Wikipedia

José Napoleón Duarte: Difference between revisions

Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
No edit summary
Tags: Reverted Mobile edit Mobile web edit
No edit summary
Tags: Reverted Mobile edit Mobile web edit
Line 74:
On 28 March 1982, [[1982 Salvadoran legislative election|elections]] were held to the National Congress in which Duarte's Christian Democratic Party (PDC) party gained 24 of the 60 seats, putting them in opposition against the combined strength of the [[Nationalist Republican Alliance]] (ARENA) party, which gained 19 seats, and the [[National Coalition Party (El Salvador)|National Conciliation Party]] (PNC), which gained 14. On 2 May, he handed over power to [[Álvaro Alfredo Magaña Borja|Álvaro Magaña]], who had been chosen President by the [[Legislative Assembly of El Salvador|National Congress]]. During his time at the head of the JRG, Duarte initiated land reform and nationalized certain industries such as sugar as well as denouncing [[human rights]] violations by the military and the FMLN alike. However, members of the military and affiliated [[death squad]] [[Paramilitary|paramilitaries]] continued to carry out atrocities against the civilian population during his rule as the head of JRG, under the pretext of eliminating terrorists. The Salvadoran army received financial and material support throughout this period from the CIA, which also trained many of the squads, and arranged for arms supplies from [[Israel]] when Congress terminated direct CIA support.<ref name=chomsky/>
 
==President (1984–1989) ==
[[File: President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan with José Napoleón Duarte and Inés Durán de Duarte.jpg|thumb|right|President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan with José Napoleón Duarte and Inés Durán de Duarte.]]
 
On 25 March 1984, in the [[1984 Salvadoran presidential election|1984 presidential elections]], Duarte (running as the PDC candidate), running along with [[Rodolfo Antonio Castillo Claramount]], came in first with 43.4% of the vote. In the second round, on 6 May, he won with 53.6% of the vote against the [[Nationalist Republican Alliance]] (ARENA) candidate, [[Roberto D'Aubuisson]]. The elections were marred by violence between the FMLN and Salvadoran military at and near the polling stations. As both candidates were known to have close links with wartime undemocratic factions, the US government spent approximately US$2 million to support the democratic process and prevent violence at the voting polls.{{citation needed|date=November 2018}} However, some scholars of [[Central American history]] have suggested that the CIA was merely ensuring that Duarte, the candidate favored by the US, was elected.<ref name=chomsky/>
 
Duarte became president on 1 June. He was determined to end the civil war by "dialogue without arms," and on 15 October 1984, in [[La Palma (El Salvador)|La Palma]], [[Chalatenango Department|Chalatenango]], he met FMLN leaders face to face, which marked the beginning of the end of the civil war. His basic goal, he claimed, was to see the guerrillas disarm and then to demobilize so that their members could be reincorporated into society. He argued that the issues that had caused them to rise up in armed struggle had been or were being resolved.{{citation needed|date=October 2013}}
 
The FMLN demanded for ARENA to be banned from participating in the political life of the country, which made the dialogue between the two sides difficult. During 1985, Duarte tried to improve the image of the state by banning the [[military of El Salvador|Salvadoran Air Force]] from bombing civilian areas without presidential permission, creating an Investigative Commission to investigate political assassinations, and prosecuting the right-wing death squads that were alleged to be embedded in the state security services. However, that attempt largely failed to influence the excesses of the death squads.{{citation need|date=December 2023}}
 
On 31 March, in the [[1985 Salvadoran legislative election|1985 congressional elections]], the PDC gained a majority with 33 seats. ARENA's loss of control in the Congress enabled Duarte to achieve his goals more easily. On 10 September 1985, his daughter, Inés Guadalupe Duarte Durán, and her friend, Ana Cecilia Villeda, arrived by car at the gates of a private university in San Salvador. They were followed in a van by two bodyguards assigned to protect them. As the two vehicles came to a stop, other vehicles positioned themselves to block traffic while a number of armed individuals killed the bodyguards and forced the two women into a truck. The two women were taken to a guerrilla camp.{{citation need|date=December 2023}}
 
Four days after the incident, the self-styled Pedro Pablo Castillo commando of the FMLN publicly announced that it had been responsible for the abduction of the women. In spite of angering the military, Duarte's family was sent to the United States for its safety, and he began the negotiations for the release of Inés Duarte and Ana Cecilia Villeda.{{citation need|date=December 2023}}
 
[[File:José Napoleón Duarte with wife 1987.jpg|250px|left|thumb|José Napoleón Duarte and his wife, First Lady [[Inés Durán de Duarte]], in the [[Netherlands]] in 1987]]
On 24 October, after several weeks of negotiations in which the Salvadoran church and diplomats from the region acted as mediators in secret talks, Inés Duarte and her friend were released in exchange for 22 political prisoners. The operation also included the release of 25 mayors and local officials abducted by FMLN in exchange for 101 war wounded guerrillas, whom the government allowed to leave the country. The entire process of exchanging prisoners, which took place in various parts of the country, was carried out through the [[International Committee of the Red Cross]].{{citation need|date=December 2023}}
 
In a communiqué from the FMLN General Command broadcast by [[Radio Venceremos]] on the day Inés Duarte was released, the General Command assumed full responsibility for the operation and described the actions of the commando, including the killing of the bodyguards, as "impeccable". The abduction of Inés Duarte and Ana Cecilia Villeda was widely denounced as a violation of [[international law]].{{citation need|date=December 2023}}
 
In 1986, Duarte's tax reform plans, bitterly opposed by ARENA, were judged unconstitutional. In August, he participated in the historic [[Esquipulas II]] agreement with other leaders to lay the groundwork for a firm and lasting peace in [[Central America]] by outlining the demobilization of the guerrilla groups in El Salvador, [[Guatemala]], and [[Nicaragua]]. On 5 October 1987, a third dialogue began between the government and the FMLN, and on 28 October, Congress passed an amnesty law, just two days after [[Herbert Anaya]], the president of the special [[United Nations]] Human Rights Commission for El Salvador, had been assassinated. Anaya's assassination was interpreted by some as a sign of disapproval of the peace process.{{citation need|date=December 2023}}
 
[[File:José Napoleón Duarte 1987b.jpg|right|250px|thumb|José Napoleón Duarte in 1987]]
Duarte was criticized by the [[Organization of American States]], which demanded a full investigation into Anaya's death. As a result, Duarte offered a reward of $10,000 and asked the [[Inter-American Commission on Human Rights]] to investigate. The National police arrested a suspect Jorge Alberto Miranda Arevalo, who confessed that he had acted as a lookout for the gang. He said that he was a member of one of the guerrillas groups, "the ERP." He was judged and sentenced to 30 years in prison.{{citation need|date=December 2023}}
 
Duarte was increasingly seen as powerless not only between the two opposing forces of left and right but also in terms of the US anticommunist political influence in the region. With corruption scandals, an economy in tatters, rumors of a right-wing coup, and a civil war that did not appear to have a solution, the government became ineffective, unstable, and unable to stop the indiscriminate violence and brutality. In the 20 March [[1988 Salvadoran legislative election|1988 elections]], the PDC were soundly beaten by ARENA in a fair election.{{citation need|date=December 2023}}
 
In June 1988, Duarte was rushed to a military hospital in [[Washington, DC]], where he was diagnosed with advanced [[stomach cancer]] and given between 6 months to a year to live. Both the diagnosis and the prognosis became public knowledge. In spite of having to stay in the United States for surgery and chemotherapy, he refused to resign as president, and he handed power over constitutionally to [[Alfredo Cristiani]] in June 1989. He died at 64 in San Salvador on 23 February 1990.{{citation need|date=December 2023}}
 
==''Duarte: My Story''==
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/José_Napoleón_Duarte"