Review of the War of the Dispossessed Honduras and El Salvador, 1969 by Thomas P. Anderson
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Transcript of Review of the War of the Dispossessed Honduras and El Salvador, 1969 by Thomas P. Anderson
8/3/2019 Review of the War of the Dispossessed Honduras and El Salvador, 1969 by Thomas P. Anderson
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/review-of-the-war-of-the-dispossessed-honduras-and-el-salvador-1969-by-thomas 1/1
In the end Bcnnc reduces his thesisto these simple terms: No socialist soci-ety has room for any religion other
than its own secular dogma; only a c a pitalist socicty allows rcligion to flower.Capitalism, moreover, is consistentwith JudcoC hristian teachings if i t is a
partner of thc people; an d man’ can
have no hope for thc future withoutvigorous spiritual renewal. “Perhaps,“
suggcsts k n n e hopefully , “ the Divineresponse is n ear.” l3VFI
THE WAR OF THE DISPOSSESSED:HONDURAS AND EL SALVADOR,
by Thomas P. Anderson(Un iver sity of Ncbraska Prcss; 20 3 pp.;
$15.95)
1969
Miles L.Wortman
The chief value of this good, academicstudy of the 1969 E l Salvador-Hondti-ran war is that the cvcnt is sufficientlydistant to judge dispassionately as a his-
torical cvcnt. nut i t is as much about
today’s crisis, th e region’s complex ities,and its almost hopeless dilem ma as i t isabout that hu ndre dho ur conflict .
T he region i s full of drcam s. Th cr c isthe 160-year-olddrea m of a united Ccn-tral American entity, a rcturn to theuni ty enjqyed undcr thc Spanish
crown. The dream cndurcs despite ra-
cial distinctions, regional antipathies,periodic border wars- in short , despite
a lack of commonality save thc dreamitself. In the first half of this centurythe dream led Hondu rans to invite Sal-vadorans into their lalor-short banana
ficlds and mincs. Thc Salvadorans
came, fleeing political oppression, seek-ing land, full of ambition. Some fol-lowed the custom of th eir own coun try
and squatted on uncultivated land.They prospcred and xenophobia dcvcl-
oped among the H ondurans.
T h e same dream led to the crcationof the Central American Comm on Mar-ket with its promise of increased re-gional cooperation and prosperity. El
blvador prospered. Cheap but well-
made Salvadoran shocs piishcd outHonduran-manufactured or handmade
shoes in cvcry town in that country.
Anoth er Central Amcrican d rcam, of
health y populations-a dream we allshare-Icd to efforts hy national gov-ernments and international organiza-tions for health care, vaccinations,
30
hea l th educa t ion. And popula t iongrew-from 1.4million in E l Salvadorin 1930 to 2.5 million in 1960. Th cre
ar c 4.8 million today, with a density
cight timcs that of the United States. InHonduras, half the population today is
unproductivc, under fifteen years of
age, a weight on thc economy.
Thc d r c a m of industrialization, ofinvesting in factories, using foreign
loans, developing cxports to supporttliesc populations, failed with the rise
in oil priccs in the ‘70s that made production costly.
Th c dream of industrial agriculture,
to make t hc land produce morc in gross
‘tcrms than thc grain the pcasantsfarmed, was ruined by th e oil price rise,by highcr fertilizer costs, by the pres-
sure of the large agrarian populationsfor land, and by th e greed of large land-holders who refused reform and thusfaced rcvolution.
Finally, thcre is th e dream of thecleric, to find social justice in landswhcre the economic equations do no t
suppo rt subsistcnce.Some of thesc drcains died in the.
1960s and a reaction sct in . In H onduras
populist groups pressured for rclicf, foragrarian reform; and thc prcssurc wasturned against the casicst target- thcforeigner, thc Salvadoran pcnsant whooccupied Honduran land. Xcnophobiadistracted pcasant and l ab o r groupsfrom morc important domestic prob-
lems. Politicians draggcd out’old border
issues. Salvadoran siiccess in the Com-
mon Market was decried. In both coun-tries horrib le jingoism ;irosc; small inci-
dents excited passions as newspapersmisinformcd thcir clientele. A prewar .euphoria devclopcd as thc problemsand the lost dreams wcrq set asidc in
ordcr to face “th e cncmy.“’ Most North Americans rcmcmber
the resulting 1969 war by its facetious
titlc, th e “Soccer War,” Iwcause it wassparkcd by disagrcemcnt a t a football
match. It seemed a comic opera affair,
lasting a hundred hours, killing a cou-ple of hundrcd soldiers- not very im-portant as wars go. We ignored thc twothousan d civilians, killed and the inany
more refugees.
And in the early ‘70s of Watergateand Vietnam wc‘ forgot Central Amcri-
ca. Th e reports of 130,000 Salvadorans
shippcd honie from Honduras, the “dis-
posscsscd” of the Imk’s titlc, wcrc notimportant. Wasn’t this a usual oc c urrcncc in Latin America?
The border ktwecn Honduras and
’
El Salvador was closed. Population p re s
siirc in El Salvador grew, made .worst
by the repatriated refugees. Thc Com-
mon Market was dead, Salvador’s pros-perity bccame dcprcssion,, unemploy-me nt soared, ‘food and cnergy priccsincrcased. Th e eupho ria at th c onset ofthe war became anger at the failurc in
both countr ies and f rus t ra t ion a tmountin g domestic problems.
Andcrson link s th e 1972. politicalturmoil in El Salvador, th e. clcctoral
fraud, the coups and countercoups, tothe failure of the war. With all dreamsof democracy dead, small terrorist o p r -
ations began. Private armies financed
by large farmers, businessmen, policeand m ilitary officials respondcd, kil lingfirst peasants, t he n , land reformers,
wmc priests, thcn some nuns and ana r c hb i shop . I n the un inha b i t a b lcmounta ins ktwccn Honduras and E lSalvador, the ”h aun t of many criminals
of both nations” before 1969, gue rrillagroups formed. Oil made lifc morcexpens ive for th e peasantry. RcSistancc
gqw. Population swellcd. Rcpressionincrcased. Toward the end of the ‘70s
help for the gilcrrillas came from the
Sandinistas in Nicaragua. The dreams
dicd.Th c Andcrson book is a careful, ana-
lytical study of the causcs and theeffects of t he 1969 conflict. I t is also
about today. Lm .
WOMEN IN THE ’TWO GERMANIESby Harry G. Shaffer ‘
(Pergamon Prcsu; xiii +204 pp.; 526.00)
Margery Fo x .’
Long intcrcsted in wom en’s , progrcssunder socialist systems, Shiffer has p r oduced a rigorous an d well-docunicntcd
study of wointn in East Germany (thcGerman Deniocratic Rcpublic) andWest Germany (the Federal Rcpublic
of Gcrmany), a study that has thecxccptional mcrit of comparing womenwho share esscntially’similar culturalbackgrounds but w ho live under diffcr-
cnt social systems.
: Women in West Germany have hadto fight independently for thcir rights
in thc abscnce of cither a supportivc
political ideology or a sociorcligioustridition th at ’ osters equality; it is a
state tha t gives’ priority to individuals.Any profound sex role changes in WestGermany would have to cvolve gradu-