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El Salvador EVOLUTION OF THE MILITARY'S ROLE IN SOCIETY AND GOVERNMENT
The Oligarchy's Private Army, 1824-1931
The Salvadoran Army, like others in the region, developed
from the city-based militia of the colonial period. Suppression
of frequent Indian rebellions throughout the region and
enforcement of tax, labor, and other obligations required of the
Indians were principal functions of the militia and incipient
armies during colonial times and carried over into the immediate
postcolonial period. General Manuel Jose Arce, the first
president of a regional federation called the United Provinces of
Central America, which was established in 1823, created the first
genuinely Salvadoran army in 1824
(see
El Salvador and the United Provinces of Central America
, ch. 1). He did this by consolidating
a number of widely scattered cavalry units, which had fought
against incursions by the army of the self-proclaimed Mexican
emperor Agustin de Iturbide, and placing them under a central
command. El Salvador's Armed Forces Day, called the Day of the
Salvadoran Soldier, has been celebrated ever since on the date of
the formal unification, May 7.
In 1825 two French military advisers helped to modernize
Arce's militia, which saw considerable action in the internecine
conflict between liberal and conservative forces. After the
federation collapsed in 1840, newly independent El Salvador
inherited most of Arce's troops. The resulting Salvadoran Army
was basically a light cavalry with independent squadrons of
dragoons. Unlike the region's other armies, most of which
resembled bandit gangs during most of the nineteenth century, the
Salvadoran Army had developed by the 1850s into a balanced and
relatively disciplined force of infantry, cavalry, and artillery.
Officers were almost exclusively criollos.
President Gerardo Barrios (1858-63) brought in another French
military mission, which reorganized the militia into a Europeanstyle national army. Barrios also used Colombian advisers to
improve the conduct, appearance, and discipline of the army and
militia. In 1867 the French military mission assisted President
Francisco Duenas (1852-58 and 1863-67) in establishing an
officer-training school that eventually became the Captain
General Gerardo Barrios Military Academy (Escuela Militar Capitan
General Gerardo Barrios).
The military supported the coffee oligarchy that emerged in
the 1880s by functioning as an internal police force to suppress
frequent peasant rebellions. In return, the landowners protected
the military's interests and underwrote its expansion and
professionalization, thereby laying the foundations of what
became the most powerful institution in El Salvador in the
twentieth century. President Carlos Erzeta (1890-94) founded the
Military Hospital in San Salvador, opened the Noncommissioned
Officers School (Escuela de Suboficiales), and employed a German
military mission to reorganize and train artillery units.
During the first half of the twentieth century, the military
had a primarily internal security function and was involved in
active hostilities on only one occasion, a brief war with
Guatemala in 1906. A number of Chilean officers participated
directly in El Salvador's campaign against Guatemala, forging a
strong link between their country and El Salvador. The Chilean
military attache, Carlos Ibanez de Campo, who later became
president of Chile, personally led a legendary charge of the
Salvadoran cavalry in one of the major battles, at Platanar.
President Manuel Enrique Araujo (1911-13) implemented some
army reforms that had a permanent effect on the security system.
For example, he reduced its police functions. He also helped to
professionalize the army by creating a general staff, an army
educational corps, and a relatively efficient army reserve
system. In 1922 El Salvador formed the Military Aviation Service
(Servicio de Aviacion Militar--SAM) by acquiring five Italian
bomber-reconnaissance aircraft.
Beginning in 1929, the oligarchy relied increasingly on the
military to suppress a series of major peasant rebellions in the
coffee-growing areas of western El Salvador. President Arturo
Araujo (March-December 1931) gave his vice president and minister
of war, General Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez, a free hand to
suppress the revolts. At the same time, however, Araujo alienated
the military by slashing its budget and refusing to revise its
pay procedures.
Data as of November 1988
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