Hudson Malsch The Actual Effect of Football on the Football War El Salvador ties Honduras: 3-2

Two nations battle to be number one in an ancient rivalry. El Salvador takes the advantage quickly, but Honduras strikes back with equal force. Both sides are pinned down by the other and the battle drags on for ages. Suddenly, El Salvador breaks through the lines of Honduras and defeats their opponents. This battle is not fought with guns or tanks, but with eleven representatives from each country and one soccer ball. The score of the game, three to two: El Salvador. Honduras and El Salvador are two South American countries that share a border. This border has caused many disputes throughout the history of these two countries. In the 1960s, both populations of these countries started to increase rapidly and Salvadorans started to flood into the much bigger Honduras. Almost 300,000 Salvadoran “squatters” migrated to Honduras.

Many Honduran citizens were angered by this migration due to the lack of jobs in

Honduras which was credited to the flood of Salvadorans. Although the war to come was nicknamed the Football War, the cause of this conflict was much bigger than a single World Cup qualifying match. Fidel Sánchez Hernández, the president of El

Salvador in 1969, told the coach of the national team that he needed to win this match,

“because this match was for our national dignity.” (Yuriy Veytskin, Duke University).

Although the war between El Salvador and Honduras was deemed the Football War, it was not the actual cause of the conflict. Instead, the World Cup qualifier served more as a tipping point for rising tensions such as the Salvadoran “squatters” and economic problems in both countries. In order to form an answer to my question, I used numerous sources during my research. The book “The Soccer War,” by Ryszard Kapuscinski, is a historically accurate but fictional account of the war. It helped give multiple perspectives on the war from many types of people with different occupations, backgrounds, etc. Although these personal accounts are not real, they are supported by facts and actual accounts of the event. Ryszard Kapuscinski is a world renowned author who was considered for the Nobel Prize in literature. Ryszard has traveled around the world and spent a considerable amount of time in South America and Africa where he documented and reported on twenty-seven revolutions and coups, including the Soccer War. I also used the Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture to learn about the history and ​ ​ affairs of Honduras and El Salvador to understand why the events happened. The articles were found on a school trusted database, World History in Context, which is ​ ​ filled with background information on many significant historical events. The article

Latin America: The Football War, provided information on the conflict between ​ Honduras and El Salvador that preceded the soccer game causing the war. This article also gave a little information on the events during the actual soccer game. It was ​ written by Kennedy Hickman, a historian who focuses on military history during the nineteen hundreds. Hickman appears on the History Channel and has worked at the

US Military History Institute, the US Merchant Marine Academy, as well as the USS

Constellation Museum, making him a very credible and reliable source. I used many ​ primary sources to find an answer to my thesis including pictures of the planes used found on the site world war wings. I also used various memorandums written during the war by government officials. I found this on the National Archives website which is a government program and approved website which is very reliable. The publication “The

Soccer War,” found on Duke University’s website, was helpful in adding more context and information for my topic. This site also had many primary sources that helped me see and understand my topic better. This site is reliable because it is from a well-respected university’s website and the article had multiple authors and editors.

The last website I used was H2G2, which is a free encyclopedia that seemed suspicious at first, but after further investigation, I believe it to be generally trustworthy. This article matched up with most of the information I had already obtained but it added some stories of people that witnessed the actual events which was very unique and helpful.

All of these sources proved to be beneficial in my understanding of the Soccer War and helped me answer my research question.

One of the major causes of the Football War between El Salvador and Honduras was rising border tensions and significant immigration of Salvadoran citizens into

Honduras. Border disputes between these two countries had been occurring for many years and the immigration of Salvadoran citizens was rising to drastic levels. The immigration of Salvadorans was mainly due to the fact that the population of El Salvador was much larger than Honduras and El Salvador was geographically smaller than

Honduras. In order to make money and support their families, Salvadorans migrated to the much larger Honduras for work. Hondurans held prejudice against the squatters who were taking their land. When the president of Honduras during the 1960’s called for the migrants to return to El Salvador, many returned to their homeland with stories of wide spread harassment against the squatters (Webre, 2008) (Archives, 1969). Before this mass exodus, there was already a pre-existing rivalry between El Salvador and

Honduras, but this decision to deport the Salvadorans, by president Oswaldo López

Arellano, changed this rivalry. The tensions between the two nations were now growing rapidly since El Salvador believed their nationality was being criticised by Hondurans and Honduras thought their jobs and land were being stolen by Salvadorans. Previous competition and disagreement had changed to a feud fueled by more hate and anger than ever before. On top of the issues the Salvadoran squatters caused in Honduras, other economic issues arose due to the migrants.

Illegal immigration caused severe economic issues for Honduras while El

Salvador benefited from the emigration. During this time, over 300,000 Salvadoran peasants crossed the border into Honduras, claiming land and starting businesses like farms. This illegal immigration was specific to this instance because the work the

Salvadorans did on Honduran land did not benefit Honduras at all. The Salvadorans took land from native Hondurans and the money they made on Honduran land profited

El Salvador. Also, squatters paid no taxes and prevented Honduran citizens from using that land which was lost potential income for thousands of Honduran families (Finney,

2008) (Archive(2), 1969). Because the economic crisis at the time was blamed on the

Salvadoran immigrants, mass harassment of the Salvadorans in Honduras occurred.

Thousands of beatings, violent riots, and even murders were documented. This was another reason that president Oswaldo López Arellano took away land from the

Salvadorans and gave it to native Hondurans, causing the exodus of the squatters. The economic low of the time made Hondurans angry, and the backlash of the Hondurans made Salvadorans angry. Therefore, the economy of Honduras can be credited as one of the reasons the Football War happened. Although Hondurans and Salvadorans were angry at one another, this conflict unified each nation.

Honduras and El Salvador used war to unite their citizens and create more nationalistic and patriotic nations. Throughout history, kingdoms, empires, and nations have used wartime as a time to unify their countries. The Football War is an example of one of those times. Leading up to the war, the two nations were using football to unify their nations and each football match was like a battle in their long lasting rivalry. Due to the events leading up to the World Cup qualifying matches in 1969, even football was becoming dangerous. Three matches between the two nations would decide who would make it into “Mexico 70,” the World Cup the following year. When the game was held in Honduras, fans harassed the team from El Salvador by throwing stones at their hotel the night before the game and performing chants outside the hotel. Honduras won the match one to zero. After Honduras scored to win the game, a Salvadoran girl named Amelia Bolanos shot and killed herself. Her funeral was made into a state affair and the President of El Salvador as well as the Salvadoran football team attended

(Ashley, 2002). She served as a martyr for El Salvador’s cause. In the next match, which was held in El Salvador, the Honduran national team faced even more harassment. After El Salvador won three to zero, riots broke out in the streets as

Salvadorans celebrated their victory. When El Salvador won the last match to qualify for the World Cup, a piston engine plane flew over Tegucigalpa, a city in Honduras, and ​ ​ dropped several bombs. The city went into a blackout and a war had begun

(Kapucinski, 1978) (Veytskin, 2009) (Masiej, 2017). El Salvador used its nation’s unification over the events of the qualifying match to gain support for a war against

Honduras. El Salvador claimed they seeked justice for the thousands of squatters who were unjustly attacked and the assailants that were never persecuted. Both sides were up for an intense war filled with patriotism, nationalism, and extreme hate for the other country. Despite the fact that all these underlying factors played the most important roles in causing the Football War, the World Cup qualifying match also played a role.

Although the direct cause of the Football War was not the actual football match that the war is named after, this event played a significant role in the commencement of the war. The three matches held in a short period of time that determined which nation would be a part of the largest sporting event in the world, the World Cup, the next year caused mass riots, widespread violence, and overall chaos among the two nations. The football games brought these two countries close together, but not in a good way.

Fighting among citizens who cared deeply about the sport had been occurring throughout the time of the matches, with no time for the fans to calm down. Also, much of the patriotism and nationalism that led to the war was directly caused by the football matches. In addition, for El Salvador the death of Amelia Bolanos was a rallying cry.

Since Amelia died due to the football match, this was also a direct influence of football on the war. Therefore, the game of football had an important role in the Football War.

The game of football and the qualifying matches served as a spark to light the fire that is the four day war that led to almost six thousand deaths and over twenty thousand total casualties (Ashley, 2002).

The likely cause of the Football War was the mass immigration of 300,000

Salvadorans into Honduras, the economic problems this migration caused, and the patriotism and nationalism both countries needed to unite their respective nations, rather than the actual game of football. When looking back at the Football War, many connections can be made to the world we live in today. Currently, the President of the

United States, Donald Trump, is having a wall erected that will stop the illegal immigration of Mexicans and other persons from Central America into the United States.

Many of these immigrants are people looking for a place to make money to support their families so they can provide better lives to their loved ones, relatable to the situation of the Salvadorans. Many citizens in the United States are using these immigrants as a scapegoat and have labeled an entire nationality as evil murderers who steal jobs and land. This is similar to Honduras where Hondurans beat and harrassed Salvadorans for taking their land even though Honduras is five times the size of El Salvador and had a smaller population at the time. The ending of the story of Honduras is an economic downfall for both nations, thousands of casualties, tens of thousands of people left homeless, millions in damage, and lasting tension between the two nations. We don’t know the ending of our story just yet, but they say history repeats itself because nobody listens the first time.

Bibliography:

Lindsey Barrett, Colby Leachman, Claire Lockerby, Steven McMullen, Matthew Schorr, Yuriy Veytskin, “The Soccer War,” at Soccer Politics Pages, http://sites.duke.edu/wcwp (accessed on ​ ​ 15 Jan. 2018)

Webre, Stephen. "Football War." Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture, edited by ​ ​ Jay Kinsbruner and Erick D. Langer, 2nd ed., vol. 3, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008, pp. 258-259. World History in Context, ​ ​ http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3078902280/WHIC?u=nysl_me_scarshs&xid=38c75453. Accessed 15 Jan. 2018.

Finney, Kenneth V., and J. Mark Ruhl. "Honduras." Encyclopedia of Latin American History and ​ Culture, edited by Jay Kinsbruner and Erick D. Langer, 2nd ed., vol. 3, Charles Scribner's Sons, ​ 2008, pp. 733-743. World History in Context, ​ ​ http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3078902808/WHIC?u=nysl_me_scarshs&xid=7ee4d134. Accessed 15 Jan. 2018.

Ashley. “h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition.” h2g2 - Football - a Matter of ​ Life and Death - Edited Entry, 15 Mar. 2002, h2g2.com/edited_entry/A702848. ​

Kapuscinski, Ryszard, and William Brand. The Soccer War. Granta Books, 2011. ​ ​

Memorandum, El Salvador - Honduras Crisis. “Archives Search.” National Archives. National ​ ​ Archives and Records Administration . 15, July 1969. Web. 4, Feb 2018. https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/virtuallibrary/d ocume nts/jul11/declass33.pdf

Memorandum, El Salvador-Honduras. “Archives Search.” National Archives. National Archives ​ ​ and Records Administration . 17, July 1969. Web. 4, Feb 2018. https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/virtuallibrary/rel eases/jul11/declass35.pdf

Karol, Maciej. “The Time Corsairs Shot Down Other Corsairs-The 'Football War'.” World War Wings, 8 Mar. 2017, worldwarwings.com/time-corsairs-shot-corsairs-football-war/.

“The Football War.” History Uncaged, www.historyuncaged.com/americas/football.