What was US involvement in El Salvador?

Question

What was US involvement in El Salvador?

Answer 1

US-El Salvador (1980-2002)

1980-1992 El Salvador is ravaged by a bitter civil war leaving around 70,000 dead. [BBC, 11/23/2005] The US provides military funding during this period to the tune of more than $5 billion. [Wood, 2000, pp. 50]

1982-1991 US Army intelligence manuals provided to Latin American military officers attending the US Army’s “School of the Americas” advocate executions, torture, blackmail and other forms of coercion against insurgents and sanctions the use of “fear, payment of bounties for enemy dead, beatings, false imprisonment, executions and the use of truth serum” to recruit and control informants. [Washington Post, 9/21/1996]

March 15, 1993 The United Nations names the army officers who committed the worst atrocities of the civil war in El Salvador. Forty-five of the over 60 officers identified in the report, or nearly two-thirds, had been trained at the US Army’s “School of the Americas” located at Fort Benning, Georgia. [UN Security Council, 3/15/1993; Guardian, 10/30/2001; Kloby, 2003, pp. 272]

(1998) Amnesty International, in its annual report on US military aid and human rights, states that “throughout the world, on any given day, a man, woman or child is likely to be displaced, tortured, killed or ‘disappeared’ at the hands of governments or armed political groups. More often than not, the United States shares the blame.” [Chomsky, 1998]

November 19, 2000 A nonviolent demonstration is held calling on the US Army to close its infamous School of the Americas, located at Fort Benning, Georgia. [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 11/19/2000; School of America's Watch, 7/12/2001] The school trained more than 60,000 Latin American military officers over the past 50 years [CNN, 4/3/2000] , many of whom were since implicated in egregious human rights abuses (see March 15, 1993). [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 11/19/2000; Associated Press, 11/20/2000; School of America's Watch, 7/12/2001] 1,700 of the protestors are thrown in jail, including an 88-year old nun. [Associated Press, 11/20/2000; New York Times, 6/24/2001]

2002 US involvement in El Salvador is being put forward by some in Washington as a model for a possible solution for Colombia’s 30-year civil war. [BBC, 3/24/2002]