El Salvador: Lost Archives of the Armed Conflict, Vol. 1
The military dictatorships, which held power in El Salvador, instituted a way of governing the country that became unsustainable. Electoral frauds were evident, and despite all this, the military continued to perpetuate themselves in power. Little by little, the gap between social classes began to widen, aggravating differences, while inequality grew disproportionally. Due to the lack of opportunity to improve the quality of life of Salvadorans via a political path, guerrilla organizations as well as an armed conflict emerged.
Gerardo Muyshondt
Director
Gerardo Muyshondt
Writer
Also Directed by Gerardo Muyshondt
In the early 1980s, at the beginning of what would become a 12-year-long civil war, El Salvador's talented football team was one national institution upon which both the left and the right could agree. When the team pulled off a stunning 1-0 upset against Mexico and qualified to compete in the 1982 World Cup, it was a high point for the tiny country's national pride. Unfortunately, the team's Cinderella story devolved into a nightmarish farce.
In 1989, ARENA won the presidential elections. That same year, after a few months before the democratically elected executive office took power, the FMLN launched the biggest military offensive of the war called "To the Top" on November 11. ARENA, under the direction of Alfredo Cristiani as President of the country, had resumed peace negotiations in order to find a peaceful solution to a conflict that had already cost thousands of lives.
The Coup of 1979 was the "straw that broke the camel's back". The most influential sectors in the country, both from the Left and the Right, radicalized and decided to rebel against a power they considered unjust and unbearable. From this decision to rebel emerged three Revolutionary Juntas made up by civilians and the military.
