8/3/2019 Review of the War of the Dispossessed Honduras and El Salvador, 1969 by Thomas P. Anderson

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In the end Bcnnc reduces his thesisto these simple terms: No socialist soci-ety has room for any religion other

than its own secular dogma; only a c a pitalist socicty allows rcligion to flower.Capitalism, moreover, is consistentwith JudcoC hristian teachings if i t is a

partner of thc people; an d man’ can

have no hope for thc future withoutvigorous spiritual renewal. “Perhaps,“

suggcsts k n n e hopefully , “ the Divineresponse is n ear.” l3VFI

THE WAR OF THE DISPOSSESSED:HONDURAS AND EL SALVADOR,

by Thomas P. Anderson(Un iver sity of Ncbraska Prcss; 20 3 pp.;

$15.95)

1969

Miles L.Wortman

The chief value of this good, academicstudy of the 1969 E l Salvador-Hondti-ran war is that the cvcnt is sufficientlydistant to judge dispassionately as a his-

torical cvcnt. nut i t is as much about

today’s crisis, th e region’s complex ities,and its almost hopeless dilem ma as i t isabout that hu ndre dho ur conflict .

T he region i s full of drcam s. Th cr c isthe 160-year-olddrea m of a united Ccn-tral American entity, a rcturn to theuni ty enjqyed undcr thc Spanish

crown. The dream cndurcs despite ra-

cial distinctions, regional antipathies,periodic border wars- in short , despite

a lack of commonality save thc dreamitself. In the first half of this centurythe dream led Hondu rans to invite Sal-vadorans into their lalor-short banana

ficlds and mincs. Thc Salvadorans

came, fleeing political oppression, seek-ing land, full of ambition. Some fol-lowed the custom of th eir own coun try

and squatted on uncultivated land.They prospcred and xenophobia dcvcl-

oped among the H ondurans.

T h e same dream led to the crcationof the Central American Comm on Mar-ket with its promise of increased re-gional cooperation and prosperity. El

blvador prospered. Cheap but well-

made Salvadoran shocs piishcd outHonduran-manufactured or handmade

shoes in cvcry town in that country.

Anoth er Central Amcrican d rcam, of

health y populations-a dream we allshare-Icd to efforts hy national gov-ernments and international organiza-tions for health care, vaccinations,

30

hea l th educa t ion. And popula t iongrew-from 1.4million in E l Salvadorin 1930 to 2.5 million in 1960. Th cre

ar c 4.8 million today, with a density

cight timcs that of the United States. InHonduras, half the population today is

unproductivc, under fifteen years of

age, a weight on thc economy.

Thc d r c a m of industrialization, ofinvesting in factories, using foreign

loans, developing cxports to supporttliesc populations, failed with the rise

in oil priccs in the ‘70s that made production costly.

Th c dream of industrial agriculture,

to make t hc land produce morc in gross

‘tcrms than thc grain the pcasantsfarmed, was ruined by th e oil price rise,by highcr fertilizer costs, by the pres-

sure of the large agrarian populationsfor land, and by th e greed of large land-holders who refused reform and thusfaced rcvolution.

Finally, thcre is th e dream of thecleric, to find social justice in landswhcre the economic equations do no t

suppo rt subsistcnce.Some of thesc drcains died in the.

1960s and a reaction sct in . In H onduras

populist groups pressured for rclicf, foragrarian reform; and thc prcssurc wasturned against the casicst target- thcforeigner, thc Salvadoran pcnsant whooccupied Honduran land. Xcnophobiadistracted pcasant and l ab o r groupsfrom morc important domestic prob-

lems. Politicians draggcd out’old border

issues. Salvadoran siiccess in the Com-

mon Market was decried. In both coun-tries horrib le jingoism ;irosc; small inci-

dents excited passions as newspapersmisinformcd thcir clientele. A prewar .euphoria devclopcd as thc problemsand the lost dreams wcrq set asidc in

ordcr to face “th e cncmy.“’ Most North Americans rcmcmber

the resulting 1969 war by its facetious

titlc, th e “Soccer War,” Iwcause it wassparkcd by disagrcemcnt a t a football

match. It seemed a comic opera affair,

lasting a hundred hours, killing a cou-ple of hundrcd soldiers- not very im-portant as wars go. We ignored thc twothousan d civilians, killed and the inany

more refugees.

And in the early ‘70s of Watergateand Vietnam wc‘ forgot Central Amcri-

ca. Th e reports of 130,000 Salvadorans

shippcd honie from Honduras, the “dis-

posscsscd” of the Imk’s titlc, wcrc notimportant. Wasn’t this a usual oc c urrcncc in Latin America?

The border ktwecn Honduras and

’

El Salvador was closed. Population p re s

siirc in El Salvador grew, made .worst

by the repatriated refugees. Thc Com-

mon Market was dead, Salvador’s pros-perity bccame dcprcssion,, unemploy-me nt soared, ‘food and cnergy priccsincrcased. Th e eupho ria at th c onset ofthe war became anger at the failurc in

both countr ies and f rus t ra t ion a tmountin g domestic problems.

Andcrson link s th e 1972. politicalturmoil in El Salvador, th e. clcctoral

fraud, the coups and countercoups, tothe failure of the war. With all dreamsof democracy dead, small terrorist o p r -

ations began. Private armies financed

by large farmers, businessmen, policeand m ilitary officials respondcd, kil lingfirst peasants, t he n , land reformers,

wmc priests, thcn some nuns and ana r c hb i shop . I n the un inha b i t a b lcmounta ins ktwccn Honduras and E lSalvador, the ”h aun t of many criminals

of both nations” before 1969, gue rrillagroups formed. Oil made lifc morcexpens ive for th e peasantry. RcSistancc

gqw. Population swellcd. Rcpressionincrcased. Toward the end of the ‘70s

help for the gilcrrillas came from the

Sandinistas in Nicaragua. The dreams

dicd.Th c Andcrson book is a careful, ana-

lytical study of the causcs and theeffects of t he 1969 conflict. I t is also

about today. Lm .

WOMEN IN THE ’TWO GERMANIESby Harry G. Shaffer ‘

(Pergamon Prcsu; xiii +204 pp.; 526.00)

Margery Fo x .’

Long intcrcsted in wom en’s , progrcssunder socialist systems, Shiffer has p r oduced a rigorous an d well-docunicntcd

study of wointn in East Germany (thcGerman Deniocratic Rcpublic) andWest Germany (the Federal Rcpublic

of Gcrmany), a study that has thecxccptional mcrit of comparing womenwho share esscntially’similar culturalbackgrounds but w ho live under diffcr-

cnt social systems.

: Women in West Germany have hadto fight independently for thcir rights

in thc abscnce of cither a supportivc

political ideology or a sociorcligioustridition th at ’ osters equality; it is a

state tha t gives’ priority to individuals.Any profound sex role changes in WestGermany would have to cvolve gradu-