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El Salvador Revolutionary Groups
During the 1960s and 1970s, some of the population sought
expression and perhaps eventual redress for their problems by
becoming involved in a wide variety of "mass organizations" (also
known as popular organizations), such as those included in the
Revolutionary Coordinator of the Masses (Coordinadora
Revolucionaria de las Masas--CRM)
(see The Reformist Coup of 1979
, ch. 1). These groups, once tens of thousands strong, were
heavily urban oriented and included a range of trade unionists,
teachers, clergy, professionals, students, and other middle-class
and urban lower-class workers interested in social and economic
reform. The tactics of the mass organizations included strikes,
street demonstrations, mass rallies, and occupation of public
buildings (churches, government buildings, and embassies),
factories, and farms.
In the countryside, the mass organizations found some support
among landless campesinos mainly in the hills around the central
valleys and in the northern mountains (the departments of
Chalatenango, San Salvador, Cuscatlan, Cabanas, and San Vicente).
Laborers on the coastal plain, where estate owners and
administrators exercised greater influence, showed less
enthusiasm for the mass organizations.
Whereas some of the rural poor hoped to exert pressure for
change through participation in the popular organizations, others
joined the ranks of more conservative, officially sanctioned
organizations. One of these, the Salvadoran Communal Union (Union
Comunal Salvadorena--UCS), begun in 1966, sought to address the
needs of small farmers through limited programs of technical
assistance and credit facilities. By 1980 the UCS claimed 100,000
members.
Another peasant organization, the Nationalist Democratic
Organization (Organizacion Democratica Nacionalista--Orden),
claimed as many as 100,000 members in the late 1970s. Established
in the 1960s under military rule, Orden had close ties to the GN
(see The Security Forces
, ch. 5). In return for cooperation with
the GN in areas such as intelligence and civil defense, members
of Orden were eligible for benefits such as favorable credit
terms on government agricultural loans, priority consideration
for permanent estate jobs, and employment on public works
project. Orden was disbanded officially by a decree of the first
1979 junta government, but some observers believed that it
continued to function unofficially after that date
(see The Reformist Coup of 1979
, ch. 1).
In the 1970s, activists from mass organizations joined the
ranks of various guerrilla organizations
(see The 1970s: The Road to Revolt
, ch. 1;
Left-Wing Extremism
, ch. 5). Guerrilla
membership was diverse and included trade unionists, students,
teachers, other disaffected members of the middle class, urban
workers, and peasants.
In early 1981, Salvadoran guerrilla groups who were united
under the banner of the FMLN estimated that they controlled 10
percent of Salvadoran territory. By 1983 the FMLN's claims had
risen to 30 percent. Although guerrilla forces exerted influence
over certain areas, they had not achieved control in the sense of
being able to secure territory against concerted efforts, usually
"sweeps" by at least battalion-sized units, by government forces
to reestablish access
(see Left-Wing Extremism
, ch. 5).
Generally, the guerrilla movement was most active to the north
and to the east of the Rio Lempa, in the departments of
Chalatenango, Cabanas, Morazan, Cuscatlan, San Vicente, and
Usulutan. Guerrilla activities were less frequent in the more
affluent western half of the country, roughly to the west of the
Rio Lempa.
From the guerrilla perspective, El Salvador was seen as
divided into three different "fields of struggle" depending on
the nature of their activities there. The "liberated areas" or
"zones of control," in the north and east, were areas where
communications with the rest of the country had been cut off,
where the government and the military had not established a
permanent presence, and where strings of guerrilla camps exerted
influence over the local population. The so-called "disputed"
areas in the central part of the country were contested by
guerrilla forces living among the rural population and by
government forces stationed in towns. The third area, the cities,
experienced comparatively little open antigovernment violence,
although sporadic terrorist actions by both rightist and leftist
groups persisted after the mid-1970s
(see Threats to Internal Security
, ch. 5).
In the isolated "zones of control," as in other rural areas,
amenities were few: no electricity, water taken from streams and
springs, and no sanitation facilities. Agricultural production on
family plots and collective farms provided food for guerrilla
combatants as well as for local residents. According to
sympathetic foreign observers, the guerrillas provided some
social services, including at least rudimentary medical care,
using both modern and traditional herbal methods, and education
programs. Although supplies were either limited or nonexistent,
literacy programs for all ages, using sticks to scratch in the
earth in lieu of pens and paper, and education in first aid and
basic sanitation measures were conducted. These courses served to
provide basic education to a largely illiterate population and to
prepare them to provide medical and logistical support to FMLN
combatants. Town meetings were held to discuss issues of local
concern and to elect councils with representatives responsible
for agriculture, health, education, and information. Religious
activities compatible with the tenets of
liberation theology (see Glossary)
were encouraged. Security and early warning of armed
forces operations in the area were provided by local militia
drawn from the pool of younger residents.
Another aspect of the guerrillas' ideology stressed equality
for women as comrades in the political-military struggle. This,
in many cases, represented a considerable and sometimes difficult
adjustment for people from a culture that placed an exceptionally
strong value on machismo, where women traditionally were regarded
as inferior. Discrimination against women was further reinforced
in Salvadoran rural life, particularly in the area of labor.
Government wage scales either excluded women from permanent labor
positions; set a lower minimum wage for women, along with boys
under sixteen and the handicapped; or did not pay women at all if
they worked in a men's crew. Educational opportunities for girls
were also more limited because of the need for their assistance
at home at an early age. In territory influenced by the
guerrillas, however, some observers reported that wife-beating
was discouraged, an effort was made to assign tasks more
equitably, and men were taught to view women as companeras
(comrades). Thus, men might cook and wash clothes, while women
fought, or directed development projects, or did construction
work. In fact, 40 percent of leadership and 30 percent of
combatant roles were filled by women in guerrilla zones. Yet even
in these communities, there were limits to change; tortillamaking , for example, remained a female task.
Data as of November 1988
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