DOCSLIB.ORG

The Case of El Salvador K. Cheasty Miller Intr

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Case of El Salvador K. Cheasty Miller Intr In the Name of the People? A Closer Look at Politicized Documentary Filmmaking: The Case of El Salvador K. Cheasty Miller Introduction As the camera begins filming on Tape #17 it captures a hot, sunny day in the mountains of El Salvador. Four scruffy Americans trek happily through the forest, laughing and calling back and forth. Clearly animated, their enthusiasm leaps off the screen: they have just returned from the capital city, San Salvador, where they have finished filming guerrilla forces in action, fighting a classic type of urban warfare. Out of a total nineteen reels of archived, unedited footage shot, this is the first time the viewer has ever seen these men, who until now have only been disembodied voices off-screen, posing questions, muttering comments, and discussing various filming logistics. For six weeks they have lived in the mountains with a guerrilla band from the Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional, or FMLN. They have traveled halfway across the country and risked death in the street battles they just filmed to capture the story of a revolutionary movement in a small Central American country unknown to most Americans. This moment is a catharsis, the culmination of their work and the end of their journey. Unguarded and exuberant, they exult in their triumph. “Hey, man, whaddaya think—have we got a movie?” calls a voice off-screen to one of the men on camera. “No,” comes the reply: “we’ve got a FILM!!”1 The difference between a “movie” and a “film” is significant. The former implies wide commercial appeal, high entertainment value, low intellectual content, and perhaps a “Hollywood” formula. The latter implies a niche market of sophisticated, discerning viewers, and a carefully constructed, meaningful presentation of information with layered significances. 1 Benson Latin American Collection (University of Texas at Austin) [henceforth BLAC], “In the Name of the People Unedited Film Collection” [henceforth INPUFC], tape 17. 1 This latter description is how these men in their frankest moments, imagined their documentary project―as a film, entailing all that the word implied. Their documentary, In the Name of the People, garnered much critical acclaim.2 In the short term, it helped heighten desires in the American political left to end U.S. involvement in El Salvador’s Civil War. In the long term, the nineteen archived unedited tapes of the Salvadoran guerrillas have provided historians a unique opportunity to delve more deeply into the way the filmmakers organized and edited their footage to create the documentary. This paper analyzes the documentary, In the Name of the People, by comparing the themes captured in the unedited, archived footage to how they are portrayed in the final cut. In the process, it also offers a methodology to assist scholars that use documentary film as an historical artifact, and provides a revisionist study of the guerrilla experience in El Salvador’s Civil War. Contextualizing the Revolutionary Movement Since colonial times a few large landowning families have dominated El Salvador and controlled its peasantry through a nearly feudal system of patronage and dependency. In 1932 the peasants finally rose up under the leadership of Farabundo Martí, the national liberation fighter. Their goal was to break up El Salvador’s historic land patterns and power structures. The uprising was brief; the military quickly quashed the rebellion, executed Martí, and massacred 30,000 peasants. It then established a corrupt dictatorship that ruled El Salvador with an iron fist for the next fifty years. In the 1960s and 70s, however, the military’s iron grip began to weaken, in part due to a liberationist movement within the Catholic Church. Catholic priests and nuns began preaching a new kind of gospel to the people of El Salvador: liberation theology. Peasants grasped the new theology quickly, and acquired a new sense of justice and community formation to press for 2 Frank Christopher, In the Name of the People (New York: First Run Icarus Films, 1984). DVD. http://www.frif.com/cat97/f-j/in_the_n.html. This documentary was not only an Academy Award Nominee, but also won Best Feature Documentary of 1985, and the 1985 Blue Ribbon Award at the American Film Festival. 2 political change. They formed new organizational units called Christian Base Communities (CEBs) and began training leaders to help secure changes in the status quo. Many Salvadorans who later rose to leadership positions within the revolutionary movement received their first education and training in the CEBs. In the 1970s the path to political change initially seemed to rest with the Christian Democratic Party, but consecutive fraudulent elections gradually de-legitimized the ballot as a viable option for political reform. Soon, a fragmented revolutionary movement emerged and gained organizational strength. Its principal targets were the Salvadoran military, which—under U.S. financial patronage—ran the country, and the paramilitary death squads that assassinated anyone who tried to change El Salvador’s power structure. In 1979 a group of young military officers finally staged a bloodless coup, but the resulting junta soon proved too weak and ineffective to control the army or its death squads. With oppression rising to thirty murders per day and mass slaughters in the cities and countryside, Salvadorans began to flee their country. The state’s crack down on “subversives” continued, and the United States—concerned over the spread of communism—maintained its financial and military support of the Salvadoran government. It is within this context that the filmmakers of In the Name of the People entered El Salvador to produce a documentary that would inform the American people about this revolutionary struggle and their government’s complicity in the repressive campaign waged by the Salvadoran military. Documentary Film: History or Artifact? In the Name of the People is an excellent example of revolutionary documentary filmmaking. Directed by Frank Christopher and written by Alex Drehsler, the film covers the six weeks these filmmakers spent with the FMLN and explains the history of their revolt. It introduces the audience to both the leadership and the common soldier, and details the revolutionary movement’s political goals. The documentary is well edited, well written, and never wavers from portraying the filmmakers’ storyline through interviews, narration, and 3 compelling visual evidence. The film’s unedited archived footage also is an especially valuable primary source for scholars examining the history of El Salvador’s Civil War, and the analytical utility of revolutionary documentary as a genre. The film is not, however, an entirely faithful interpretation of the lives of the Salvadoran guerrillas. Indeed, how could it be? There were thousands of individuals in the FMLN, each with multiple and complex motivations for “incorporating in the struggle.”3 No 75-minute film could capture any single “truth” about such a diverse group. The filmmakers compiled over nineteen hours of raw footage, but in the end they included perhaps only 5 percent of that material in their 75-minute film.4 As with most storytelling, the filmmakers carefully wrote and edited In the Name of the People to tell the story they wanted to tell. The final product, therefore, reflects their truth, but not necessarily the truth. By crafting and telling a particular history, the filmmakers actually became historians themselves, shaping the way that the filmed past would be understood and examined by future generations. Yet the “research” that these historians/filmmakers left behind poses a unique challenge to other historians, for there is a qualitative difference between the historical evidence a documentary provides versus the evidence contained in a book a historian writes. While a historian’s book relies on document-based, photographic, or even film-based research, the footnotes and bibliography are verifiable—other scholars can go back and re- examine the historian’s work. By contrast, in filmed “research” the “bibliography” largely ends up on the cutting room floor, leaving scholars to reference only the finished film and impeding closer scrutiny of the documentary itself as historical evidence. Just as historians do, filmmakers also research and write history, but the film they produce also constitutes an historical artifact—one that captures both a piece of history and the historians’ broader worldview and agenda. In this sense, a documentary, like any other historical 3 “Incorporarse a la lucha,” literally “incorporate in the struggle” was the universal terminology for joining or siding with the revolution in the El Salvadoran Civil War. 4 The filmmakers also included other footage from CBS and ABC news stock Frank Christopher, interview with the author, 24 April 2006. 4 document, is valuable not simply for what it says about the subject, but also for what it teaches us about the authors. Consequently, historians who study documentaries should ask not only why the filmmakers told the particular stories they did, but why others were absent. Alternate stories are always there, but they must be brought out and examined to create a fuller picture of an historical event. Documentary Film as an Historical Source As a unique type of historical document, film documentaries provide scholars valuable evidence of historical events. However, historians must carefully evaluate and interpret this evidence. Toward these ends, a useful methodology entails a healthy appreciation of three key factors: (1) the exaggerated veracity of documentary film, (2) the viewers’ tendency to accept uncritically that which is shown and fail to ponder that which is not shown, and (3) the filmmakers’ ability to alter original footage through careful editing. The exaggerated veracity of documentary film derives from its powerful visual effect, in that viewers tend to trust something they have “seen with their own eyes” over something they have merely read or heard.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • El Salvador: Political and Economic Conditions and U.S. Relations
    El Salvador: Political and Economic Conditions and U.S. Relations Clare Ribando Seelke Specialist in Latin American Affairs April 5, 2013 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov RS21655 CRS Report for Congress Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress El Salvador: Political and Economic Conditions and U.S. Relations Summary Congress has maintained a strong interest in developments in El Salvador, a small Central American country with a population of 6 million. During the 1980s, El Salvador was the largest recipient of U.S. aid in Latin America as its government struggled against the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) insurgency during a 12-year civil war. A peace accord negotiated in 1992 brought the war to an end and formally assimilated the FMLN into the political process as a political party. After the peace accords were signed, U.S. involvement shifted toward helping successive Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) governments rebuild democracy and implement market-friendly economic reforms. Funes Administration Twenty-one years after the signing of the peace accords, El Salvador is governed by an FMLN Administration. In March 2009, Mauricio Funes, a former television journalist and the first FMLN presidential candidate without a guerilla past, defeated Rodrigo Ávila of the conservative ARENA party for a five-year presidential term. President Funes has generally pursued moderate policies that have enabled him to form cross-party coalitions in the National Assembly, but caused periodic friction with more radical members of his party. Now in his fourth year in office, President Funes still has high approval ratings, but faces a number of serious challenges.
    [Show full text]
  • US Interference in El Salvador, The
    James Madison University JMU Scholarly Commons Masters Theses The Graduate School Spring 2019 Unintended consequences: U.S. interference in El Salvador, the Salvadoran Diaspora, and the role of activist community organizations in establishing a Salvadoran-American community in Los Angeles Blake Bergstrom James Madison University Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/master201019 Part of the Diplomatic History Commons, International Relations Commons, Latin American History Commons, Latin American Studies Commons, Political History Commons, and the Social History Commons Recommended Citation Bergstrom, Blake, "Unintended consequences: U.S. interference in El Salvador, the Salvadoran Diaspora, and the role of activist community organizations in establishing a Salvadoran-American community in Los Angeles" (2019). Masters Theses. 606. https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/master201019/606 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the The Graduate School at JMU Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of JMU Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Unintended Consequences: U.S. Interference in El Salvador, the Salvadoran Diaspora, and the Role of Activist Community Organizations in Establishing a Transnational Salvadoran-American Community in Los Angeles Blake Bergstrom A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of History May 2019 FACULTY COMMITTEE: Committee Chair: Kristen McCleary Committee Members: Michael Gubser William Van Norman Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my wonderful parents, Gunnar and Liz, who have given me endless encouragement, support, and love throughout all of my pursuits.
    [Show full text]
  • El Salvador 4K Wikipedia
    El salvador 4k wikipedia Continue Country in Central America This article is about a country in Central America. For other purposes, see El Salvador (disambiguation). Coordinates: 13'41'N 89'11'W / 13.683'N 89.183'W / 13.683; -89.183 Republic SalvadorRepublic de Salvador (Spanish) Flag Herb Motto: Dios, Union, Libertad (Spanish)English: God, Union, LibertyGymn: Himno Nacional de Salvador (English: National Anthem of El Salvador) Capital And largest citySan Salvador13'41'56N 89'11'29W / 13.69889-N 89.19139'W / 13.69889; -89.19139Official languagesSpanishEthnic groups 86.3% Mestizo (mixed White and Indigenous)12.7% White1.23% Indigenous0.13% Black0.64% Other[1]Religion (2017)[2]84.1% Christianity—44.9% Roman Catholic—37.1% Protestant—2.1% Other Christian15.2% No religion0.7% Other religionsDemonym(s)Salvadorian, Salvadorean, SalvadoranGovernmentUnitary presidential constitutional republic• President Nayib Bukele• Vice President Félix Ulloa LegislatureLegislative AssemblyIndependence• Declared from Spain 15 September 1821• Declared from theFederal Republicof Central America 12 June 1824• International recognition[3] 18 February 1841 Area • Total21,041 km2 (8,124 sq mi) (148th)• Water (%)1.5Population• 2018 estimate6,420,746[4][5] (109th)• Density303.1/km2 (785.0/sq mi) (47th)GDP (PPP)2018 estimate• Total$53.667 billion[6] (101st)• Per capita$8,388[6] (111th)GDP (nominal)2018 estimate• Total$25.855 billion[6] (102nd)• Per capita$4,041[6] (111th)Gini (2016) 40.6[7]mediumHDI (2018) 0.667[8]medium · 121thCurrencyUnited States dollara (USD)Time zoneUTC−6 (CST)Driving siderightCalling code+503bISO 3166 codeSVInternet TLD.sv The United States dollar is the currency in use.
    [Show full text]
  • The Indigenous Population of El Salvador on the Eve of the Spanish Conquest *
    The indigenous population of El Salvador on the eve of the spanish conquest * WILLIAM R. FOWLER, JR. (University of California, Irvine) As in all America, the first European contact with the indige- nous populations of El Salvador resulted in a demographic ca- tastrophe of staggering proportions. At the time of the Conquest (1524), the territory of El Salvador was occupied by diverse ethnic groups, principally the Pipil, the Chorti Maya, and the Lenca. The Pokoman Maya held sña11 pockets of territory in the west, while small enclaves of Mangue, Ulua, and Cacaopera speakers inhabited zones in the east and northeast. The total population of these groups numbered in the hundreds of thousands. This is the first in a series of essays that will explore the de- mographic history of El Salvador from the 16th century through the colonial period to the present. While a considerable amount of recent historical demographic research has focused on Cen- tral America, the demographic history of El Salvador is little known. In order to study the dynamic changes, development, and alte- ration in composition of the population of El Salvador, a base- line estimate of the aboriginal population at the time of Spanish contact is needed. In arriving at this estimate, previous estimates by Barón Castro (1942) and Daugherty (1969) are reassesed. Three separate methods of calculation are used: 1. a calculation based * Acknowledgments. My research in the Archivo General de Indias has been generously supported by a postdoctoral grant from the U.S.-Spanish Joint Committee for Cultural and Educational Cooperation. I am indebted to G.
    [Show full text]
  • The History of El Salvador Advisory Board
    THE HISTORY OF EL SALVADOR ADVISORY BOARD John T. Alexander Professor of History and Russian and European Studies, University of Kansas Robert A. Divine George W. Littlefield Professor in American History Emeritus, University of Texas at Austin John V. Lombardi Professor of History, University of Florida THE HISTORY OF EL SALVADOR Christopher M. White The Greenwood Histories of the Modern Nations Frank W. Thackeray and John E. Findling, Series Editors Greenwood Press Westport, Connecticut • London Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data White, Christopher M., 1974– The history of El Salvador / Christopher M. White. p. cm. — (The Greenwood histories of the modern nations, ISSN 1096–2905) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–0–313–34928–7 (alk. paper) 1. El Salvador—History. I. Title. II. Series. F1486.W46 2009 972.84—dc22 2008030539 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available. Copyright © 2009 by Christopher M. White All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique, without the express written consent of the publisher. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2008030539 ISBN: 978 – 0 –313 –34928 –7 ISSN: 1096 –2905 First published in 2009 Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881 An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. www.greenwood.com Printed in the United States of America The paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984). 10987654321
    [Show full text]
  • Mission Volunteer Handbook 0614
    Our Sister Parish El Salvador Delegation Handbook La Casa Pastoral, Berlín, Usulután, El Salvador INTRODUCTION Thank you for following your call to serve on this international mission to El Salvador! In order to prepare you for the upcoming mission trip, previous church delegates and volunteers have put together this handbook to aid you. The information was compiled from several books, websites, and personal experiences. Inside this handbook you will find: I. Goals for Church Delegations’ Visits ..................................................................... 4 II. Information about El Salvador............................................................................... 5 III. Historical Overview................................................................................................ 7 IV. Civil War 1980-1992 ............................................................................................ 10 V. The Food and Drink............................................................................................. 16 VI. Arts, Crafts, Music................................................................................................ 18 VII. The Folklore ......................................................................................................... 20 VIII. Maps: Berlin & Beyond ........................................................................................ 26 IX. Caliche & English ................................................................................................. 31 X. Our Sister Parish
    [Show full text]
  • An Overview of El Salvador
    An Overview of El Salvador History The Olmecs came to the region in 2000 B.C., followed by the Maya in 1500 B.C. When the Maya civilization ended in 900 A.D., the Toltec Empire took hold in El Salvador. In the 11th century, the Pipil people became the dominant group in El Salvador until the Spanish conquerors landed. The Pipil Indians, descendants of the Aztecs, likely migrated to the region in the 11th century. In 1528, Pedro de Alvarado, a Spanish lieutenant of Cortés, took over El Salvador and forced the native people to become servants. The forced intermixing and intermarriage by Spanish men with the Native American Indigenous Lenca and Pipil women happened almost immediately after the arrival of the European Spanish. The majority of Salvadorans in El Salvador identify themselves as 87% mestizo, leaving 12% white and ~1% indigenous Salvadoran population as a minority. El Salvador, with the other countries of Central America, declared its independence from Spain on Sept. 15, 1821, and was part of a federation of Central American states until that union dissolved in 1838. For decades after its full independence in 1841, El Salvador experienced numerous revolutions and wars against other Central American republics. From 1931 to 1979 El Salvador was ruled by a series of military dictatorships. GCYL An Overview of El Salvador 1 Salvadorans who are racially European, especially Mediterranean, as well as tri-racial Pardo Salvadorans and indigenous people in El Salvador who do not speak indigenous languages nor have an indigenous culture, also identify themselves as Mestizo culturally.
    [Show full text]
  • Feminism and the Emerging Nation in El Salvador Emily Anderson Regis University
    Regis University ePublications at Regis University All Regis University Theses Spring 2011 Feminism and the Emerging Nation in El Salvador Emily Anderson Regis University Follow this and additional works at: https://epublications.regis.edu/theses Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Recommended Citation Anderson, Emily, "Feminism and the Emerging Nation in El Salvador" (2011). All Regis University Theses. 529. https://epublications.regis.edu/theses/529 This Thesis - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by ePublications at Regis University. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Regis University Theses by an authorized administrator of ePublications at Regis University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Regis University Regis College Honors Theses Disclaimer Use of the materials available in the Regis University Thesis Collection (“Collection”) is limited and restricted to those users who agree to comply with the following terms of use. Regis University reserves the right to deny access to the Collection to any person who violates these terms of use or who seeks to or does alter, avoid or supersede the functional conditions, restrictions and limitations of the Collection. The site may be used only for lawful purposes. The user is solely responsible for knowing and adhering to any and all applicable laws, rules, and regulations relating or pertaining to use of the Collection. All content in this Collection is owned by and subject to the exclusive control of Regis University and the authors of the materials. It is available only for research purposes and may not be used in violation of copyright laws or for unlawful purposes.
    [Show full text]
  • El Salvador's Civil War and Civic Foreign Policy
    157 4 El Salvador's Civil War and Civic Foreign Policy In the 1980s, civic foreign policy toward El Salvador materialized in more public forums and strata of society than in the previous decade. It manifested itself in insistent lobbying campaigns of Catholic, Protestant, and a few Jewish denominations. Religious human rights groups aimed at policymakers in Congress and in the Carter and Reagan administrations. As a response to the murder of El Salvador's popular archbishop and outspoken defender of citizens' rights, Oscar Romero, and to the killings of four U.S. churchwomen in 1980, religious activists established additional advocacy groups throughout the United States which concerned themselves with events in El Salvador and Central America. While targeting Congress, the administration, church constituencies, and U.S. public opinion, civic foreign policy strategies that tried to affect U.S. foreign policy matured during the 1980s. Civic foreign policy toward El Salvador also broadened numerically. While the bulk of interested citizens in the 1970s stemmed from religious orders and staff exposed to events abroad, many of the newcomers in the 1980s did not belong to the church establishment or orders and groups active in Washington and overseas. Civic foreign policy developed and became quite articulate and dedicated on the grassroots level of U.S. society. Throughout the United States, new citizens' groups focusing on policy questions regarding Central America emerged. While heterogeneous in character and purpose, most of these groups and citizens were generated from the religious sector. Apart from new grassroots groups and active citizens, an increasing and large number of religious denominations and NGOs made their voices heard on Central America.
    [Show full text]
  • The Unfinished Sentences Testimony Archive
    The Unfinished Sentences Testimony Archive Teaching the Salvadoran Civil War Using Oral Histories The Unfinished Sentences Testimony Archive Teaching the Salvadoran Civil War using oral histories http://unfinishedsentences.org/archive/ The Unfinished Sentences Testimony Archive is a public online library of oral histories by survivors of El Salvador’s armed conflict (1980-1992). Developed through a partnership between the University of Washington Center for Human Rights and the Human Rights Institute of the Universidad Centroamericana (IDHUCA) in El Salvador, the Testimony Archive presents ​ more than 7 hours of interviews with 48 residents of the community of Arcatao, Chalatenango, along with a growing collection of supplementary information including historical context and resources for students and educators. The mountainous countryside around Arcatao, in the north-central department of Chalatenango, was a flashpoint of organizing for workers’ rights and, eventually, revolutionary change in El Salvador. Brutal repression by government forces escalated into a U.S.-backed counterinsurgency campaign against guerrilla groups during the 1980s. Residents of Arcatao, and communities like it across the country, were subjected to indiscriminate violence during military operations targeting unarmed civilians and insurgents alike. In the Unfinished Sentences Testimony Archive, survivors relate eyewitness accounts of these atrocities, as well as their experiences of daily life before, during, and after the war. They also offer invaluable insights
    [Show full text]
  • The Forgotten El Salvador: a Study of the Emergence and Downfall of the “Bright Spot” of Central America, 1948-1978
    The Forgotten El Salvador: A Study of the Emergence and Downfall of the “Bright Spot” of Central America, 1948-1978 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Pedro F Quijada IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Patrick McNamara Adviser May 2021 ©Pedro F. Quijada Acknowledgements I have been able to conduct this study thanks to the invaluable support of my adviser, Dr. Patrick McNamara, who has given me encouragement, guidance, and the independence necessary for this kind of research. In addition to being open minded about this project, he has also invested his time reading, correcting, and providing suggestions that have improved significantly the quality of this dissertation. I also want to thank him because, besides his academic assistance, he has treated me as a friend and provided his supporting company in difficult as well as in good times. He has believed in my potential as scholar and educator, and has nurtured my aspirations with advice, moral support, and patience. I want to thank the members of my committee, Dr. Sarah Chambers, Dr. Elaine Tyler May, Dr. MJ Maynes, and Dr. David Orique. Thank you for helping me to improve my dissertation and also for the valuable lessons I learned in your courses and that I believe are reflected in this study. Throughout this process I have always kept in mind Dr. Chambers’ standards of excellence, and I feel that this has helped me to document my statements carefully and to keep them as objective as possible.
    [Show full text]
  • El Salvador: Background and U.S
    El Salvador: Background and U.S. Relations Clare Ribando Seelke Specialist in Latin American Affairs June 26, 2014 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov R43616 El Salvador: Background and U.S. Relations Summary Congress has maintained interest in El Salvador, a small Central American country that has a large percentage of its population living in the United States, since the country’s civil conflict (1980-1992). Whereas in the 1980s the U.S. government spent billions of dollars supporting the Salvadoran government’s efforts against the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) insurgency, the United States is now working with the country’s second consecutive democratically-elected FMLN Administration. Despite the potential challenges involved for both sides, analysts predict that U.S.-Salvadoran relations will remain constructive during Salvador Sánchez Cerén’s presidency, as they did during Mauricio Funes’ term (2009-2014). El Salvador is facing significant economic and security challenges that the country is unlikely to be able to address without substantial external support. El Salvador posted an economic growth rate of just 1.4% in 2013, the lowest of any country in Central America. The government is running high deficits and attracting little foreign investment. Economists have cited security concerns as a barrier to investment. Although a truce between the country’s gangs helped lower homicide rates in 2012 and 2013, it has unraveled and violent crime is increasing. Inaugurated to a five-year term on June 1, 2014, President Salvador Sánchez Cerén, a former FMLN guerrilla commander, took office pledging to lead a government based on the principles of “honor, austerity, efficiency and transparency." After defeating the conservative Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) candidate, Norman Quijano, by just over 6,000 votes in a runoff election held in March, President Sánchez Cerén has adopted a conciliatory attitude.
    [Show full text]