El Salvador – Page 2

Official Sources, Western Diplomats and Other Voices from the Mission

January 3, 1993/in Columbia Journalism Review/by Frank Smyth

On the post-cold war era, ethnic rivalry may have replaced ideology as the most likely cause of conflict, but while all else changes one journalistic habit picked up during the past four decades will, in all likelihood, persist — the habit of relying heavily on the mission, as the U.S. embassy is known, for assessments and information. In an increasingly unfamiliar world, in fact, the temptation to do so will be even stronger…

Salvadoran Rebels Anticipated Soviet Fall, Shifted Tack

May 6, 1992/in The Christian Science Monitor/by Frank Smyth

EL SALVADOR’S leftist guerrilla movement began moving away from Marxism-Leninism several years before the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991, they and independent analysts say. Since the FMLN was already…

In El Salvador, Both Sides Say That New Year Pact Will End Long Civil War

January 6, 1992/in The Christian Science Monitor/by Frank Smyth

THE signing of a conditional agreement at the United Nations in New York to end El Salvador’s 12-year civil war is irreversible and likely to be respected, longtime activists on both sides of this embittered conflict say. Although there is still fear that violence by ultra-rightist groups opposed to the accords may escalate in the coming months…

Release the Jesuit Tapes

November 13, 1990/in The Village Voice/by Thomas Long & Frank Smyth

American officials in both San Salvador and Washington claim that they have cooperated “intensely” with the investigation into the murder of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her daughter last November. Yet even though State Department officials finally yielded to pressure from Congress to turn over…

The Truth Will Out

July 31, 1990/in The Village Voice/by Frank Smyth

SAN SALVADOR- The official purpose given for Assistant Secretary of State Bernard Aronson’s visit here two weeks ago was to express support for negotiations between El Salvador’s U.S.-backed government and the leftist guerrillas. But the real reason the ranking state department policymaker for Latin America…

The War Next Door

April 7, 1990/in Boston College Magazine, franksmyth.com/by Frank Smyth

Original story can be found here. The slaying of six Jesuits was only the most recent reminder that El Salvador is one of the few remaining countries where the price of thought can be death. San Salvador – Several months ago a friend invited me to his sociology class. “Come on,” he said, “we’re going […]

Salvadoran Abyss

January 15, 1990/in The Nation/by Frank Smyth

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 […]

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