Erik Ching - Stories of Civil War in El Salvador: A Battle over Memory

2016 The University of North Carolina Press

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Ching, Erik Kristofer, author.

Title: Stories of civil war in El Salvador : a battle over memory / Erik Ching.

Description: Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, [2016] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015040518 | ISBN 9781469628660 (pbk : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781469628677 (ebook) | ISBN 978-1-4696-3041-0 (hardback: alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: El SalvadorHistory19791992. | Collective memoryEl Salvador. | Group identityEl Salvador. | Social classesEl Salvador.

Classification: LCC F 1488.3 . C 475 2016 | DDC 972.8405/3dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015040518

Cover illustration: Photograph of soldiers courtesy of Coleccin Fotogrfica del Museo de la Palabra y la Imagen, El Salvador, and used strictly by permission of Museo de la Palabra y la Imagen.

put to press with an award

Figure Foundation

reading blueprints of belief

In the prologue to Rodrigo Guerra y Guerras 2011 memoir about the 1979 coup, the Salvadoran writer and journalist Rafael Menjvar Ochoa says, in reference to the many life stories that have appeared in El Salvador since the end of the civil war, these materials need to be processed and placed in their proper context, within the framework of history yet to be written. Menjvar Ochoa has since passed away, but had he lived to read this book, I hope he would have seen it as helping to fill those absences.

I began to conceptualize this study in the late 2000s while working on other projects about recent Salvadoran history. One of those projects was the translation of La Terquedad del Izote , the war diary of Carlos Henrquez Consalvi, a.k.a. Santiago, the main voice of Radio Venceremos, the FMLNs clandestine radio station during the war.

Another project that helped me to conceptualize the present one was my involvement in the study of the contested memory of an earlier trauma in Salvadoran history, the peasant uprising and military massacre of 1932. In Remembering a Massacre in El Salvador , my coauthors and I learned that in the decades following the events of 1932, Salvadorans separated into diverse memory groups that narrated the events of 1932 differently, and that their narrations changed in accordance with contemporary exigencies. It seemed that with the end of the civil war more than two decades in the past, the time was right to investigate Salvadorans remembrances of it.

Im deeply indebted to many people who made this study possible. First and foremost I wish to recognize my home institution, Furman University, which granted me a full-year sabbatical leave that provided me with the time and opportunity to complete the bulk of the present book. To various colleagues who read some or all of the manuscript in various stages, or who provided me with advice, I would like to offer my thanks, especially Paul Almeida, Jeff Gould, Terry Lynn Karl, Hctor Lindo, Michael Schroeder, David Spencer, Ralph Sprenkels, and Knut Walter. The two anonymous reviewers commissioned by UNC Press proved very knowledgeable about the Salvadoran case and provided me with helpful insights that improved the final text. Colleagues in El Salvador have aided me in diverse ways throughout this project. They include, but are not limited to Csar Acevedo, Ren Aguiluz, Ricardo Argueta, Fidel Campos, Carlos Henrquez Consalvi, Carlos Gregorio Lpez Bernal, Sister Peggy ONeill, and Alfredo Ramrez. Maria Mayo worked with me as a research assistant during a summer thanks to funding provided by the Furman Advantage Program. The image that appears on the front cover was graciously provided by the Museum of Word and Image in San Salvador, under the direction of Carlos Consalvi. I would also like to thank the University of North Carolina Press, its editor Elaine Maisner, whose suggestions very much improved the manuscript, and her assistant editor, Alison Shay. Thanks also to Carol Noble for an outstanding copyedit, and to Carolyn Ferrick for the followup edit.

I could not have completed this project without my familys support. So to my parents, Harriette and Woody Ching, my sister Nissa Ching, and my in-laws, Matt and Carol Stevens and Rob and Jaime Stevens, and our extended family member, Blanca Castao, I extend deep gratitude. My most heartfelt appreciation goes out to my immediate family: my spouse, Cathy Stevens, and our three children, Anders, Halle, and Evan; I owe this one to you.

ABECAFE

Asociacin Salvadorea de Beneficiadores y Exportadores de Caf (Association of Coffee Producers)

ARENA

Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (Nationalist Republican Alliance)

BIRI

Batalln de Infantera de Reaccin Inmediata (Rapid Action Infantry Battalion)

BPR

Bloque Popular Revolucionario (Revolutionary Popular Block)

BRAZ

Brigada Rafael Arce Zablah (Rafael Arce Zablah Brigade)

ERP

Ejrcito Revolucionario del Pueblo (Peoples Revolutionary Army)

FAL

Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacin (Armed Forces of Liberation)

FARO

Frente Agrario de la Regin Oriental (Agrarian Front of the Eastern Region)

FMLN

Frente Farabundo Mart para la Liberacin Nacional (Farabundo Mart Nacional Liberation Front)

FPL

Fuerzas Populares de Liberacin Farabundo Mart (Farabundo Mart Popular Liberation Forces)

FRAP

Fuerzas Revolucionarias Armadas del Pueblo (Armed Revolutionary Forces of the People)

FRTS

Federacin Regional de Trabajadores Salvadoreos (Regional Federation of Salvadoran Workers)

FUAR

Frente Unido de Accin Revolucionaria (United Front for Revolutionary Action)

FUSADES

Fundacin Salvadorea para el Desarrollo Econmico y Social (Salvadoran Foundation for Economic and Social Development)

MERS

Movimiento Estudiantil Revolucionario de Secundaria (High School Students Revolutionary Movement)

MNR

Movimiento Revolucionario Nacional (National Revolutionary Movement)

OLAS

Organizacin Latinoamericana de Solidaridad (Latin American Solidarity Organization)

ORDEN

Organizacin Democrtica Nacionalista (Nationalist Democratic Organization)

ORT

Organizacin Revolucionario de Trabajadores (Revolutionary Workers Organization)

PCN

Partido de Conciliacin Nacional (National Conciliation Party)

PCS

Partido Comunista Salvadoreo (Communist Party of El Salvador)

PD

Partido Demcrata (Democratic Party)

PDC

Partido Demcrata Cristiano (Christian Democratic Party)

PR-9M

Partido Revolucionario 9 de Mayo (May 9th Revolutionary Party)

PRAL

Patrullas de Reconocimiento de Alcance Largo (Long-Range Reconnaissance Patrols)