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El Salvador Relations with Other Nations
As the Salvadoran civil conflict continued during the 1980s,
the imperative of maintaining support from the United States and
the protracted diplomatic efforts to achieve a regional
settlement in Central America consumed most of the country's
foreign policy efforts. Although relations with other nations
occupied a distinctly lower priority, the Duarte administration
did make an effort to improve El Salvador's standing in Western
Europe.
Duarte made an official trip to Western Europe in July 1984
with two major goals in mind: to secure foreign economic aid
funds, some of which had been discontinued earlier in the decade
as a result of his country's poor human rights record under
military rule, and to convince West European leaders that real
political and social reform was possible in El Salvador. The
governments of most West European countries were on record as
supporting the inclusion of the FDR or even the FMLN in a
negotiated power-sharing government. The 1981 declaration by
France and Mexico recognizing the FMLN-FDR as a "representative
political force" was the most prominent product of this European
foreign policy current. The FDR and its president, Ungo,
maintained close ties with social democratic parties in Europe;
the FDR also served as the Salvadoran representative to the
Socialist International, the worldwide association of social
democratic parties, and effectively used this forum to press its
case against the existing government in El Salvador.
Duarte was received by the heads of state in the Federal
Republic of Germany (West Germany), France, Portugal, Belgium,
and Britain. The most productive meeting from the Salvadoran
standpoint was that with Chancellor Helmut Kohl of West Germany.
Kohl, a Christian Democrat, announced the resumption of German
economic aid to El Salvador, aid that had been discontinued five
years previously by the social democratic government of Helmut
Schmidt. Duarte was also warmly received by British prime
minister Margaret Thatcher, although no aid agreement resulted
from his visit. The Salvadoran president failed to achieve one
specific goal of his trip when French president François
Mitterrand declined to modify or reject the 1981 Franco-Mexican
declaration. Nevertheless, the French position vis-a-vis the
Duarte government generally was perceived as more supportive
after the July 1984 visit; in 1985 France shifted the residence
of its ambassador from Belmopan, Belize, to San Salvador,
partially in recognition of improved security conditions in the
Salvadoran capital.
El Salvador received a limited amount of economic development
assistance from Canada in the late 1980s. Canadian concerns over
the increasing number of Salvadoran immigrants to that country as
a result of more restrictive United States immigration laws,
however, could prompt Canada to review the low priority of its
dealings with El Salvador. In May 1988, the Salvadoran foreign
minister paid the first official visit by a Salvadoran official
to Japan. He returned with pledges of Japanese aid in the San
Salvador reconstruction effort necessitated by the October 1986
earthquake, as well as very low-level commitments to fund or
donate equipment for sanitation, agriculture, and sports and
cultural projects. The Japanese government also promised to take
steps to appoint a resident ambassador.
El Salvador did not maintain diplomatic relations with any
communist countries in the late 1980s and did not recognize
China. Its continued recognition of Taiwan reflected the
historically conservative thrust of the country's foreign policy.
In a similar vein, El Salvador was one of only two countries in
the world (Costa Rica being the other) to maintain its embassy to
Israel in Jerusalem rather than Tel Aviv.
* * *
Enrique A. Baloyra's El Salvador in Transition and
numerous subsequent articles provide useful and objective
insights into the workings of Salvadoran politics and foreign
relations. Other authors, such as Kenneth E. Sharpe, Terry Lynn
Karl, and Jose Z. Garcia, have followed events in El Salvador
closely and written informative articles as well. Because of the
country's high profile in United States foreign policy, most
major newspapers provide adequate coverage of developments; these
reports can be supplemented, however, by publications with a
regional focus, such as the Latin American Weekly Report,
Latin America Regional Reports: Mexico and Central
America, and Latin American Monitor: Central America.
With regard to the Contadora process and related diplomatic,
political, and security developments in Central America, Susan
Kaufman Purcell's "Demystifying Contadora" and "The Choice in
Central America" provide accurate reporting of events while also
attempting to explain the motivations of all actors involved.
Bruce Michael Bagley's "Contadora: The Failure of Democracy" also
provides a good overview of the process. (For further information
and complete citations,
see
Bibliography.)
Data as of November 1988
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