Entries by Frank Smyth

Salvadoran Abyss

Escalon, San Salvador — “They should either kill them all or negotiate,” the well-to-do Salvadoran businessman said in nearly flawless English. Leftist guerrillas had taken over this usually quiet suburban neighborhood, and some had even passed the night in his home. “This thing has to end,” he added. “We need a solution.” The November military […]

Negotiations or Total War

Morazan, El Salvador — Compa, read the posted handwritten note, “Why did the insurrection not occur?”… Many people at all levels of El Salvador’s leftist guerrilla movement genuinely believed that they would be raising their flag over San Salvador by March of this year. But at a base in the rebel stronghold of Morazan province, […]

Mysterious Influx of Soviet & Chinese Arms for Salvador Rebels

Title: A Mysterious Influx of Soviet and Chinese Arms for Salvador Rebels Source: The Sacramento Bee Date: June 4, 1989 Morazan, El Salvador — Seventeen-year-old Odilia playfully pushed her tongue through her teeth as she recalled how she shot seven Salvadoran army soldiers in an ambush a few days before. Odilia’s under five feet tall, […]

Sand Diggers and the Strongman

Vista Hermosa, El Salvador — A powerful torrent during the high rains, Rio Las Canas is a trickle of muddy water from October to May. It begins ten kilometers from the city center, carving its way north past volcanic slopes, eventually feeding into the large, man-made reservoir that separates government-held terrain from…

U.S. adviser comes under fire in El Salvador

Original article can be found here. SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador – A U.S. military advisor at a Salvadoran army base came under fire yesterday in an early morning rebel attack that killed three Salvadoran soldiers, but he apparently managed to escape unharmed. It is at least the fourth reported attack involving U.S. advisers since they […]