchez Hernandez became president.[13]

In 1969, tensions between El Salvador and Honduras increased. There was dispute concerning the border between the two countries. Approximately 300,000 Salvadorans had moved to Honduras due to population and land pressures in their homeland but Honduras had not renewed the El Salvador – Honduras Bilateral Treaty on Immigration. Honduras and El Salvador were competitors in the Central American Common Market. Honduras' economy was struggling and the Honduran Government started to deport the Salvadorans who they saw as illegal immigrants. Many Salvadorans fled after their Vice Consul was killed.[14][15][16] In June 1969, El Salvador played three games against Honduras in the qualifying rounds of the World Cup.[5]^: 64 Then, on 26 June 1969, El Salvador won a play-off game 3 goals to 2 against Haiti, taking a place in the cup finals.[17]

On 14 July 1969, armed hostilities began between El Salvador and Honduras. Due to the war's proximity to the World Cup qualifying games, it was called the "Football War" or the "Soccer War".

At this time, the Salvadoran forces included approximately 8,000 infantrymen with rifles, machine guns, mortars and bazookas, 105 mm cannons and a few armoured personnel carriers. Very few arms were manufactured in El Salvador. Most arms were supplied by the US. Honduras' infantry was smaller and less well equipped.[18]

The Salvadoran Air Force, flying P-51 Mustangs, attacked Honduran targets and vice versa, but each air force had only a few working aeroplanes and was hampered by a lack of spare parts.[5]^: 64 El Salvador's infantry forces invaded Honduras and took Ocotepeque.[16][18][19]

As Salvadoran troops approached Tegucigalpa, their supply lines failed, they became exhausted and were slowed by heavy rainfall, and their morale fell. On July 18, 1969, the Organization of American States (OAS) organised a ceasefire. Then as economic sanctions and an arms embargo took effect, both sides. The war lasted for four days and therefore is also called the "one hundred hour war".[18]

The Salvadoran Civil War was fought between 1979 and 1992. The Salvadoran armed forces fought the Frente Farabundo Marti para la Liberacion Nacional (FMLN), a coalition of insurgent guerrilla groups. The war began when a reformist government was suppressed by hard line military elements and by landowners.[20]

Between 1980 and 1983, the Salvadoran armed forces were driven out of territory controlled by large FMLN groups in rural areas. The FMLN membership later increased to over 12,000 when the organisation was able to provide local governance and services.[5]^: 10 The government responded with counter-insurgency actions including the assassination of the archbishop, Oscar Romero (1917 – 1980).[21]

In late 1981, soldiers of the national armed forces' Atlácatl Battalion, a rapid response troop, killed 900 civilians at El Mozote. This was one of a number of actions including rapes, bashings, torture and killings. Men of this battalion were graduates of the US School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Columbus, Georgia.[22] Another atrocity occurred on 16 November 1989. Army soldiers murdered six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter at the Central American University.[23]

In 1989, the armed forces of El Salvador had raised 56,000 fighting men with 63 aeroplanes and 72 helicopters.[5]^: 11 Between 1983 and 1987, El Salvador's military forces received over 100 million dollars per year from the US.[24]

In 1990, at the end of the Cold War, the US restricted funding to the Salvadoran military. The US found its rigorous measures against left wing groups were no longer needed. This and the lack of advantage on either side led to the end of the war in 1992.[25]

Under the terms of the Chapultepec Peace Accords which had been signed on 16 January 1992 in Chapultepec, Mexico, the Salvadoran Armed Forces was to be subordinated and removed from the political arena.[10] The Ministry of Defense handed the role of internal security to a new body, the National Police Force. The number of soldiers in the Armed Forces was reduced by half. Counter-insurgency forces were demobilised. Military intelligence units reported directly to the president. The constitutional mission, doctrine and recruitment and educational systems of the Armed Forces were redefined.[5]

During the civil war, military and right wing paramilitary death squads used exemplary violence with murder and mutilation, massacre and forced displacement to gain control of the populace.[26] In 1993, a General Amnesty Law was passed by the Salvadoran government. Victims of human rights violations had no redress. International human rights entities such as the UNHCR made formal objections to the law. Spain found jurisdiction in the matter and indicted twenty retired soldiers who were officers at the time of the killings.[27]

For many reasons, the armed forces resisted the application of the requirement of the Peace Accord. Junior officers who had volunteered to work in security units did not want to be treated as raw army recruits when their units disbanded. Senior officers feared the autonomy of the military's core activities, such as training, would be lost. Military leaders feared that the loss of military units in rural areas would lead to social and political unrest. The civilian population feared that officers purged from military ranks for human rights violations would join right wing paramilitary organisations.[10] ^: 159

An unidentified Salvadoran special forces Soldier in Camp Charlie in Al Hillah, Iraq, April 14, 2005

From 2003 to January 2009, the Salvadoran armed forces were part of the Multi-National Force – Iraq. El Salvador deployed more than 500 troops, mostly paratroopers and special forces. During the conflict, five Salvadoran soldiers were killed in action and more than 50 were wounded. Salvadoran forces operated next to the Spanish Legion and the U.S. Army. They were well regarded by both Spanish and U.S. forces.[28][29] The last of the Salvadoran forces withdrew from Iraq in 2009. They were the last Central Americans allies to withdraw from the conflict.

In 2016, a new armed force was raised in El Salvador with the remit of stopping criminal gangs (especially MS-13) and narcotrafficking.[30]

In 2021, the strength of the Salvadoran armed forces was estimated to be 24,500 active presonnel.[2]