spring 2025 issue
America’s Role in the Forced Disappearance of Salvadoran Children: The Impact of U.S. Intervention in the Salvadoran Civil War
Dallana Flores
Introduction:
This research paper explores the international conflict of foreign interference in the Northern Triangle, focusing on the United States’ involvement in the Salvadoran Civil War and involvement in the forced disappearance of Salvadoran children during and after the civil war. This paper will also explore the key factors influencing the rate of forced disappearances of Salvadoran children and how U.S. foreign interference, through the provision of resources, training, and advice, contributed to this crisis.
Given the historical involvement of the United States in Latin America, this research paper will address the following question: “How did America’s involvement in the Salvadoran Civil War contribute to the forced disappearance of Salvadoran children?” It is important that we discuss this issue as the forced disappearances still affect numerous Salvadoran families today who are seeking to reunify with their loved ones.
It has been determined that there are key independent variables that influenced the rate of forcibly disappearing Salvadoran children. These key independent variables include the rise of political powers in El Salvador in the early 1980s, where the United States funded the Salvadoran Government, and Cuba supported the forces of the Fronte Farabundo Martí De Liberación Nacional. Tensions and the fear of communism influenced the outbreak of a civil war. The funding and military training by the United States to the Salvadoran government shaped the rise of a far-right-wing military dictatorship. Soldiers from this military dictatorship committed crimes against humanity by forcibly disappearing children.1Angelina Snodgrass, Godoy,. “Finding El Salvador’s Disappeared: What the US Files Reveal.” Human Rights Quarterly 40, no. 2 (2018): 241-254. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/hrq.2018.0013
Some of the complaints of the forced disappearances were received by the UN Truth Commission. The UN Truth Commission presented the complaints in data tables organized by perpetrators, locations of disappearances, and the number of individuals who disappeared. This data has never been used in any way by El Salvador to prosecute the war criminals. Furthermore, there has been a notable absence of the official Salvadoran government documents necessary to address the issue of disappeared children. Most of the research on this topic from El Salvador has primarily come from non-governmental organizations, such as Pro-Búsqueda. Other sections of information that can potentially be used for reunification are within the United States as classified documents. However, the United States continues to keep most of the documents classified, with only a select portion declassified.
Background:
Several studies conducted by Aaron T. Bell, a candidate in the Department of History at American University in Washington, D.C., and Joaquín M. Chávez, an assistant professor of history at the University of Illinois at Chicago, will help to provide the historical background of the Salvadoran Civil War and examine the motives of the United States in entering this transnational conflict. The Salvadoran Civil War (1980-1992) was a period of civil unrest between two main forces, the Frente Farabundo Martí De Liberación Nacional (FMLN) and the Salvadoran Government. Initially, in 1932, small landholders and poor rural workers advocated for democracy against the oligarchic military regime. This oligarchic regime consisted of numerous ruling families who controlled most of the land, finances, processing, exports, and the coffee industry. This style of regime prompted a military coup in 1961, leading to the rise of the right-wing Partido de Conciliación Nacional (PCN), which ruled from the 1960s until 1979.2Elizabeth Barnert, Nathalie Lopez, Philippe Bourgois, Gery Ryan, Paul J Chung, and Eric Stover. “My Child’s Journey Home: Perspectives of Adult Family Members on the Separation and Reunification of the ‘Disappeared’ Children of El Salvador.” Human rights quarterly, February 2019. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6641541/The PCN received over 100 million dollars in non-military financial assistance from the United States. This money was funded through the Kennedy administration with the motive of “diverting the developing world away from communist revolution.”3Aaron T., Bell 2015. “A Matter of Western Civilisation: Transnational Support for the Salvadoran Counterrevolution, 1979–1982.” Cold War History 15 (4): 511–31. doi:10.1080/14682745.2015.1019870. However, the money was used in a fraudulent Salvadoran election to elect a right-wing President. This election provoked the rise of left-wing guerrilla groups that would then develop into the FMLN.4Aaron T., Bell 2015. “A Matter of Western Civilisation: Transnational Support for the Salvadoran Counterrevolution, 1979–1982.” Cold War History 15 (4): 511–31. doi:10.1080/14682745.2015.1019870.
The FMLN was formed in the 1980s by both New Left insurgencies and the Communist Party of El Salvador. The FMLN was supported by Cuba, who trained Salvadoran combatants and aided them with military planning. The United States then took action against a revolution and the spread of communism by providing the Salvadoran government with military aid and funds.5Joaquín M Chávez,. “How Did the Civil War in El Salvador End?” The American Historical Review 120, no. 5 (2015): 1784–97. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43697077.U.S. Public Safety and Special Forces advisors trained Salvadoran security forces within the country and abroad. The forces promoted the use of “black propaganda, disappearances, and political assassination by death squads,” all tactics that were used by US-trained counterinsurgents. Gradually, the Salvadoran Government transitioned into a right-wing military dictatorship. This dictatorship connected with groups in the United States to secure economic and military aid to fight against the leftist revolutionary movements. Studies later revealed that the majority of the counterinsurgency training and funding used by the right wing violated human rights and led to the forcible disappearances of children. For instance, Roberto D’Aubuisson, a conservative officer in El Salvador’s Armed Forces High Command, played a crucial role in training members of the Salvadoran Guardia on the use of advanced psychological and physical torture techniques. His influence extended beyond just training in brutal interrogation methods; he also identified and marked individuals as “communists,” effectively authorizing their targeted killings. As the civil war continued, transnational actors supported the ending of the conflict.6Bell, “A Matter of Western Civilisation, “ 511. American President Ronald Reagan’s Administration and Salvadoran elites demanded the unconditional disarmament and demobilization of the FMLN in exchange for becoming a political system in the Salvadoran government. American President George H. W. Bush continued supporting the demobilization of the FMLN. However, he did not continue to support the Salvadoran government with military aid to combat the leftists. Instead, he brought the conflict to the UN to initiate peace negotiations. The UN brokered a deal that the FMLN would demobilize and become a political party, while the Salvadoran government would “be willing to demilitarize the state and implement through political reform.” This officially brought the conflict to an end in 1992.7Chávez, “How Did the Civil War in El Salvador End?” 1784.
Even though the conflict has been brought to an end, the scars it has left are still apparent. The civil war brought in the worst displacement in Latin America, especially with children. Non-governmental organizations have been formed to search for the forcibly disappeared children. For instance, in 1994, the non-governmental human rights organization Asociación Pro-Búsqueda was formed by a group of individuals to search for the disappeared children and reunite them with their families.8Barnert, Elizabeth. Reunion: Finding the Disappeared Children of El Salvador. United States: University of California Press, 2023.Non-governmental organizations have been taking the lead in the issue of the disappeared children as the Salvadoran government has lacked the initiative to search for the children and prosecute the predators of the war. This has left numerous families distrustful of the Salvadoran government and the unresolved nature of their children.
Body
In recent years, research has been conducted by a diverse team of experts to better understand the process of family separation and reunification from the perspectives of adult family members of the disappeared children of El Salvador. This research was published through the University of California by authors in the departments of Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Pardee RAND Graduate School. Thousands of children were forcibly separated from their families during the Salvadoran Civil War, including during massacres of entire villages. Elizabeth Barnert’s book, Reunion: Finding The Disappeared Children Of El Salvador, provides an insight into the Sumpul River massacre, where many women and children were drowned or shot by Salvadoran Soldiers while trying to escape to Honduras. Ester, a survivor of the Sumpul River massacre, recalls, “There were gunshots everywhere, which killed my family and the father of my unborn child.” Other parents experienced situations where they made the difficult choice to give up their children to ensure their survival, while some were promised that their children would be returned after the war.9Barnert, Elizabeth. Reunion: Finding the Disappeared Children of El Salvador. United States: University of California Press, 2023.The Salvadoran soldiers ended up turning in the disappeared or abducted children to the Salvadoran Red Cross. The Red Cross either placed the children in orphanages or arranged for them to be adopted abroad, often in countries such as the U.S., France, and Italy.10Barnert, Elizabeth. “My Child’s Journey Home,” February 2019.Citing back to Elizabeth Barnert’s book, 50 children were found in the U.S., 15 in France, 5 in the Netherlands, 2 in Spain, and 28 in Italy, according to Asociación Pro-Búsqueda. According to rumors reported by Father Jon, a co-founder of Asociación Pro-Búsqueda, soldiers abducted children and sold them to childless couples in the United States and Europe on the international adoption market, with each child being sold for up to $20,000.11Barnert, Elizabeth. Reunion: Finding the Disappeared Children of El Salvador. United States: University of California Press, 2023.When it came down to the studies conducted on family separation and reunification from the perspectives of families with disappeared children, six key stages of the reunification process emerged. During the first three stages of separation, adult relatives experienced an “unresolvable loss,” which is a loss without closure. This “unresolvable loss” can be explained through the theory of ambiguous loss by Pauline Boss, a professor at the University of Minnesota. Ambiguous loss “describes situations where a family member is uncertain regarding a missing loved one, and does not know what happened to them.” It is certain that the disappeared children felt an ambiguous loss during the separation. However, the authors hypothesized that the families of the children also expressed this loss. The families’ feeling of ambiguous loss is supported by the belief that they felt guilty for either abandoning their children or giving them up for adoption. In the last three stages of searching and reunion, the families of the children shifted between hopefulness and distress. They felt excitement at times at the idea of being able to find and reunite with their loved one, while others feared their child had not survived the war. During the final stage of the reunion, biological family members feared that the located child was not actually their missing child. Nonetheless, the reunion between the family members brought massive joy and a sense of tranquility, knowing that they were “alive and well.” It’s noted that not all reunifications can take place, as some children refuse to come into contact with their potential biological parents.12“My Child’s Journey Home,” February 2019.For instance, Maria Ines, a staff member from Asociación Pro-Búsqueda, has not been able to adequately meet with her son Andres in Italy due to his adoptive family not wanting him to have contact with her or traveling to El Salvador.13Barnert, Elizabeth. Reunion: Finding the Disappeared Children of El Salvador. United States: University of California Press, 2023.The researchers offered valuable insights into the pain and uncertainty surrounding reunification, as well as the healing that occurs after family reunification. However, there is still a lack of clarity regarding the ages of the children who were reunited with their biological families. This detail is vital, as a child’s age influences their involvement in the reunification process, particularly since some adoptive parents have refused to allow contact between the children and their Salvadoran families.
The Salvadoran Civil War ended over 30 years ago, yet El Salvador has yet to hold anyone accountable for the crimes against humanity committed during the conflict, nor has it reformed its transitional justice process. Angelina Snodgrass Godoy, a professor of Law, Societies, and Justice at the Jackson School of International Studies, brings considerable expertise to the issue of the amnesty law enacted in 1992 in El Salvador and how the impact of this former law continues to hinder efforts to address the war crimes committed during the civil war. Additionally, Dr. Rachel Hatcher, who holds a PhD in History from the University of Saskatchewan, explores the internal struggle within El Salvador, highlighting the division among Salvadoran actors who either supported or opposed the amnesty law. The Legislative Assembly, led by the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA), passed the National Reconciliation Law on January 16, 1992. The National Reconciliation Law granted amnesty to the perpetrators of political crimes and crimes connected to them” during the civil war. This amnesty law interfered with the reports received by the UN Truth Commission, which received over “one-quarter of all complaints concerning forced disappearances” and held the military responsible for “over 80% of the gross human rights violations committed during the war.” According to President Alfredo Cristiani, the former Salvadoran President from 1989 to 1994, The Amnesty law was a way to “turn this painful page of history and seek a better future for El Salvador.”14 Hatcher, Rachel “Amnesty in El Salvador: The Long and Winding Road to Justice, Truth, and Memory”. Revue québécoise de droit international / Quebec Journal of International Law / Revista quebequense de derecho internacional (2022) : 121–142.However, not all were in support of this law, such as human rights organizations that promoted “memory, truth, and justice”. These organizations remained very vocal for over 20 years in their efforts to have the amnesty law revoked. Their efforts and campaigning ended up influencing the unconditional amnesty law in 2016. In 2017, the Salvadoran Government declared that they would create a commission that would assist in locating the disappeared individuals from the civil war, yet many investigations have not been conducted. This is partly due to the fact that government authorities argue that the amnesty law should still be in place, hindering the motivation for investigation.15Hatcher, Rachel “Amnesty in El Salvador: The Long and Winding Road to Justice, Truth, and Memory”. Revue québécoise de droit international / Quebec Journal of International Law / Revista quebequense de derecho internacional (2022) : 121–142. https://doi.org/10.7202/1091083arIt has fallen into the hands of the Salvadoran people to investigate the disappearances of their relatives, influencing the founding of organizations such as Asociación Pro-Búsqueda. The author, Angelina Godoy, argues that if the Salvadoran government is interested in contributing to the search for the disappeared, “it should request the initiation of a declassification process through official diplomatic channels” for U.S. files.16Godoy, “Finding El Salvador’s Disappeared,” 241.The diplomatic process has already been enacted through an executive order by former American President Bill Clinton that released over 12,000 documents. Researchers at the University of Washington Center for Human Rights analyzed the U.S. government files, concluding that even though the declassification made the documents public, it did not mean that they were easily accessible. Most of the documents were neither found in hard copy nor digital, so the Washington Center gained access to the Library of Congress to obtain documents released in 1993 and 1994 by executive order. It was concluded by the researcher that many documents “contain only passing information relating to the disappearances” and “few contain information that would be useful in investigating disappearances.”17Godoy, “Finding El Salvador’s Disappeared,” 241.Now, it could instead be argued by author Angelina Godoy that the Salvadoran Government should take action to investigate the public U.S. files for themselves and possibly obtain access to files that are still declassified under the Department of State and the Central Intelligence Agency.
Founded in 1988, the Innocenti Research Centre in Florence, Italy, was established to strengthen the research of the United Nations Children’s Fund and to support its advocacy for children worldwide. The research center has advocated in favor of children, especially around the issue of the forcibly disappeared children in El Salvador.18 Harvey-Blankenship, Michele, Phuong N. Pham, and Rachel Shigekane. Genetic tracing, disappeared children and justice. UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, 2010.Initially, Asociación Pro-Búsqueda started with the mission of punishing predators of the war and reuniting torn families. However, this objective changed as the families of the forcibly disappeared children just wanted to reunite with their children and find peace.19 Barnert, Elizabeth. Reunion: Finding the Disappeared Children of El Salvador. United States: University of California Press, 2023.Asociación Pro-Búsqueda has taken an interest in the Innocenti Research Center due to its advocacy of finding children through the usage of genetic tracing. Pro-Busqueda first used DNA testing in 1995, replacing the usage of blood samples. The process of DNA testing is done through the swabbing of the mouths of the relatives of the disappeared children, and then the samples are taken, stored, and transferred to DNA laboratories. The samples are sent to laboratories, including the California Department of Justice and UC Berkeley Human Rights Center, which was added in 2005. After the DNA samples have been sent in, they are recorded in a “chain of custody” to store the DNA to permit the creation of a DNA family reference database. The database allows the “simultaneous comparison of multiple families against a single adoptee’s genetic profile.”20Harvey-Blankenship, Michele, Phuong N. Pham, and Rachel Shigekane. Genetic tracing, disappeared children and justice. UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, 2010.Such a database creates a system to promote more accurate DNA samples between families and children.21Harvey-Blankenship, Michele, Phuong N. Pham, and Rachel Shigekane. Genetic tracing, disappeared children and justice. UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, 2010.As of 2020, 994 cases of disappeared children have been registered with Asociación Pro-Búsqueda, and 443 of those cases have been resolved.22Barnert, Elizabeth. Reunion: Finding the Disappeared Children of El Salvador. United States: University of California Press, 2023.One of the most impactful disappeared children cases is that of the Serrano Cruz sisters, which was the first case ever to be heard by the Court of El Salvador for alleged human rights violations. The court ruled in accordance with the Serrano Cruz sisters, agreeing that the Government of El Salvador violated articles 8(1) and 25 of the American Convention on Human Rights. However, El Salvador did not accept the jurisdiction of the court until three years after the court ruling. Therefore, the court was not able to issue a ruling on this specific case of forced disappearance. This case is highly significant because it marked the use of genetic tracing in court proceedings, demonstrating that genetic evidence can be used to identify and prove that children were forcibly disappeared during the Salvadoran Civil War. In conclusion, the resolution of 443 out of 994 cases and the landmark case of the Serrano Cruz case highlights the growing recognition of the human rights violations committed during the Salvadoran Civil War. Still, the Salvadoran government must undertake significant reforms to ensure justice for the families and for the children who have been forcibly disappeared.
Conclusion:
The Salvadoran Civil War left a profound and lasting impact, particularly in the form of the forced disappearance of thousands of children. This paper has explored the significant role that U.S. involvement played in this terrible tragedy and its influence on the make-up of a right-wing military dictatorship that was responsible for forcibly disappearing children during the war. Despite the end of the war, justice remains ongoing for the victims of forced disappearances. However, the Salvadoran government has failed to act meaningfully to provide justice. Only through continued accountability, transparency, and the full implementation of human rights protocols can El Salvador hope to heal the wounds of its past.
Bibliography
Barnert, Elizabeth. Reunion. Univ of California Press, 2023.
Barnert, Elizabeth, Nathalie Lopez, Philippe Bourgois, Gery Ryan, Paul J. Chung, and Eric Stover. “My Child’s Journey Home: Perspectives of Adult Family Members on the Separation and Reunification of the ‘Disappeared’ Children of El Salvador.” Human Rights Quarterly 41, no. 1 (2019): 91–114. https://doi.org/10.1353/hrq.2019.0004.
Bell, Aaron T. “A Matter of Western Civilisation: Transnational Support for the Salvadoran Counterrevolution, 1979–1982.” Cold War History 15, no. 4 (March 24, 2015): 511–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/14682745.2015.1019870.
Chávez, Joaquín M.. “How Did the Civil War in El Salvador End?” The American Historical Review 120, no. 5 (2015): 1784–97. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43697077.
Godoy, Angelina Snodgrass. “Finding El Salvador’s Disappeared: What the US Files Reveal.” Human Rights Quarterly 40, no. 2 (2018): 241–54. https://doi.org/10.1353/hrq.2018.0013.
Harvey-Blankenship, Michele, Phuong N Pham, and Rachel Shigekane. “Genetic Tracing, Disappeared Children and Justice.” Policycommons.net, June 30, 2010. https://policycommons.net/artifacts/1121515/genetic-tracing-disappeared-children-and-justice/1717479/.
Hatcher, Rachel. “Amnesty in El Salvador: The Long and Winding Road to Justice, Truth, and Memory.” Revue Québécoise de Droit International, August 3, 2022, 121–42. https://doi.org/10.7202/1091083ar.
