Page 24 - Marlie Burton Roche : Landscape and Bread

an impasse and the talks into Escalon, the area of San Salvador where the wealthy live.
broke off. It became clear
to the rebels that both the
Salvadoran military and
ARENA were intent on
persisting with their goal of
using the war as justification
to interdict political opposition
while intensifying military
activities.
A trade union building in
San Salvador was bombed
by the military at lunchtime,
killing and wounding a
large number of activists
and the FMLN proceeded to
organize an urban offensive.
Their attack commenced in
November 1989. Impressive
growth in the plenitude of
rebel forces and in their
fighting ability was well
demonstrated during the
November offensive. Their
forces were able to penetrate
to the core of all the principal
cities. The military responded
with indiscriminate bombing
of the poor in the barrios,
especially in the suburbs of
San Salvador. Untold numbers
of civilians, men, women,
and children, were killed and
wounded. Of course there
was no bombing when the
FMLN combatants moved
20 MARLIE BURTON-ROCHE LANDSCAPE & BREAD
One of the worst acts of brutality on the part of the Salvadoran
military was the assassination, in cold blood, of six Jesuits and
two women at the Central American University UCA. This act
was so heinous in the eyes of the people of El Salvador and the
international community that it constituted a turning point in
the war. Both the United States government and a majority of
Salvadoran businessmen, who had heretofore expressed support
of a military solution, became cognizant of the reality that neither
side in the conflict could win a military victory. It was time to
end the war through political agreements.
During the 12 years of civil war, over a million Salvadorans
were driven into exile while more then 80,000 people were
killed and over 8000 disappeared, mostly at the hands of
government security forces and the notorious death squads. This
took place in the smallest country in the Western Hemisphere,
a country only half the size of Vancouver Island. During this
period, the U.S. government sent nearly two million dollars
per day to the rightwing Salvadoran government and military.
“We taught security measures to Salvadoran police chiefs and
counterinsurgency methods to Salvadoran military officers at
our schools in the Panama Zone. We sent them weapons and
airplanes in a vain expectation that social stability would grow
out of enforced order.”
AS STATED BY MURAT W. WILLIAMS, AMBASSADOR OF THE U.S. EMBASSY IN EL
SALVADOR 1961-1964. THE QUOTE HERE IS FROM HIS INTRODUCTION TO CHARLES
CLEMENTS’ BOOK, WITNESS TO WAR, PUBLISHED IN 1984 (SEE PAGE XI).
It has been estimated that without U.S. intervention and support
for the counterinsurgency forces, the civil war in El Salvador
would have been over in six months, with an FMLN victory.