Our Enemy's Enemy: Human Rights and the U.S. Intervention in El Salvador, 1977-1992 By Adam R. Wilsman Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Vanderbilt University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in History May, 2014 Nashville, Tennessee Approved: Thomas A. Schwartz, Ph.D. Gary Gerstle, Ph.D. Marshall Eakin, Ph.D. Michael Bess, Ph.D. Lesley Gill, Ph.D. Copyright © 2014 by Adam R. Wilsman All Rights Reserved i To my teachers ii Acknowledgements A favorite pastime of graduate students everywhere is complaining about the graduate school experience. Graduate students are busy and often stressed out as they try to balance their various responsibilities with writing a book-length document. While I empathize with these sentiments, the years since August of 2007 have represented some of the best of my life, and the process of writing the dissertation, while always challenging, has also been deeply gratifying. My great experience at Vanderbilt University owes overwhelmingly to the wonderful people around me. First and foremost, I would like to thank my dissertation adviser, Dr. Tom Schwartz, for his kindness, selflessness, and constant support and encouragement. Over six years ago, I decided to uproot my life and move hundreds of miles from home, all in order to work with Dr. Schwartz. Never once have I questioned that choice. I would also like to thank my dissertation committee members: Dr. Gary Gerstle, Dr. Marshall Eakin, Dr. Michael Bess, and Dr. Lesley Gill. Your classes and advising fundamentally shaped me as a writer, researcher, and student of history. I owe a debt of gratitude as well to the Vanderbilt History Department, College of Arts and Sciences, and the Center for Teaching, each of which provided generous support that facilitated my improvement as a scholar and teacher. Besides the tremendous faculty at Vanderbilt, a number of other influential individuals have been key to my success. Thank you to Dr. John Stoner and Dr. Elisa Camiscioli, my two closest advisers at my undergraduate institution, Binghamton University, without whom I would have never reached this point. To my many graduate student friends and colleagues at Vanderbilt, who have come to represent my Nashville extended family: I would not have made it through without the strength of your community. And to my new colleagues and students at Harpeth Hall School: you have inspired me intensely, and proven central to pushing me over this finish line. I would like to thank my parents, my sister Carly, and the rest of my family for their continued help as I undertook the challenges of graduate school and life in a new city. To my newborn son, Charlie: frankly, you made the process of finishing in a timely manner more challenging, but I love you anyway. Finally, to my wife, Luisa, who has been by my side throughout this process, who knew what she signed up for when she married me, and still stuck around: I could not have done it without you. Thank you one and all. iii Table of Contents Page DEDICATION ................................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iii LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... vii INTRODUCTION: AN UNLIKELY INTERVENTION ................................................................1 Chapter 1. A COUNTRY DIVIDED: THE FOUNDATIONS OF SALVADORAN REVOLUTION ......17 La Matanza and Its Legacy .......................................................................................................17 The Christian Democratic Party: An Electoral Alternative ......................................................28 1972: An Era of Political Crisis ................................................................................................37 The Violent Alternative ............................................................................................................45 A Society in Crisis ....................................................................................................................50 In the Shadow of the Colossus ..................................................................................................59 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................63 2. UNFORESEEN EMERGENCY: CARTER AND THE SALVADORAN CRISIS .................65 Carter, Human Rights, and Latin America: A Pragmatic Approach ........................................74 From Rhetoric to Reality: Carter’s Human Rights Program ....................................................83 Central America: An Early Testing Ground .............................................................................87 iv The Struggles of the Romero Administration ...........................................................................93 The Revolutionary Government Junta Enters the Scene ........................................................106 Happily Ever After ..................................................................................................................111 The Central American Response to Human Rights ................................................................120 Central America: From Backwater to Strategic Focus ...........................................................127 Reaching Out ..........................................................................................................................137 An International Pariah ...........................................................................................................143 Lethal Aid Returns ..................................................................................................................150 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................157 3. TWO-FRONT WAR: THE REAGAN ADMINISTRATION CONFRONTS THE SALVADORAN CRISIS, 1981-1982 .........................................................................................160 Massacre in No Man’s Land ...................................................................................................160 Reagan’s Human Rights .........................................................................................................167 A Mess in Our Own Backyard ................................................................................................172 First Steps: Diagnosing the Problem.......................................................................................181 Opposition Coalesces ..............................................................................................................185 The Reagan Response .............................................................................................................200 The Election of 1982 ...............................................................................................................210 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................221 4. CONFRONTING A DILEMMA: U.S. SECURITY INTERESTS AND THE PROMOTION OF DEMOCRATIC REFORM IN EL SALVADOR, 1982-1984 ..............................................224 Reform and Its Unexpected Champions .................................................................................224 The Trouble with Bobby .........................................................................................................230 v Papel Aguanta Todo ................................................................................................................240 Pedicarias Alive, Raisult Dead ...............................................................................................247 The Public Relations War Continues ......................................................................................254 Tipping Point ..........................................................................................................................263 Among Friends........................................................................................................................268 The Trouble with Bobby, Part II .............................................................................................283 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................291 5. The Transplant Has Been Made, but Will it Take?: The Limits of Salvadoran Democratic Progress, 1984-1990 ....................................................................................................................293 The Death of Lt. Col. Monterrosa ...........................................................................................293 High Marks .............................................................................................................................302 Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea .............................................................................317 Godfather ................................................................................................................................326 Backslide .................................................................................................................................336