I. CASE
BACKGROUND
After Honduran fans were chased from the
stadium and watched the Salvadorans burn their flag, tempers
peaked. Honduras protested the Salvadorans' actions; El Salvador
accused Honduras of mistreating Salvadoran immigrants and refugees
who had taken up residence in El Salvador. El Salvador broke off
relations and moved into Honduras on July 15. The main issue was
land. Hondurans blamed Salvadorans for taking too much land; El
Salvador wanted more. The final demarcation of the border did not
occur until 1992 when the World Court settled the issue.
In 1996, El Salvador had a population of 5.9 million people living in 21,120 square kilometers (about 8,124 square miles) and a population density of 726 people per square mile, making it the most densely populated country in the Western Hemisphere. In the same year, Honduras had a population of 5 million people in an area of 112,100 square kilometers (about 43,100 square miles). A lack of land combined with a growing population has plagued El Salvador since the sixteenth century when the Spanish partitioned Central America. Attempts to demarcate the 210 mile border between these two countries date back to 1642. In 1742, while still Spanish entities, members of a Salvadoran bordertown invaded a Honduran bordertown in an attempt to gain more land. Central America gained independence from Spain in 1821, forming the Federation of Central American States until 1838. When the Federation collapsed, each member country claimed its own sovereignty. Unfortunately, the entire border between El Salvador and Honduras was never officially demarcated until 1992.
The
disputed border is approximately 210 miles long and consists mainly
of islands, pockets of land, brush, mountains and rights to the
Gulf of Fonesca. El Salvador, since its inception, has continually
had a need for land and the high population density is not the only
issue. Historically, El Salvador's land has been owned by fourteen
families. These fourteen families control the land, its resources
and, consequently, the lives of many of peasants who work the land.
Although the border dispute between El Salvador and neighboring
Honduras does indeed date back to the Spanish colonists, the
contested land did not become bloody until 1969.
In order to understand the reasons for the sudden bloodshed in 1969, we should first examine the political situation throughout Latin America in general and Central America in particular. The 1960s witnessed a communist ruler in Cuba, strengthened guerrilla groups throughout the region and a general desire for social justice. At that time, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua were all ruled by military dictators who ruled with repressive policies. Guatemala was already in the midst of a civil war fought between leftist guerrillas and the military and guerrillas were attempting to overthrow the brutal Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua. Feeling these pressures, the governments of Honduras and El Salvador set out to control the influence of the left and attempted to restrict peasants' access to the expanding influence of the Latin American left.
Throughout the 1960s, Honduran peasants became more politicized and demanded agricultural reform and land redistribution. The Honduran government passed an agricultural reform act, though it did not intend to break up the land of either the oligarchic ruling class or of the United Fruit Company, a U.S.-based banana company. The only alternative left, therefore, was to repossess the land of the more than 300,000 Salvadoran immigrants who had resettled in Honduras. The possibilities of the repatriation of land and deportation of these immigrants alarmed El Salvador as it shuddered at the possible return of more than 300,000 landless, restless peasants. Discord and animosity heightened between the two countries and the media of each country waged verbal wars. Ryszard Kapuscinski, a Polish journalist in Tegucigalpa in 1969, describes the situation: "Relations between the two countries were tense. Newspapers on both sides waged a campaign of hate, slander and abuse, calling each other Nazis, dwarfs, drunkards, sadists, spiders, aggressors and thieves. There were pogroms. Shops were burned" (Kapuscinski 1992). It was under these conditions that the 1969 World Cup soccer match between the Salvadoran and Honduran national teams took place.
The
match occurred on June 15, 1969 in San Salvador. Soccer is a
national pastime in both countries and patriotism becomes
intertwined with the team. El Salvador won the game and sentiments
of nationalism combined with the victory produced mass victory
celebrations. Honduran flags were burned on the field and fleeing
fans were attacked (Kirby 1989). The Honduran government protested
and El Salvador responded by breaking off relations.
One month later, on July 15, the Salvadoran government sent troops across the river into Honduras, accusing the Honduran military of abusing the Salvadoran immigrants. The Honduran military retaliated and blood was shed. The number of casualties varies from 500 to 5000 Salvadorans, according to the source. Nevertheless, the war lasted 100 hours, people died and the border remained contested.
Although the "war" ended less than five days after it began, the conflict was not resolved. Minor incidents continued to occur along the border and no demarcation of the border was attempted on either side. Moreover, the subsequent civil wars in El Salvador and neighboring Nicaragua affected Honduran-Salvadoran relations.
The 1979 Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua resulted in a massive influx into Honduras of Nicaraguan refugees fleeing the leftist government of the Sandinistas. In 1980, the Salvadoran military dictatorship and the leftist guerrillas of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) initiated a brutal civil war which spurred many Salvadorans to flee El Salvador. At this same time, Honduras was already inundated with Nicaraguan refugees and U.S.- sponsored contras, the anti-Sandinista rebels, who used Honduras as a training ground. The Honduran government permitted this training in its territory because it did not want to anger the U.S. nor did it want a peasant revolution to spread to Honduras.
It was in this context that the border skirmishes flared again. In May, 1980, thousands of Salvadorans sought to cross the border region of the Sumpul River only to meet the disapproval of the Honduran military, who fired on and killed over 500 refugees. According to an article in the Washington Post, no one knows for sure who fired first upon these refugees; some witnesses blame the Honduran border patrol, while others accuse their Salvadoran counterparts. The lack of diplomatic relations between the two countries, however, only complicated matters further.
As the civil war intensified in El Salvador, the two countries tried to reach an agreement to end the border dispute. The contested border served both the Salvadoran military and the FMLN since no one officially controlled or patrolled it. In 1980, the two governments signed a peace treaty, agreeing to continue negotiations on the final demarcation of the border. In 1986, the governments of Honduras and El Salvador reached an agreement on two-thirds of the 210-mile border area. Since they could not agree on the delineation of the last third of the area, they sent the task to the World Court.
Although the contested border was now the problem of
the World Court, the FMLN tried to block any decision reached by
the World Court so that it could continue use of the border region
as its "home-base." The border region had become a "no-man's-land"
for the guerrillas since they could easily hide in the thick brush.
In 1989, Ramon Valladares Soto, chairman of the Honduran half of
the Mixed Commission on Border Affairs, noted that "each pocket [of
disputed land] is a safe haven for the rebels, because neither the
Salvadoran not Honduran army will go in there" (Kirby 1989).
In 1992,
after one of the longest deliberations of the World Court, the
issue was settled. The New York Times notes that "it took
50 judicial sessions and close scrutiny of reams of old documents
to resolve the most complex case in the court's history" (1992).
The World Court awarded the delta of the Goascoran River, about
four-fifths of two areas along the Negro-Quiagara and the Sazalapa
rivers and the island of El Tigre in the Gulf of Fonesca. El
Salvador received most of the Tepanguisir region near the
Guatemalan border, about half of two pockets along the Sumpul and
Torola rivers and the islands of Meanguera and Meaguerita in the
Gulf of Fonesca. Control of the Gulf of Fonesca was divided among
Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua (Facts on File 1992).
The border dispute began in the sixteenth century. Border skirmishes began in 1969. The final border demarcation was handed down by the World Court in 1992 with implementation of the new border required and completed by 1993.
Continent: North America
Region: Southern North America
Country: Honduras
II. Environment
AspectsAct Site Harm Site Example Iraq Persian Gulf Oil Spill into Gulf
III. Conflict
AspectsThe poverty in both countries forced peasants to seek any methods of earning a living. Honduras may have more land than El Salvador, but the Hondurans were not willing to cede land and jobs that they desperately needed to Salvadorans who also desperately needed them. The conflict was not one based on ethnicity, but rather on a fundamental need to survive, mixed with a dash of patriotism
The entire region of Central America was plagued with civil war,
brutal dictatorships and the influence of the Cold War. Central
America became the stage on which the East-West conflict between
the Soviet Union and the United States was performed.
III. Environment and Conflict Overlap
| Demand for Land | --------> | Conflict | <-------- | Refugee Problem and Poverty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| /\ ! ! ! | ||||
| Outside Actors |
IV. Related
Information and Sources
| ICE |
|---|
"A Win in the World Court." The New York Times. October 6, 1992.
Belthran, Raul. "International Update." U.P.I. January 24, 1988.
Dickey, Christopher. "Salvadoran Refugees Caught Between 'Hammer and Anvil'." The Washington Post. July 6, 1980.
Diuguid, Lewis H. "Honduras, El Salvador Accept Border Mediation." The Washington Post. November 23, 1977.
Hoge, Warren. "Slaughter in Salvador: 200 Lost in Border Massacre." The New York Times. June 8, 1981.
"Honduras, El Salvador Settle Border Dispute; World Court Decides Contested Areas." Facts on File World News Digest. September 24, 1992.
Kapuscinski, Tyszard. The Soccer War. trans. by William Brand. New York: Granta Books, 1990.
Kirby, David. "Centuries Old Border War Continues." U.P.I. May 4, 1989.
Otis, John. "Border Tensions Continue between Honduras and El Salvador." U.P.I. March 10, 1992.
"Ructions on Honduras-Salvador Border." Latin America Weekly Report. March 19, 1992.
"Ruling Ends Rift That Started 1969 'Soccer War'." LosAngles Times. Septemeber 12, 1992.