What Are The Two Sides Of El Salvador Civil War

Imagine if you had a younger sibling or relatives between the ages nine through eighteen. What if they were forced to be sent to fight in the war at such a young age. But in Sierra Leone, that is not the case. Many children within that area were taken from their own homes and were threatened to become adult soldiers. As for the book, "A Long Way Gone” wrote by Ishmael Beah and the movie "Blood Diamond", shows a briefly description of how young innocent children were obligated to be committed to be a soldier. Most of the children were restrained from leaving the different rankings that they were sent to.

Today’s violence in El Salvador consists of ruthless gang members. According to CRS (Congressional Research Service) about 30,000 kids have joined the maras and it will continue to increase. Due to the gang violence, children are fleeing the country to prevent from becoming victims or recruited, furthermore families are streaming into the U.S to seek asylum. Alike today, El Salvador experienced the same immigration crisis back in 1980 when the civil war was the cause for Salvadorans to immigrate to the United Sates. Repression and violation of human rights was the root cause, now gang violence is the root cause striking a similar pattern of the effects of violence. In 1980, El Salvador’s right-wing government had death squads to kill citizens for suspicion of supporting a social reform. Military soldiers attacked many villages, including El Mozote in which men, women, and children were tortured and subjected to sexual violence.

Given these circumstances, El Salvador’s economy was largely shaped by the Guatemalan elite. Although, Guatemala had size and power, El Salvador was able to resist takeovers but it left them tough and often violent, leaving the perfect atmosphere to foster El Salvador’s gangs. Likewise, El Salvador has also had a history of violence because of the Salvadoran Civil War that lasted from 1979 to 1992. This civil war took the lives of approximately 80,000 soldiers and civilians in El Salvador (Wood, 1). The Civil War separated families as some were granted temporary protection in the United States during the war, and while others lived as undocumented migrants. Once the war ended, many migrants were sent back to El Salvador where conditions were not good. With a government recovering from a war, gangs saw an opportunity to build and start battling for territory. There are an estimated 25,000 gang members at large in El Salvador, while roughly another 9,000 are in prison (Guillermoprieto, 2). The two major gangs that rule El Salvador are MS13, which stands for Mara Salvatrucha, and Barrio 18, which references “18th Street” in Los

To get a proper understanding of El Salvador’s civil war we need to begin in the 1930s, the Salvadoran government was generating a lot of profit from goods being sold, unfortunately the wealth was only given to 2% of the population. Augustin Marti formed the socialist party that led peasants and indigenous against the government. When the government heard this they gave the approval for military death squads, which would kill anyone who looked

There was a major split in the people of El Salvador, The rich and the poor. That is when the riot began. Many innocent people were killed by the government, as long as you looked apart of the massacre, the national guard would kill you. On December 3rd, 1980, Three nuns

The Massacre at El Mozote as told by Mark Danner takes place El Salvador. El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America. It shares borders with Guatemala and Honduras. El Salvador is divided into 14 departments and El Mozote is a village in one of the Departments called Morazan. According to the author, the Salvadoran Civil War 1979-1992 was a conflict waged by the Military led Government of El Salvador and coalition of left-leaning militias or guerillas called the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN).The FMLN was supported by peasants and indigenous Indian people. The United States supported the El Salvador Military government.

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.

There has been many long term effects from the civil war in El Salvador. The war lasted about 12 years from 1980 to 1992, and El salvador is still dealing with old issues from that time. It was the darkest times in El Salvador’s history. The inequality of social classes, poverty,and military rule led Salvadorians to revolt against their own government.

El Salvador is a small and beautiful country in Central America bordered by Honduras, Guatemala, and the Pacific Ocean. During recent years, violence and poverty have plagued the country due to over-population and class struggles. “The civil war in El Salvador began in 1980 to 1992 due to discontent with social inequalities, a poor economy, and the repressive measures of dictatorship” (Wiarda, p. 213). There remains conflict between the rich and the poor, this has existed for more than a century and is still a big problem.

The Civil War was also called the Boys War because of the large number of boys entering the war. Although there was age restrictions for both sides, young boys found ways to get around it. One thing they would do is lie about their age to recruitment officers. Recruitment officers would not care about the lie because they had to meet a deadline. Another way to get around it will be to get parental permission some dads would sign their sons up cause the dads would also be going to war. The last way kids get around this is that they would run away from homes to get recruited in another town and rename themselves so there parents won’t find them but the downside to this is that they would never be heard of again if they die in battle.

The social condition in El Salvador concerning the people was divided from wealthy people to poor campesinos. Discriminated against the campesinos because the people with the power in the community want to control what they do and don’t want them to do nothing for them. Poor housing because there houses are not build in the proper way for a person to live

At birth, many families struggled to keep their children alive until adulthood. The countries poverty prevented people from feeding their children, leading to the malnutrition of thousands and the negative health effects that come with it. But even after reaching maturity the lives of people remain a struggle. Many women are forced to raise their children alone while struggling to provide a living for themselves and their offspring. Lack of education in Central America prevent men and women from finding work, making survival very difficult. Death squads murdered thousands of innocent lives in brutal ways. The human rights movement CO-MADRES was started to call out against the extreme lack of civil liberties. Other groups like the FMLN and the FPL fought against the government to stop the social injustices the Salvadorian government committed. The government needed to help eliminate the massive problem of poverty. But because it did not, guerrilla groups were formed by El Salvador’s people in hope to change what the government could not. By forming death squads in an attempt to stop those groups, the countries situation led only to more death and

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

The two gangs who occupy the area are constantly at war with each other. They look from new members to recruit, and commonly look towards children and teens. Due to the extreme danger theses gangs pose, parents are afraid of letting their children out by themselves. There have been many attempts to take control over the gangs, and making a truce with them was one. The truce drastically decreased the death rate in El Salvador and was overall seen as a successful attempt. In February 2014, the truce seemed to be called off. Death tolls rose rapidly, youth were being recruited, and things were back where they began. El Salvador’s government has reached the conclusion that no deal could be reached with these gangs, and that the only way to shut them down is to prevent them from recruiting. Youth will have to be protected and convinced not to join gangs. If this is successful, the gangs in El Salvador will start to disappear and it will be safer. This affected my opinion because as a teen, it seems hard to believe that children younger than me are being recruited into gangs. Young children are getting involved in drugs, violence, and even murder. I feel that the El Salvadoran government is doing the right thing by preventing youth from joining these gangs and cutting-off their supply of recruits. Youth should have a chance to say no to drugs and violence, and follow a path towards success and a healthy

The Reagan administration substantially increased both military and economic aid to El Salvador. The civil war raged on in El Salvador, fueled by U.S. aid to the Salvadoran military. The government harshly repressed dissent, and at least 70,000 people lost their lives in killings and bombing raids waged against civilians throughout the countryside. The country's infrastructure had crumbled, and the nation. The government military also start force recruitment to the children who are already twelve years old for becoming the child soldier. so does the geurillas.