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Chronology of Events*
Central America follows the example of Agustm Iturbide in Mexico
and declares independence from Spain.
1822—Central America joins Iturbide's Mexican Empire.
1823 Iturbide is overthrown and Central America declares itself indepen
dent as the United Provinces of Central America.
1823 President James Monroe, fearing an attempt by Spain to restore its
authority over its rebellious New World colonies, declares that the United
tates will tolerate no further European intervention in the affairs of the
nations of Central and South America.
J833—The first major peasant rebellion in El Salvador occurs. It is led by
the Indian Anastasio Aquino.
1838 The United Provinces of Central America collapses, and conservative
caudillos come to power.
1846—California is seized by the United States, starting talk of an interoceanic passageway through Nicaragua as a way to shorten the journey
from New York to the West Coast.
1848—Cornelius Vanderbilt establishes the Atlantic and Pacific Steam Co.,
which transports passengers across Nicaragua.
1854—The U.S. military destroys the Nicaraguan city of San Juan del Norte
in retaliation for an insult to the American Minister to Nicaragua.
1855—North American adventurer William Walker invades Nicaragua, with
the aim of establishing a slave state 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.
1880-1910—The feudal hacienda system of El 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 following: EI Salvador:
Background to the Crisis (Central American Information OfRce, 1982); Arnon Hadar,
The United States and EI Salvador: Political and Military Involvement (U.S.-El Salvador
Research and Information Center, 1981); San Francisco Examiner, "The Tortured Land:
Key Dates in the History of Central America," July 25, 1982; and the articles appearing
in this volume.
4 9 1
4 9 2
C h r o n o l o g y
1894-1899—A series of four U.S. military interventions in Nicaragua to
protect U.S. interests.
1899—Minor Keith, a North American, founds the United Fruit Company
in Honduras.
1903—U.S. military intervention in Honduras to protect U.S. interests.
J
1903—The United States sponsors a revolt in Panama resulting in Panama's
independence from Colombia, which clears the way for the construction of
the Panama Canal.
1903-04—A series of U.S. military interventions in Panama during and
following the revolt against Colombia.
1904—President Theodore Roosevelt adds the Roosevelt Corollary to the
Monroe Doctrine. Under the Corollary, the U.S. takes on the role of an
"international police force" in Central America.
1907—U.S. military intervention in Honduras during a war between Hon
duras and Nicaragua.
1909—Conservative revolt supported by U.S. marines in Nicaragua over
throws Liberal government of Jose Santos Zelaya.
1914—Panama Canal opens.
1912-25—Presence of U.S. Marines maintains Conservatives in power in
face of continued Liberal rebellion in Nicaragua.
1920—U.S. military intervention in Guatemala during a period of fighting
between trade unionists and the government.
1921—Unrest in San Salvador. Women strikers are killed and a shoemakers'
strike is brutally crushed.
1924—Regional Federation of Workers of El Salvador is established with
80,000 members; it affiliates with the Central American Workers Federation.
1925—Strikes and rent riots in Panama lead to the landing of about 600
U.S. troops.
1928-34—Augusto Sandino leads a guerrilla war against U.S. forces in
Nicaragua. The U.S. forces leave in 1934, but Sandino is killed by the
U.S.-trained National Guard of Anastasio Somoza Garcia after having been
tricked into disbanding his guerrilla army. Somoza initiates a dynasty
which rules Nicaragua for the next 45 years.
1931—The Communist Party of El Salvador wins a number of municipal
elections. General Martinez, the military dictator, refuses to accept the
electoral results.
1931-44—Martinez rules El Salvador for 13 years, his policies preventing
industrialization.
1932—Brutal suppression of a peasant uprising in El Salvador results in the
massacre of up to 30,000 men, women and children. The vast majority of
the victims are killed after the uprising has been stamped out. Indians are
the target of especially brutal repression, and the massacre has the effect
of wiping out indigenous culture. The massacre has become known as ia
Chronology
493
matanza, the slaughter. Agustm Farabundo Marti, a leader of the peasants
was arrested by the government a few days before the massacre.
ig44-NoTYons about popular unrest in El Salvador, the United States
advises General Martinez to resign. Military rule continues.
1948—The Partido Revolucionario de Unificacion Democratica (Revolution
ary Party of Democratic Unification—PRUD) is founded in El Salvador Its
leader, Oscar Osorio, is president from 1950 to 1956. This is the beginning
of a period of industrialization.
1954—The democratically elected, progressive government of President Ar-
benz in Guatemala is overthrown in a U.S.-sponsored coup carried out by
the CIA, initiating a string of-military governments that has continued up
to the present.
1961—Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (Sandinista National Lib
eration Front) is founded in Nicaragua.
1961—The right-wing anti-communist group ORDEN is founded in El Sal
vador by General Jose Alberto Medrano.
1961—The Central American Common Market is formed.
1969—The Soccer War breaks out between El Salvador and Honduras. The
Central American Common Market collapses.
1970-present—Period of increasing violence and civil war throughout the
region. Civil wars in Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador. Intensified ^^4
repression by government forces and right-wing death squads. Growth of i
popular
movements
and
guerrilla
organizations.
I
1977—Carter Administration cuts oil military aid to Guatemala because of sw .
continuing human rights violations there.
Jan. 10, 1978—Managua newspaper editor Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, lead
ing critic of the Somoza regime, is assassinated, presumably at the orders
of dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle. The death of the widely respected
editor sparks rioting and serves as a catalyst in bringing together antiSomoza forces.
Aug. 22, 1978—A group of 25 Sandinistas led by Commander Zero—Eden
Pastora—takes the National Palace in Managua, holding 1,500 hostages,
including 49 deputies of the national assembly. The two-day occupation
focuses world attention on Nicaragua and the Sandinistas.
May 19, 1979—Sandinista forces begin their final offensive from Costa Rica.
June 20, 1979—ABC correspondent Bill Stewart is murdered by a National
Guardsman in Managua in full view of U.S. television cameras.
July 17, 1979—Somoza resigns and goes into exile in Miami. His National
Guard surrenders to the Sandinistas two days later.
Oct. 15, 1979—Reform-minded officers in El Salvador overthrow the dic
tatorship of General Carlos Humberto Romero.
Jan. 3, 1980—Mass resignations from the Salvadorean government, includ
ing the three civilians in the junta.
494
Chronology
Jan. 10, 1980—A second junta is formed in El Salvador; two prominent
C h r i s t i a n D e m o c r a t s fi l l v a c a n c i e s i n t h e j u n t a .
March 6, 1980—The Salvadorean junta announces plans for agrarian reform.
This is followed by an upsurge in government repression.
March 9, 1980—A third Salvadorean junta is formed. Jose Napoleon Duarte
of the PDC joins the junta. Mass PDC defections by members unwilling to
be associated with the government follow.
March 24, 1980—Salvadorean Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, an out
spoken opponent of government repression and spokesman for the needs of
the poor of El Salvador, is assassinated by a sniper while celebrating mass.
March 27, 1980—USAID grants 13 million dollars in aid to El Salvador.
April 1, 1980—U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee
approves $5.7 million in military aid to El Salvador.
April 18, 1980—The Frente Democratico Revolucionario (Democratic Rev
olutionary Front—FDR) is formed in El Salvador.
May 14, 1980—Massacre of Salvadorean peasants trying to flee into Hon
duras at the Rio Sumpul. Six hundred killed by Salvadorean troops acting
in unison with Honduran forces.
Oct. 4, 1980—The Salvadorean Army begins a military offensive in Morazan,
resulting in 3000 peasants killed and over 20,000 refugees.
Nov. 27, 1980—Six leaders of the FDR are kidnapped in San Salvador with
the assistance of the military; later their tortured bodies are found.
Dec. 2, 1980—Four religious workers from the U.S. are killed after returning
to El Salvador from a short trip. Their bodies are found in shallow graves
near the airport. Members of El Salvador's National Guard are blamed
for their deaths. Three days later President Carter suspends all aid to El
Salvador. The women's murderers have yet to be brought to justice.
Dec. 13, 1980—Jose Napoleon Duarte, a member of the junta since March,
is named president.
Dec. 15, 1980—U.S. economic aid to El Salvador is resumed. Total for 1980
is $150 million.
Jan. 5, 1981—North Americans Michael Hammer and Mark Pearlman,
working as advisers to El Salvador's agrarian reform program, together with
Jose Viera, head of the Salvadorean agrarian reform agency, are gunned
down in San Salvador.
Jan. 10, 1981—Guerrillas' unsuccessful "final offensive" launched in El
S a l v a d o r.
r
J
Feb. 10, 1981—The new Reagan administration gives an aid package of
$64 million to El Salvador and suspends aid disbursement of $15 million to
Nicaragua.
Feb. 23, 1981—State Department releases a white paper showing what it
calls "definitive evidence" that leftist rebels of El Salvador are receiving
arms and training from communist countries, especially Cuba, with the
help of Nicaragua.
Chronology
495
March 3, 1981—Reagan administration announces that 20 more U.S. mili
tary advisers will be sent to El Salvador, bringing the total number to
more than 50. It also announces $25 million in additional military aid to
E l S a l v a d o r.
June 1981—Credibility of State Department's white paper destroyed by
several articles in the U.S. press which refute it on every point.
Aug. 28, 1981—Mexico and France issue a joint communique recognizing
the FDR-FMLN, the umbrella organization of the Salvadorean opposition,
as a "representative political force."
Nov. 29, 1981—Roberto Suazo Cordova elected president of Honduras.
March 15, 1982—Amid growing tension with the United States, the Sandinista government declares a state of emergency in Nicaragua.
March 23, 1982—A military coup in Guatemala overthrows the lame-duck
government of Romeo Lucas Garcia after Garcia's candidate. Gen. Anibal
Guevara, had been declared the winner in allegedly fraudulent elections. A
three-man junta takes over, led by retired General Efrain Rfos Montt, a
born-again Christian with ties to U.S. evangelical organizations.
March 28, 1982—In the midst of civil war and government repression,
and under a state of siege, elections are held in El Salvador. They
result in a victory by right-wing parties which threaten to squeeze the
Christian Democrats remaining in the government out of power. Roberto
D'Aubuisson, former death-squad leader, becomes head of the new Con
stituent Assembly.
May 19, 1982—The Salvadorean Constituent Assembly, now dominated by y
parties to the right of the Christian Democrats, calls a halt to the agrarian
reform.
June 9, 1982—Rfos Montt drops the other members of the junta and takes
over as sole leader of Guatemala.
June 30, 1982—Montt announces a state of siege in Guatemala and declares
war on leftist guerrillas, whom he says will be executed upon conviction.
July 27, 1982—Reagan certifies that the human rights situation is improv
ing in El Salvador and that reforms are proceeding there, contrary to
evidence from international human rights monitoring agencies and other
groups. In the period immediately following the certification, government
killings of civilians soar.