Global Voices Online

January 16 marked the 15th anniversary of the signing of the Chapultepec Peace Accords which ended El Salvador's twelve year civil war. The event was marked by official celebrations, conferences, rallies and protests. The bloggers of El Salvador had much to say about the events and the country's progress. The general theme in the Salvadoran blogosphere was that of unfulfilled promise.

Jjmar, who posts at the Hunnapuh blog, does not want the significance of the Peace Accords to be underestimated and describes the accords as the basis for the most important democratic political reform(es) in the modern history of El Salvador. The accords opened to doors to the growth of democracy, guaranteed political rights and opened space where the FMLN could be transformed from a guerrilla movement into a political party, and the country established a Human Rights Ombudsman. But in the socio-economic life of the country, the accords had their greatest shortcomings. The historic structures of Salvadoran society which gave rise to the armed conflict were not abolished by the Peace Accords.

For her part, Ixquic marvels that in a country as small as El Salvador there exist such widely varied opinions(es) about the the same reality. While she notes that the Peace Accords did accomplish the cessation of hostilities, there has been a failure to cement a new social, political and economic system.

Many view the treatment of ex-soldiers and guerrillas as one of the failures. Journalist Juan Jose Dalton reflects on the Peace Accords with the story of Bernardo Menjivar(es). When he was only 11, government forces invaded Bernardo's village in the mountainous province of Chalatenango and massacred the population including his mother, sister and uncles and counsin. From that point forward, he became a messenger for the FMLN guerrilla forces, passing messages from one front to another. When he was 16, he lost both legs in an explosion in a mine field. He was one of the lucky ones though. Eventually he came under the care of the International Red Cross and was later taken to Cuba where he received treatment and rehabilitation and eventually education and training.

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