., ,190 SII(;I;I':STLIl I!EAIlINt:~ Inforprcss CcntrO,"llIll"ican;1 The Natio" 9a Calle "A," 3-56, z.l P.O. !lox lOS:! Guatemala Marion, Ohio 13:J05 Institute for Policy Studies Resource The National Catholic Heporter Materials on U.S. Military Assis­ P.O. Box 281 tance in Central America Kansas City, MO 64141 Institute for Policy Studies 1901 Q Street, N.W. News from Guatemala Washington, D.C. 20009 P.O. Box 335, Station R Chronology of Events* Toronto, Ontario, Canada M1G 4C3 LADOC Latinamerica Press New Left Review Apartado 5594 7 Carlisle Street 1821-Central America follows the example of Agustin Iturbide in Mexico Lima 100, Peru London WIV6NL and declares independence from Spain. England 1822-Central America joins Iturbide's Mexican Empire. Latin America Update Washington Office on Latin America Newsletter of the Heligious Task Force 1823-Iturbide is overthrown and Central America declares itself indepen­ 110 Maryland Avenue, N.W. for El Salvador dent as the United Provinces of Central America. 1747 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20002 1823-President James Monroe, fearing an attempt by Spain to restore its Washington, D.C. 20009 Latin American Perspectives authority over its rebellious New World colonies, declares that the United P.O. Box 792 Nicaraguan Perspectives States will tolerate no further European intervention in the affairs of the Riverside, CA 92502 Nicaragua Information Oenter nations of Central and South America. P.O. Box 1004 1833-The first major peasant rebellion in EI Salvador occurs. It is led by Latin America Weekly Report and Berkeley, CA !H704 Latin America Regional Reports: the Indian Anastasio Aquino. Mexico and Central America Socialist Review 1838 -The United Provinces of Central America collapses, and conservative Latin American Newsletters Ltd. 4228 Telegraph Avenue caudillos come to power. 91-93 Charterhouse Street Oakland, CA 94609 1846-California is seized by the United States, starting talk of an inter­ London ECIM 6UR, England Washington Report on the oceanic passageway through Nicaragua as a way to shorten the journey Monthly Review Hemisphere from New York to the West Coast. (Council of Hemispheric Affairs) 62 W. 14th Street 18'18-Cornelius Vanderbilt establishes the Atlantic and Pacific Steam Co., New York, N.Y, 10011 1900 L Street, N. W., Suite 201 Washington, D.C. 20006 which transports passengers across Nicaragua. NACLA Report all the Americas 1854-The U.S. military destroys the Nicaraguan city of San Juan del Norte North American Congress on Latin in retaliation for an insult to the American Minister to Nicaragua. America 151 W. 19th Street, 9th Floor 1855 - North American adventurer William Walker invades Nicaragua, with New York, N.Y. 10011 the aim of establishing a slave SLate there, and declares himself President. 1857-The U.S. military, with help from Vanderbilt, invades Nicaragua in an attempt to overthrow Walker. Walker is ultimately defeated by a force of Costa Ricans at Rivas. 1880-191O-The feudal hacienda system of EI Salvador usurps large tracts of communal peasant land for coffee-growing. Peasants evicted from these lands are forced to become sharecroppers and bondservants. "Sources from which this chronology was taken include the foltowing: El Salvador: Background to the Crisis (Central America.n Information Office, 1982); Arnon Ha.dar, The United States and El S,t/vador: Political and Military Involvement (u.s.-m Salvador Research and Information Center, 1981); San Francisco Examiner, "The Tortured Land: Key Dates ill the History of Central America," July 25, 1982; and the articles appearing in this volume. 491 ~Iq~ ·IH:~ ( 111(11·.llI tll;; ( '!"<I""/"f:Y HI.I 1.'19·1 /lmfJ A snil's "I' 1'0111 .S. Illlil!;lI y illtn \'·Id.ioll·; III :\,('.11",'.11 •• to protect U.S. intne~ts. trwt,;!l!za, the slaught"L AglistiH Farahulldo Marti, a h';ld('r of 1.11(' IH·a~:tIl!.ll, was arrested by the govern ment a I'ew days before the massacre. 1899-Minor Kcith, a North A!lll'ric<1n, rounds tit(' Unitl·d Frllit. Company in Honduras. 1944-·-Ncrvous about popular unrest in EI Salvador, the Unitcd States advises General Martinez to rcsign. Military rule continues. 1903-U.S. military intervcnt.ion in Honduras t.o proted U.S. illtncHt.s. 1948-The Partido Revolucionario de Unificacion Democratica (Revolution­ 1903 Thc United States sponsors a revolt in Panama resulting ill l'anama's ary Party of Democratic Unification-PRUD) is founded in EI Salvador. Its independence from Colombia, which clears the way for the cOTl~truction of leader, Oscar Osorio, is president from 1950 to 1956. This is the beginning the Panama Canal. of a period of industrialization. 1903-04-A series of U.S. military interventions in Panama during and 1954-The democratically elected, progressive government of President Ar­ following the revolt. against Colombia. benz in Guatemala is ovcrthrown in a U.S.-sponsored coup carried out by 1904-President Theodore Roosevelt adds the Roosevelt Corollary to the the CIA, initiating a string of .military governments that has continucd up Monroe Doctrine. Under the Corollary, the U.S. takes on thc role of an to the present. "international police force" in Central America. 1961-Frente Sandinista dc Liberacion Nacional (Sandinista National Lib­ 1907--U.S. military intervention in Honduras during a war between Hon­ eration Front) is founded in Nicaragua. duras and Nicaragua. 1961-The right-wing anti-communist group ORDEN is founded in EI Sal­ 1909--Conservative revolt supported by U.S. marines in Nicaragua over­ vador by General Jose Alberto Medrano. throws Libcral government of Jose Santos Zelaya. 1961-The Central American Common Market is formed. 1914--Panama Canal opens. 1969-The Soccer War breaks out between EI Salvador and Honduras. The 1912-25-Prcsence of U.S. Marines maintains Conservatives in power in Central American Common Market collapses. face of continued Liberal rebellion in Nicaragua. I970-present---Period of increasing violence and civil war throughout the 1920-U.S. military intervention in Guatemala during a period of fighting region. Civil wars in Guatemala, Nicaragua and EI Salvador. Intensified between trade unionists and the government. repression by government forces and right-wing death squads. Growth of popular movements and guerrilla organizations. 1921-Unrest in San Salvador. Women strikers are killed and a shoemakers' strikc is brutally crushed. 1977-Carter Administration cuts off military aid to Guatemala because of continuing human rights violations there. 1924-Regional Federation of Workers of El Salvador is established with 80,000 members; it afftliates with thc Central American Workers I"ederation. Jan. 10, 1978-Managua newspaper editor Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, lead­ ing critic of the Somoza regime, is assassinated, presumably at the orders 1925-Strikes and rent riots in Panama lead to the landing of about 600 U.S. troops. of dictator Anastasio Somoza Debaylc. The death of the widely respected editor sparks rioting and serves as a catalyst in bringing together anti­ 1928-34-Augusto Sandino leads a guerrilla war against U.S. forces in Somoza forces. Nicaragua. The U.S. forces leave in 1934, but Sandino is killed by the Aug. 22, 1978-A group of 25 Sandinistas led by Commander Zero-Eden U.S.-trained National Guard of Anastasio Somoza Garda aftcr having been Pastora-takes the National Palace in Managua, holding 1,500 hostages, tricked into disbanding his guerrilla army. Somoza initiates a dynasty which rules Nicaragua for the next 45 years. including 49 deputies of the national assembly. The two-day occupation focuses world attention on Nicaragua and the Sandinistas. 1931-The Communist Party of El Salvador wins a number of municipal 19, 1979-Sandinista forces begin their final offensive from Costa Rica. elections. General Mart..inez, the military dictator, refuses to accept the electoral results. June 20, 1979-ABC correspondent Bill Stewart is murdered by a National Guardsman in Managua in full view of U.S. tclevision cameras. 1931-44-Martfnez rules El Salvador for 13 years, his preventing industrialization. 17, 1979-Somoza resigns and goes into exile in Miami. His National Guard surrenders to the Sandinistas two days later. 1932-Brutal suppression of a peasant uprising in EI Salvador results in the massacre of up to 30,000 men, women and children. The vast majority of Oct. 15, 1979--Reform-minded officers in EI Salvador overthrow the dic­ the victims are killed alter the uprising has been stamped out. Indians are tatorship of General Carlos Humberto Romero. the target of especially brutal repression, and the massacre has the effect Jan. 3, 198rJ.Mass resignations from the Salvadorean government, includ­ of wiping Ollt indigenous culture. The massacre has become known as la ing the three civilians in the junta. ('IIIlIl',(11 (II;' ,III '. ( '111 ",,,,I"I:Y ·1!I~1 .Ii111. 10, Imw A Sf"011.1 ,111111a I', f'orllJl'd III 1·:1 Salv;"I"l, lw() I'lOlIIIlII'II1. {v/:t,,/, :I, UI.'i/ l{"agan adillinistration allIlOllrIC('S that :.m IllOrp U.S. mili­ Christiall D{'lIlo('fats Iill vaeallej,·s in 111,' jl/llta, tary advisns will be sent to EI Salvador, bringing the total Humber to Marcil 6, 1980 The Salvador{':tn junta allflOUfl"{'S plans for agrarian [(·forlll. more than 50. It also announces $25 million in additional military aid to This is followed by an upsurge in gov('rIlIllI'nL repression, El Salvador. March 0, 1980--A third Salvadorean junta is formed . .Jose Napole(ln Duartc June 1981-Credibility of State Department's white paper destroyed by of the PDC joins the junta. Mass PDC defections by IllclllbNS unwilling to several articles in the U.S. press which refute it on every point.