Best el salvador history books according to redditors

El Salvador was a country of 5 million, 85% of the wealth and land was owned by 14 prominent families. So, El Salvador had a long history of repression and violence since La Matanza in 1932 when around 40,000 peasants were slaughtered after an attempted Communist uprising, lead by a guy called Farabundo Martí. This violence continued with repression against any sort of protest and eventually the Church, inspired by Liberation Theology in the 1970s would start to encourage people to form trade unions and attempt to gain more human rights. Basically these priests etc. would help people “conscientise” (aka teach them how to read, make them understand they weren't dying and poor because of themselves, but rather oppression) and then be killed/ targeted by the death squads or the army.

Oscar Romero was made Archbishop in 1977, a few weeks afterwards his friend Father Rutilio Grande was killed by the police, and a few weeks later the army stormed Grande’s parish of Aguilares and killed around 400 people there. They were considered subversive due to their organisation into unions and them attempting to get increased rights, wages and so on...

In 1979 a coup occurred promising to stop the repression of the previous government. However, the army kept on killing and nothing changed. Oscar Romero was at this point an outspoken defender of human rights. He gave a homily saying "in the name of God: Stop the repression!" and was assassinated celebrating mass the next day in 1980. At his funeral, the state placed bombs and shot at the crowd as they ran for shelter into the cathedral.

At this point, everyone knew Civil War was imminent. After Che’s failure in Bolivia, Cuba understood that you had to have a united left to win any kind of war. So, Cuba insisted that all of the guerrilla groups in El Salvador merge into one. The FMLN (Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front) formed from a merger of several Salvadoran communist guerrilla groups. Their ethos was Marxist-Leninist, Maoist, and they drew upon Che Guevara's foco theory and theory of guerrilla warfare...

So, the FMLN declared war and very quickly the US began pouring money into El Salvador in response. This is basically because of the Domino Theory, where the US felt if one Central American country fell to socialism, the surrounding countries would also succumb.

The army would commit multiple genocides, kill civilians and so on for the next 12 years. US would give the country (which is tiny- smaller than Wales – over $6 billion in funding – most of which went to army training). At the same time, the Soviets, Cuba and Nicaragua were providing funding/arms/training to the FMLN.

Throughout the war, the right/state was responsible for around 85% of atrocities during this time. There were multiple genocides in El Mozote, El Calabozo and the army would also forcibly recruit young boys into the army, where they would then have to commit atrocities. There was also widespread rape, torture, kidnap and murder by the army. Eventually, the army killed six priests (who had Spanish citizenship) who had been outspoken critics of the war and the repression by the Salvadoran state. It got a lot of attention on the international stage and the US withdrew funding due to this, previously they had been complicit in sweeping murders under the rug.

Ultimately, El Salvador tried really hard to follow in Cuba’s footsteps, with Cuba's support, but the US wouldn’t let that happen. Basically, the two protagonists in this war were the US and the FMLN. Without US funding, the war would have ended much quicker. The FMLN took part in the elections following the end of the war and won. (But also an amnesty law meant no one got punished.)

Sources:

https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/file/ElSalvador-Report.pdf

http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/nsa/publications/elsalvador2/

http://www.romerotrust.org.uk/homilies-and-writings

https://www.amazon.com/Our-Own-Backyard-Central-1977-1992/dp/0807848573

https://www.amazon.com/Stories-Civil-War-El-Salvador/dp/146962866X

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-rHosu4buhMC&pg=PA139&lpg=PA139&dq=fmln+tactics&source=bl&ots=_Pp1Ksy767&sig=RgsaiyaaU_qo1XYMwetYDjmbzxw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi31Nbqj_jTAhXNEVAKHQwnCiMQ6AEILDAB#v=onepage&q=fmln%20tactics&f=false

I didn't see you specify feature-length films, which sadly the industry there just can't sustain yet. However, there are a handful of short film directors in the country's history who produced a prolific amount as to be considered significant in Central and Latin American artistic circles. Thanks to modern technology, a few of their works are available online via 'La Museo de la Palabra y Imagen,' which is a museum in El Salvador dedicated to preserving the modern recorded history and heritage of the country.

Probably the most prolific of these directors is Alejandro Cotto (1928-2015). He was based in Suchitoto, a small, rural region of the country, and supposedly worked with directors like Luis Bunuel as miscellaneous crew. By the end of his life he was highly honored by the national government for his contributions to art in the country. The only one of his shorts I've seen, 'El Rostro' (The Face), certainly fits a lot of the qualities that are often associated with third cinema. It has a neorealist/Satyajit Ray quality to it which I find to be fairly interesting.

The other one I can think of is Balthazar Polio. His two shorts are also on YouTube. Topiltzin is very aesthetically and thematically similar to Cotto's 'El Rostro,' but I have a special fondness for 'El Gran Debut' (The Big Debut). If you're able to look past the stodgy film quality and poor state of deterioration, you get a very interesting film that's dense with symbolism. Playing off of the nation's fondness of clowns and circuses, the film tells a simple story that touches on themes of loneliness, depression, acceptance, and suicide! I've actually watched this short a lot and could go on and on about it, so it's best if I just leave it at a few sentences 🙂 . It's not that I think it's particularly good or important, but it shows a great deal of promise when considering what Salvadoran cinema as a whole would look like if supported better. The poor state the films currently find themselves in is disconcerting, and preservation is an undertaking only being assumed by a small group of organizations. Considering the country's culturally destructive wartime period, it's lucky we still have what we've got.


As you can see, these films are all pretty much lacking in dialogue or language, requiring no subtitles, so in a way these shorts seem to display a tendency towards 'pure cinema,' which I find to be very exciting. It certainly lends it a lot of opportunity for a more international audience, and perhaps potentially gaining greater critical consideration in the future. Unfortunately, El Salvador doesn't really have any Glauber Rochas or Patricio Guzmans to claim to. I wish their film industry was more active than it was, but the political, social, and economical situation of the country then and now has never allowed it to flourish in any significant way. That is not to say the country is lacking in a national voice, as the nation's literary heritage is quite rich. If you're interested in books with politically charged perspectives of the country, definitely check out the writings of Manlio Argueta and Roque Dalton, who I believe to be among the country's most interesting and approachable writers. Also check out the book Radio Venceremos (Rebel Radio). The way it's composed makes it feel less like a non-fiction book and more like a cinema verite experience in text format. Speaking of that, I almost forgot about 'El Salvador, El Pueblo Vencera' (El Salvador, The People Shall Rise). No subtitles on this documentary unfortunately, and I've never seen this one in its entirety. That said, the film holds the distinction as having being selected by UNESCO for preservation, so it's definitely an important piece of 'Salvadoran cinema.'

Apologies if you already knew about these films, but I like bringing them up in case anyone else finds interest in the subject.

Yes! I did an entire class on more or less this subject (US-Latin American Relations, or "How the US was Constantly Interfering in Latin America").

Banana Cultures, John Soluri: About the history of banana consumption and farming in Honduras. AMAZING BOOK.

Talons of the Eagle, Peter Smith: I believe this has a chapter about US efforts to undermine Latin American governments that were "too socialist" which talks about Guatemala and Jacobo Arbenz^1.

The Massacre at El Mozote, Mark Danner: And finally, one about El Salvador, but that deals with these mass killings and the horrors that went on in Latin America during this period when the US was interfering.

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^1 I had to go look at an old paper to find this one. I know I read about Guatemala specifically somewhere because it made me really angry, and I think this was it.

Inevitable Revolutions, by LaFeber
and
The Massacre at El Mozote

The Massacre at El Mozote is a good book about our involvement in Nicaragua that doesn't treat our government with kid gloves. Surprised it was required reading in a college class. Definitely worth buying.