Editing Armed Forces of El Salvador (section)

===Civil War===
{{Main|Salvadoran Civil War}}
The [[Salvadoran Civil War]] was fought between 1979 and 1992. The Salvadoran armed forces fought the ''Frente Farabundo Marti para la Liberacion Nacional'' ([[FMLN]]), a coalition of insurgent [[guerrilla]] groups. The war began when a reformist government was suppressed by hard line military elements and by landowners.<ref>Wood E. [https://books.google.com/books?id=QBAAN3ABKmIC&q=el+salvador+civil+war ''Insurgent Collective Action and Civil War in El Salvador''] Cambridge University Press, 2003 p2. {{ISBN|0521010500}}</ref>

Between 1980 and 1983, the Salvadoran armed forces were driven out of territory controlled by large FMLN groups in rural areas. The FMLN membership later increased to over 12,000 when the organisation was able to provide local governance and services.<ref name="Perez"/>{{rp|page=10}} The government responded with counter-insurgency actions including the assassination of the [[archbishop]], [[Oscar Romero]] (1917 {{ndash}} 1980).<ref>Lemoine F. and Strickland J. [https://books.google.com/books?id=vSwi2TYabS4C&dq=%22oscar+arnulfo+romero%22&pg=PA157 ''Government Leaders, Military Rulers, and Political Activists''] Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001 p157. {{ISBN|1573561533}}</ref>

In late 1981, soldiers of the national armed forces' [[Atlácatl Battalion]], a rapid response troop, killed 900 civilians at [[El Mozote massacre|El Mozote]]. This was one of a number of actions including rapes, bashings, torture and killings. Men of this battalion were graduates of the [[Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation|US School of the Americas]] at [[Fort Benning]], [[Columbus, Georgia]].<ref>Whitfield T. [https://books.google.com/books?id=qv9o4qoOnFEC&dq=atlacatl+battalion&pg=PA169 ''Paying the Price: Ignacio Ellacuría and the Murdered Jesuits of El Salvador''] Temple University Press, 1994 p169. {{ISBN|1566392535}}</ref> Another atrocity occurred on [[1989 murders of Jesuits in El Salvador|16 November 1989]]. Army soldiers murdered six [[Jesuit]] priests, their housekeeper and her daughter at the [[Central American University (San Salvador)|Central American University]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=A1lOzcKvAbIC&dq=jesuit+killings+el+salvador&pg=PA30542 Congressional Record, V. 145, Pt. 21, November 17, 1999 to December 3, 1999] Government Printing Office p30524.</ref>

In 1989, the armed forces of El Salvador had raised 56,000 fighting men with 63 aeroplanes and 72 helicopters.<ref name="Perez"/>{{rp|page=11}} Between 1983 and 1987, El Salvador's military forces received over 100 million dollars per year from the US.<ref>Negroponte D. [https://books.google.com/books?id=HdTIAAAAQBAJ&dq=1989+us+military+aid+to+el+salvador&pg=PA191 ''Seeking Peace in El Salvador''] Springer, 2012 p191 {{ISBN|1137012080}}</ref>

In 1990, at the end of the [[Cold War]], the US restricted funding to the Salvadoran military. The US found its rigorous measures against left wing groups were no longer needed. This and the lack of advantage on either side led to the end of the war in 1992.<ref>Gomez M. [https://books.google.com/books?id=B1yTAgAAQBAJ&dq=military+accountability+el+salvador&pg=PA121 ''Human Rights in Cuba, El Salvador and Nicaragua''] Routledge, 2004 p121 {{ISBN|1135940541}}</ref>

Under the terms of the Chapultepec Peace Accords which had been signed on 16 January 1992 in [[Chapultepec]], [[Mexico]], the Salvadoran Armed Forces was to be subordinated and removed from the political arena.<ref name="Williams"/> The Ministry of Defense handed the role of internal security to a new body, the National Police Force. The number of soldiers in the Armed Forces was reduced by half. Counter-insurgency forces were demobilised. Military intelligence units reported directly to the president. The constitutional mission, doctrine and recruitment and educational systems of the Armed Forces were redefined.<ref name="Perez"/>

During the civil war, military and right wing paramilitary death squads used exemplary violence with murder and mutilation, massacre and forced displacement to gain control of the populace.<ref name="Collins">Collins C. [https://books.google.com/books?id=NmTiCgAAQBAJ&dq=justice+military+post+civil+war+El+Salvador&pg=PA149 ''Post-transitional Justice: Human Rights Trials in Chile and El Salvador''] Penn State Press, 2010 p154. {{ISBN|0271075708}}</ref> In 1993, a General Amnesty Law was passed by the Salvadoran government. Victims of human rights violations had no redress. International human rights entities such as the [[UNHCR]] made formal objections to the law. Spain found jurisdiction in the matter and indicted twenty retired soldiers who were officers at the time of the killings.<ref>Lessa F. and Payne L. [https://books.google.com/books?id=pB98ePahtH8C&dq=military+accountability+el+salvador&pg=PA204 ''Amnesty in the Age of Human Rights Accountability''] Cambridge University Press, 2012 p204. {{ISBN|1107025001}}</ref>

For many reasons, the armed forces resisted the application of the requirement of the Peace Accord. Junior officers who had volunteered to work in security units did not want to be treated as raw army recruits when their units disbanded. Senior officers feared the autonomy of the military's core activities, such as training, would be lost. Military leaders feared that the loss of military units in rural areas would lead to social and political unrest. The civilian population feared that officers purged from military ranks for human rights violations would join right wing paramilitary organisations.<ref name="Williams"/> {{rp|page=159}}