Critical Code Switching: Effects on Democratization in El Salvador

The fact that hundreds of police officers, judges, investigators, presidential candidates, and of course thousands of Colombian citizens are murdered with the attitude of “so it goes” (Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five) shows that their Nation has been very badly damaged, psychologically as well as physically.

While María attempts to separate José Luis from his national orks Cited Americas Watch. 1991. El Salvador’s Decade of Terror: Human Rights since the Assassination of Archbishop Romero. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.

“Violence has been a prominent social response to the application of structural adjustment policies throughout Latin America. There are societies in which, things fall apart; the center cannot hold. Violence is a shared disease that seems to arise in all societies where there are profound social differences and exploitation…Many Latin

The bodies of those innocent people and rioters were left out in the streets at night for the public to dispose of, the family members would find the lifeless bodies. Catholic Churches began to bring in people of that time, it was the only haven for the people of El Salvador. There at the churches is when they began to be influenced by Oscar Romero. He spoke against the Army and the horrific actions they were taking against innocent people, and their children. Before his tragic death, Romero would receive horrible letters with death threats from death squads. Unfortunately, March 24th the leader was shot and killed by someone in the audience of that day’s Mass. Another leader against the Army was FMLN, ( The Farabundo Marti National Liberation), this group fought for the rights of the people.This all caused the military to kill the people, anyone who looked guilty. This murder of almost 30,000 people was called La Matanza, Farabundo Marti was later on arrested and put on death sentence. Another horrible murder happen to be with other members of church and innocent people, the victims were Six Jesuit priests,

In 1980 El Salvador’s civil war officially began. Thousands of people were kidnapped and killed. Church workers were abducted, raped and killed, yet again the peace talks did not begin until 1984 and the Peace Accords of El Salvador was not signed until 1992. Between those twelve years 75,000 people died as a result of the civil war and most of these people were completely innocent.

Throughout history, instances of genocide, mass murder, and extreme acts of violence are widespread and pervade through every culture and society. As demonstrated by Panh, Lifton, and O’Brien, similar examples of excessive violence can occur in widely different situations. In order for such violence to occur, there first must exist certain systematic factors. In this paper, I will argue that conditions of instability within a country allow for changes in belief and perception, and these changed perceptions leads to dehumanization and the loss of human rights. The Holocaust, the Cambodian genocide and the Vietnam War, all follow this pattern to some extent. First, I will compare and contrast the ways in which the Holocaust and Cambodian genocide follow this pattern, as well as explore the separate factors within each and possible solutions to these factors. Next, I will discuss the dramatically different Vietnam War, compare and contrast it to the other two, and explore how the uniqueness of the Vietnam War impacts the possible solutions for the loss of human rights within this situation.

Imagine living in a country where you know you could die at any moment but don’t know how much longer till it happens. That was how much of the population of El Salvador used to feel when the government could not control the big coffee corporations. These out of control

For twelve years (1980-1992), El Salvador suffered this brutal civil war and saw some of the worst human rights abuses in Latin American history. The government refused to attend peace talks by the FMLN and the FMLN refused to participate in elections knowing it results would be rigged. The military tried to kill all suspected rebels and the FMLN damaged anything that supported the government’s economy. Throughout the war there was so much human rights violations such as subjecting civilians to torture, forced disappearance, extrajudicial killing, mutilation, mass rape, massacres, summary executions, landmines and indiscriminate bombing. As the result, by the end of the civil war about 75,000 people were killed, sadly most of which were civilians in the wrong place at the wrong time. The intensity of military repression and constant fear provoked massive northern migration to the United States. By the mid-1980s almost one-fifth of the Salvadoran population was living in the United

Death squads and disappearances caused mental anguish to so many citizens of countries plagued with war all over Latin America, just like Lupe and her family. Gabriel Garcia Marquez poses the question, “why could social justice not be a goal for Latin America?” Countries in Latin America like Nicaragua, Guatemala, EL Salvador, Argentina, and Chile were striving for social justice. Some even had democratic elections and were on the right path but the fear of communism that plagued the United States since the beginning of the Cold War halted any of the progress Latin American countries could have even made. Any sort of progress, whether it was farmers and peasants like José forming unions and organizations fighting for human rights, or democratically elected presidents like Arbenz or Allende that fought for agrarian reform and nationalization of resources was completely shut down either directly or indirectly by the United States. Social justice was definitely a goal for Latin America. The region is not filled with savages that can’t grasp democracy; even Marquez “rejected the idea that ‘violence and pain’ was the natural condition of the region.” The United States halted and set aside any progress for social justice in Latin America because it feared losing its powerful influence in the

The truce was done between the Catholic Church, the government and the two largest gangs in Salvador, MS13 and Barrio 18. The government had negotiated a peace deal between the two gangs say that they would stop the violence or at least reduce it and wouldn’t be broken. Also, they had to submit to the commands of the government to reduce the killings and make peace zone where the government would start programs allowing more jobs and education. In exchange, the government lets the gang's leader move into a medium security prison. After the truce, the homicides have dropped from about 17 deaths a day to about 6 a day. There has been declining in death, but there was an increase of disappearances. It didn’t take too long before the truce was truly starting to fall apart. Homicide rates began to rise December 2013. Various bodies were dismembered in La Libertad Department, which meant that Barrio 18 was behind it. In the first three-month of 2015, the murder rates were as much as they were in 2012, which signaled the ending of the truce. There have been a lot of theories about why the truce happened. Some think that the truce was discussed, and they gangs were paid. Others say the truce only made to decrease death, but had nothing to do with the fact extrusion and drug trafficking. Whichever the reason for the truce was made, it had failed, and murders have increased as well as police

In accordance with Jorge Juarez of UIGCS, the seminar's goal was to "make known to the public a version of the war's historical facts, without passions, without ideology, that presents the truth of the facts" (Britannica, p.2). In spite of all the studies that look at what happened in the civil war in El Salvador, they still have not discovered the underlying causes. This is especially tragic, as studies show almost 75,000 people died during those massacres. Countries throughout the world supported El Salvador during this long rough period of

As the civil war in El Salvador carried on from 1980 through 1992, thousands migrated into the United States in search of better living conditions. Many of the Salvadorian families established themselves amongst Latino Neighborhoods, especially in the Los Angeles area. Salvadorians were essentially at the bottom of the food chain were they found discrimination and the struggle of being in a foreign country. As a result, they created gangs as self defense groups for the Latino community, many used the phrase, “Vivo por mi madre, muero pro mi barrio” as a promise to defend their neighborhoods and their people (Garsd, J., 2015).

The first Ley Anti-Mara was immediately controversial. It criminalized gang association, allowing El Salvadoran police forces to arrest and imprison suspected gang members on the spot. The law also allowed the courts to try suspected gang members under the age of eighteen as adults. Moreover, the Ley Anti-Mara spells out a list of criminal offenses such as harassing a person on neighborhood streets in a threatening manner, fighting in groups of two or more in a public setting, and communicating or identifying themselves with maras by way of signs or tattoos.

Immigration policy is in the news again as Congress and President Obama wrestling with how best to deal with a rising tide of undocumented immigrants, particularly, children from Central American countries like El Salvador. Salvadoran immigration to the United States has been fairly recent, intensifying in the late 80’s and

After colonization-”La Matanza” Twentieth century El Salvador is made up of violence, suffering, and hardships. After the independence of El Salvador, the elite took control of this country which produced discontent amongst the lower classes. During the 1920’s this discontent grew because of political abuse and increased poverty. According to John Chasteen in Born In Blood and Fire, Salvadoran indigenous people were pushed into volcanic land by the