thumb| The Chapultepec Peace Accords. For [[Maurice Lemoine, French intellectual “at the negotiating table, puts an end to a sixty-year-old military hegemony and will allow a deep reform of the State based on a series of unprecedented measures: respect for universal suffrage; reform of the judiciary; constitutional reform; separation of Defense and Public Security, downsizing of the army, creation of a national civilian police]]

The Chapultepec Peace Accords were a set of peace agreements signed on January 16, 1992, the day in which the Salvadoran Civil War ended. The treaty established peace between the Salvadoran government and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN). It was signed in Chapultepec Castle, Mexico.

The treaty was negotiated by representatives of the Salvadoran government, the rebel movement FMLN, and political parties, with observers from the Roman Catholic Church and United Nations. The peace talks were mediated by Álvaro de Soto, the special representative of the UN Secretary-General.

The final agreement was divided into 9 chapters that covered 5 fundamental areas:

  • Modification of the Armed Forces and demobilization of all armed FMLN units;
  • Replacement of the National Guard with the National Civil Police;
  • Modifications to the judicial system and the defense of human rights;
  • Modification to the electoral system;
  • The adoption of measures affecting the economic and social fields.

Compliance with the agreements took place under the supervision of a special mission of the United Nations, which gave a settlement after 3 years of management. and it has never been broken.

Civil War

The Salvadoran Civil War began on October 15, 1979, with the 1979 Salvadoran coup d'état which overthrew President Carlos Humberto Romero. The coup had covert support from the United States, who wished to prevent Romero's government from falling to left-wing militant groups in the country, the same fate as did the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle in Nicaragua.

thumb|left|An ERP combatant in Perquín in 1990.

The coup of 1979 allowed for the rise of militant left-wing groups in the country. The five largest groups, Farabundo Martí People's Forces of Liberation (FPL), Communist Party of El Salvador (PCES), National Resistance (RN), People's Revolutionary Army (ERP), and the Revolutionary Party of the Central American Workers – El Salvador (PRTC) joined forces on October 10, 1980, nearly one year after the coup, to form the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), the most prominent opposition force to the Salvadoran government throughout the Salvadoran Civil War. The group was named after Farabundo Martí, the leader of the Communist Party during an uprising in 1932 which resulted in the massacre of 10,000 to 40,000 peasants under the rule of Maximiliano Hernández Martínez.

The resulting civil war killed anywhere from 70,000 to 80,000 people and lasted twelve years from 1979 to 1992. Death squad activities further escalated in 1990, despite a U.N. Agreement on Human Rights signed July 26 by the Cristiani government and the FMLN.

Previous peace process

The Peace Accords were the result of a long negotiation process between the Government and the FMLN that had begun in the mid-1980s. The first meetings took place in Chalatenango on October 15, 1984, exactly 5 years after the start of the civil war. Further negotiations occurred in La Libertad on November 30, 1984. A third round of negotiations occurred in San Miguel on September 19, 1986. The last negotiations occurred in San Salvador on October 4, 1987, between President José Napoleón Duarte and government officials with delegates of the FMLN's leadership. Despite the attempts to establish peace and end the war, none of them succeeded and the war dragged on.

Chalatenango

On October 16, 1984, the first round of negotiations occurred in La Palma, Chalatenango. The meeting resulted in the "La Palma Joint Communiqué." The Government delegation was made up of the President, José Napoleón Duarte, while the guerrilla delegation was headed by Dr. Guillermo Ungo, a former member of the Revolutionary Government Junta, with Monsignor Arturo Rivera y Damas, Archbishop of San Salvador, acting as a mediator. The statement was brief and vague; without firm agreements and with the sole achievement of constituting a political rapprochement.

La Libertad

On November 30, 1984, the second round of negotiations occurred in Ayagualo, La Libertad. The negotiations were headed by government representative Abraham Rodríguez with Rubén Zamora representing the guerrillas. Rivera y Damas, Giacomo Otonello, and Gregorio Rosa Chávez acted as mediators. At that meeting, the "Joint Communiqué of the Third Dialogue Meeting" was issued which stated the government and guerrillas will to seek a ceasefire and to support the decisions made by the Contadora Group which was seeking peace in Central America.

International intervention

In 1989, the government of President Alfredo Cristiani called for a dialogue meeting which was held on September 15 of that year in Mexico City. There, a joint request for mediation was addressed to the Secretary General of the United Nations, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar. It was agreed to and Álvaro de Soto was appointed as special representative. On November 11, 1989, the FMLN launched a general offensive to demonstrate its military strength. The offensive was contained by the Armed Forces. After the offensive concluded in a stalemate with 2,500 dead, many analysts considered the impossibility of military victory for either side in the conflict.

On April 4, 1990, a dialogue meeting was held in Geneva, Switzerland, where an agreement was signed that established the set of rules to be followed in the negotiation process and established the will of both parties to reach a negotiated and political solution to end the war. The objectives of the negotiation were set:

  • End the armed conflict through political means;
  • Promote the democratization of the country;
  • Guarantee the unrestricted respect for human rights;
  • Reunify Salvadoran society

On May 21, 1990, at a new meeting in Caracas, Venezuela, the general agenda for negotiations was established and the issues that would be submitted for discussion.

Accords

thumb|Mural of the peace agreement located on the national museum in San Salvador; in the image the guerilla leader Schafik Handal leader of the FMLN and the president of El Salvador Alfredo Cristiani shaking hands.

On January 16, 1992, the full text of the agreements was signed in the Castle of Chapultepec in a solemn act, with the assistance of Heads of State from friendly countries, as well as official negotiating delegations.

  • Reform the educational system of the Armed Forces. The Massive and gradual loss of troops from the Armed Forces took place while ex-guerrilla combatants were deployed from the occupied zones to fifteen areas that had previously been established for that purpose.

Monuments

thumb|right|The [[Monument to the Reconciliation]]

The Monument to Peace is a sculpture designed by the sculptor Rubén Martínez that was unveiled in the municipality of San Marcos, El Salvador.

The figure of the "Christ of Peace", which was made with bullet casings, brass and cast bronze, and stands with outstretched arms as a symbol of reconciliation between the political ideologies of the right and the left. The figure of a dove in his left hand in flight position.

In 2017, on the 25th anniversary of the signing of the peace accords in the, President Salvador Sánchez Cerén, an ex-FMLN commander, celebrated with the inauguration of the Monument to the Reconciliation. In January 2024, the monument was demolished to make way for a new peace walk.

See also

  • Salvadoran Civil War
  • Truth Commission for El Salvador

Notes

References

  • List of Salvadoran Peace Agreements
  • Salvadoran Embassy in the U.S. information on the Peace Accords
  • Full Text of Chapultepec peace accord, on UN Peacemaker
  • Full Text of all peace accords, UN Peacemaker
  • The El Salvador Accords: A Model for Peace Keeping Actions