The Forgotten El Salvador: A Study of the Emergence and Downfall of the “Bright Spot” of Central America, 1948-1978

Abstract

In this study I examine the history of El Salvador during the years 1948 to 1978. Current narratives regard this period as part of a sequence of oppression and underdevelopment under military rule that existed in this nation since the early decades of the twentieth century and that eventually led the people to erupt in civil war in the 1980s. In this study I re-examine the above period and consequentially offer an alternative narrative.I demonstrate that, during the years in question, the government embarked on a series of national reconfiguration projects that brought significant industrial and economic development, political stability, and improvements in social programs. The impact of these projects is demonstrated by a body of accounts written by journalists and other researchers who, at the time, praised the ongoing projects and referred to El Salvador as a progressive nation and, as quoted in the title, as a “bright spot” in the Central American isthmus. This study is mainly based on print primary sources. It is also supplemented by other sources such as contemporary memoirs, economic statistics, oral histories, music and films. The findings made through oral history interviews, it should be noted, were what led me to the print sources that now form the basis of the study. This work reinterprets previous analyses that have asserted an inaccurate view El Salvador’s entire twentieth-century history. It shows 1948-1978 as a period with socio-economic features distinct from previous and posterior years.