military, and state and financial institutions to protect their interests. As Elisabeth Wood has so astutely noted, “Salvadoran history is thus characterized by elite resistance to change.”3 This resistance ultimately culminated in a violent civil war during the 1980s. This chapter focuses on the historical efforts of the oligarchy, in alliance with the military, to preserve power, extend economic dominance, and control the population. In doing so, it highlights the sources and structures of elite entrenchment that would make the captured peace possible.
El Salvador’s “Radical Liberalism”
At the time of Central American independence,4 in 1823, the Salvadoran economy was largely dedicated to the production of indigo.5 By the mid-nineteenth century, however, El Salvador’s once booming trade in indigo declined significantly due to the manufacture of cheaper dyes in Germany. Additionally, the U.S. Civil War resulted in a decreased demand for the Salvadoran export, and shipping the crop was complicated by a naval blockade. Recognizing that the indigo market was shrinking, exporters began searching for a replacement crop.
Coffee and the State
El Salvador’s rich volcanic soil and mountainous terrain were ideal for the cultivation of coffee, which grows at altitudes higher than 750 meters above sea level. The introduction of coffee in the mid-nineteenth century coincided with the expansion of the state apparatus at a time when the country’s Conservatives and Liberals were fighting for political dominance. Coffee and land were at the heart of the dispute. In the mid-nineteenth century, El Salvador’s land system was divided into private, communal, public, and communal lands (ejidos).6 As coffee cultivation spread, the desire for land ownership increased and coffee growers increasingly pressured local governments to sell town lands. After several municipalities conceded, coffee growers began to pressure the national government.7 In 1847 the Salvadoran legislature passed its first law supporting coffee, offering service exemptions and tax benefits to those who had more than fifteen thousand coffee trees.8 In 1859 and again in 1863, Gen. Gerardo Barrios, often credited with introducing coffee to El Salvador, offered to transfer public land to private hands on the condition that the land be used for coffee production.9 Much of the infrastructure that developed during the mid- to late nineteenth century was designed to benefit the export of coffee.
El Salvador’s Liberals believed that coffee held the key to the country’s modernization and prosperity. The Liberals were able to consolidate power by using the state to create policies directly benefiting coffee production. The liberal land reforms of 1881 and 1882 abolished communal lands, which were considered an “impediment to agricultural production and economic growth” by the oligarchy.10 Opposition to the ejido system was not limited to the oligarchy. As Aldo Lauria-Santiago demonstrates, other social groups opposed the ejido system as well.11 While the reforms did create an opportunity for other groups, the vast majority of the land was claimed by the agrarian class.12 Under the 1881–82 reforms, thousands of campesinos were made landless and were subsequently forced to work on haciendas. The “land reform” strengthened the Liberals’ control of the economy and the state by further concentrating wealth in the hands of a select few. Seventy-three percent of the land confiscated by the reforms was distributed to 5.6 percent of the new owners, while 50 percent of the owners received 3.45 percent of the land.13 Banks were created to facilitate the purchase of new lands. In 1880 Banco Internacional was established as El Salvador’s first commercial bank. Banco Occidental was founded in 1890 and Banco Agricola Comercial in 1895. By the end of the century, there were more than half a dozen banks dedicated to financing the agricultural sector. The availability of land and financing enabled both large and small growers to expand coffee cultivation. It also increased the power of coffee growers vis-à-vis the state. Thus, coffee, the state, and finance became entangled early in El Salvador’s history.
One noteworthy characteristic of the Salvadoran elites was their espousal of the virtues of liberalism alongside mechanisms, policies, and practices that were distinctly illiberal. From very early on, there was a rhetorical commitment to liberal political ideas. The constitution of 1886 reaffirmed Liberal values by creating a secular state, providing for the popular election of municipal authorities, and protecting private property.14 Elections helped create the façade of liberal democracy, though the actual practice was quite deficient. Erik Ching explains that elites developed sophisticated patronage networks at the municipal and national levels, which allowed them to subvert individual liberties for their own gain.15 He describes these networks as “highly personalistic, typically hierarchical units designed to monopolize voting, control public office, and militarily resist rival networks when necessary.”16 Political bosses bargained with voters for their votes, which were known because voting was conducted orally and in public until 1950. This bargaining enabled elites to use public offices for their own enrichment. Coffee growers occupied the presidency for seventeen years between 1856 and 1898, and eight of the ten presidents from 1898 to 1927 were from coffee families.17 By 1895 well over 90 percent of the members in the Salvadoran legislature were coffee planters.18 This dominance continued well into the twentieth century, as growers consolidated their hold on the state. One notable example was the Meléndez-Quiñónez family (1913–29), which used a combination of party patronage through the National Democratic Party (PND) coupled with a repressive intelligence apparatus known as the Ligas Rojas.
Coffee growers and producers used various instruments of the state to protect their own interests. The unpopularity of the land reforms, especially among the Indian communities, resulted in several revolts during the 1880s. Municipalities reacted by imposing a tax on coffee growers to fund the rural police (1884) and the mounted police (1889), which Robert Williams notes were “under the growers’ direct control.”19 The desire to maintain order and stability in the countryside resulted in a close relationship between the landed elites and the military. For the oligarchy, stability was paramount to other freedoms commonly associated with liberal politics in the European tradition. The National Guard was established in 1912 and paid for by the coffee elite itself to maintain internal security by policing rural areas.20 Peasant conscripts were also used throughout the countryside to maintain order and provide information on “suspicious” activities. The use of peasant conscripts also disrupted communal relations, further strengthening the oligarchy.21 By 1930 much of the Salvadoran countryside was under military control.22 Thus, the Liberals’ proclamations of democracy were undermined by authoritarian tendencies.
The coffee elites were also responsible for the growth of the financial and commercial industries.23 The Salvadoran Coffee Association (ASCAFE), the organization of coffee growers, was formed in 1929 to consolidate elite interests.24 The Cafetalera, as it came to be known, has been likened to a “second state” or an “invisible government, often making policy decisions associated with government bureaucracies.”25 As a result, coffee production continued to expand well into the twentieth century. From 1919 to 1932 the amount of land devoted to coffee cultivation grew from 70,000 to 106,000 hectares.26 By 1931 coffee accounted for 96 percent of El Salvador’s exports.27 This dependence left the country vulnerable to the Great Depression, during the first six months of which the price of coffee fell 45 percent; it would later tumble another 12 percent.28 From 1930 to 1932, export earnings from coffee were cut in half, dropping from 34 million colones to 13 million colones.29 Additionally, many of the smaller producers were driven out of business and the wealth from coffee became increasingly concentrated in the hands of a select few.30 Smaller producers were unable to pay their debts to the banks and, as a result, several banks came to own portions of the coffee industry.31
La Matanza
Working conditions on coffee fincas deteriorated with the Depression. Income in 1931 was one-half that in 1928 and the daily wages of plantation workers were slashed in half, from 30 to 15 centavos.32 Declining economic conditions resulted in increasing tensions throughout the
