Research Guides: Drama: Living Out (Winter 2020)

El Salvador & Immigration

El Salvador: Background and U.S. Relations
El Salvador has had a tumultuous history—particularly from 1960-1992. There were several different political factions (extreme right and left) that would take over the government one after another. Many of the underlying issues that lead to the situation might be traced back to the poor economic conditions that partially resulted from the majority of land being held by few people, the crash of the coffee market (the major export of El Salvador), and their neighbor Honduras forcing tens of thousands of Salvadorans to return to their country thereby making a crowded land even more so and making it even more difficult to find work.

Beginning in the early 60s, the National Conciliation Party (PCN), formed of the military and the elite, were in charge. Throughout the 1970s, many of the elections were manipulated by the military. This dishonesty resulted in the emergence of guerrilla groups. Increasing violence escalated as some priests were killed by the right and the foreign minister was killed by the left.

In 1979 President Romero (of the PCN) was ousted by some “reform-minded” military members and created the Christian Democratic Junta party (left of center) with U.S. approval. This wasn’t enough for many of the far left groups, who began to unify together and strike at political targets (both people and buildings). As this continued to spiral, the U.S., attempting to keep political stability in the Western hemisphere and to keep Russian/Communist reach out of the hemisphere, gave increasing amounts of foreign aid to help stabilize the country. While this aid was primarily monetary in nature, it did allow the government in charge to use portions of it for military purposes (e.g., acquisition of weapons).

Conflict continued until peace accords were signed in 1992 when the conservative National Republican Alliance (ARENA) party took over. While peace generally came to El Salvador and the country began to make forward economic progress during the 90s, the Civil War had made a huge mark on the face of this country. There were still few job prospects and the economy has barely grown. As a result, many social and civil program have languished, particularly police/security.
Esta Esperanza
*streaming video*
In this documentary on post-war El Salvador, people from all over the country recount the nightmare of the twelve-year civil war that came to an end in 1992. The filmmaker and his crew traveled throughout the country interviewing people who had witnessed some of the grimmest events of the war. He goes to the village of Mozote where American-trained soldiers of the Salvadoran army massacred 800 citizens. Similar round ups of civilians took place in many areas and we meet survivors who recall the loss of their loved ones. In the mountains of Guazapa and FLMN guerrilla shows where he lived and how he fought for six years before being captured by government forces. A student describes what happened to him and his teachers at the University of Central America. Jesuit priests were leaders in the struggle for justice and often targeted for assassination by the government forces. In contrast to these testimonies, a member of the upper class complains that the church had become mixed up in politics. Although scars from the war remain vivid, people are rebuilding their lives. Farmland is being cleared and replanted, new construction is taking place in the city. Perhaps the most hopeful sign of all is that former enemies are working together and beginning to forgive one another.
In the Name of the People: El Salvador's Civil War
A documentary made by American journalists who secretly entered El Salvador in 1985 to record the atrocities of the war.

Countries and their Cultures: El Salvador
El Salvador is primarily a Catholic country. It has a somewhat formalized social structure, where people of lower social classes or positions are expected to obey and/or politely greet those of higher classes. Despite being a predominantly Catholic country, many couples will live together without formally being married until they have children. Women--particularly wives--are expected to obey men/their husbands. Similarly, children are expected to obey their parents. Both public shaming and hitting a child are both considered to be normal methods to get them to obey.

Because of the poor economy, the government has been unable to invest much in the country’s growth which has resulted in a very poor job market. Additionally, due to the 1992 peace accords calling for a complete amnesty for all involved in the Civil War, justice for many war crimes never occurred. The combination of these items—poorly funded and trained police, a populace with little hope of improving themselves due to such a poor economy, and many violent criminals remaining in society—has lead to the perfect storm to develop a vicious gang system.This violent atmosphere further hurts the economic sector (approximately 42% of business have reported being victims of crimes), which just continues the cycle.

Salvadoran gangs have become increasingly violent. In recent years, the Salvadoran Court system has ruled that they can be treated as domestic terrorists partially due to their increased attacks on police and military targets. To make matters worse, the criminal justice system is extremely weak and the police and prosecutors don’t cooperate much. As a result only about 5% of criminal cases are actually convicted in court. Since 2000 the government has tried several different programs to control the gangs. The first was the “mano dura” (heavy-handed) movement which swept large numbers of known-gang members, people displaying any gang tattoos, etc. into prison. While this was declared unconstitutional, the following year the “super mano dura” (extremely heavy handed) was enacted that took this took another level and resulted in cutting cell phone towers near prisons and other harsh attempts to control gangs. Due to this last issue, prisons are now extremely overcrowded.

Due to the large gang presence in El Salvador, many people don’t feel safe. There has been a noticeable amount of children who have stopped attending schools either due to entering gang life or because they don’t feel safe enough to actually go outside and walk to school.

In reaction to the gang violence and poor economy, many people have left the country and immigrated (whether legally or illegally) to the US to earn money to support their families. It’s estimated that approximately 20% of the country’s GDP comes from the money sent back to El Salvador.

Yesenia: Interactive "Immigrant Experience" of a Salvadoran Woman
This site is somewhat like a "choose-your-own-adventure" book where you will read about the immigration experience of an early 20s Salvadoran woman in the 80s. This is not necessarily the experience of a specific woman, but put together from the stories of many.
El Salvador: Civil War, Natural Disasters, and Gang Violence Drive Migration
It’s currently estimated that are 1.4 millions people of Salvadoran heritage living in the United States. Almost 700,000 of them are estimated to be unauthorized. The rate of immigration started to increase during the 1970s, drastically increased during the 80s, and has continued at a similar pace since then. Due to their poor economic standings and possibly not having permission to enter the U.S., many Salvadorans rely on crossing Central America and Mexico on foot in large caravans/groups of people. This crossing, particularly through Mexico, is generally very dangerous. Many women will be raped during this crossing.

US laws have changed throughout the past half century which has made gaining entry into the country specifically by Salvadorans to be easier at some points in time, and more difficult at others. Generally speaking, only a certain number of people are allowed permanent entry into the US through a lottery. Other ways of gaining entry are through family or employment sponsorship. Both of these are generally difficult for Salvadorans to obtain because of the money involved and/or the need for specialized education to make them candidates for employment sponsorship.

When Salvadorans fled their country in greater numbers in the 80s, most entered the USA without authorization. While the US normally makes allowances so that people fleeing violence can enter the country through special asylum procedures, the US government didn’t allow this to occur because they were specifically supporting the Salvadoran government in the war. It was felt that allowing asylum would be in direct opposition to other policies, so the individual person suffered due to large government decisions.

After a court case brought forward by a conglomeration of American Baptist Churches, US immigration policy was updated to allow for certain groups of people to be admitted under a Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in 1990 due to conflict or natural disasters. Salvadorans were the first group to be granted this status. While this helped many Salvadorans, TPS was temporary and was never intended to grant permanent resident status to people who entered the country while using it. In 1992 (when the Civil War ended), TPS was ended for Salvadorans, but quickly replaced with Deferred Enforced Departure, which maintained the temporary residency and work authorization until 1995. In 1997 the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act allowed many people who were in the country prior to 1990 to apply for a permanent green card—almost 200,000 Salvadorans applied for and received this.

TPS was again granted to Salvadorans in 2001 after two major earthquakes. This was regularly extended until 2019 when the Trump administration announced it would end in September 2019. Salvadorans in the US at that point in time will need to decide if they will leave the USA or stay here as unauthorized residents. Some Salvadorans might fall under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and therefore have this potential route to legally stay in the country.
Migrants Risk the Dangerous Trip to the U.S. because it's Safer than Staying Home
A PBS interview with two brothers who are attempting to immigrate to the United States by foot from Honduras. It mixes first-hand experiences by these two young men and other immigrants, with facts and historical background to contextualize them.