Internal Forces Struggle to Resolve the Civil War: The FMLN and FDR

Abstract

Inadequate land for cultivation, endemic poverty, an agricultural export economy that relied upon low-cost labor, as well as exclusion from any meaningful political process are among the factors that led a majority of Salvadoran citizens to sympathize with the guerillas in the late 1970s. Some took up arms, but most demonstrated their support by carrying messages, preparing food, hiding activists, or simply not cooperating with El Salvador’s armed and security forces. In Chapter 2 we examined the causes for Salvador’s civil war. Here, we analyze the locio-political dynamics leading to a peace agreement and the elements needed to move Salvadoran society toward reconciliation. This chapter will look at the guerilla forces and the popular movements gathered behind the Frente Farabundo Marti de Liberación Nacional (FMLN) and the Frente Democrática Revolucionaria (FDR). The next chapter will examine the social forces that supported the state, the armed forces, and the Alianza Republicana Nacional (ARENA) party.