More than a decade after negotiating the end to a bloody Civil War, El Salvador continues to endure political and economic hardships, political science professor Michael Fleet said at a Soup with Substance presentation Friday.
Fleet, along with College of Health Sciences junior Cara Morton and College of Arts & Sciences senior Nikki Hertel, spoke to a group of approximately 30 people about El Salvador's tumultuous history and the conflict between wealthy landowners who dominated the political sphere and the guerrilla organization Frente Farabundo Martí Para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN), which was formed in 1980 for El Salvadoran liberation.
The guerrilla group gained strength from the peasants who lost their land to domineering landowners, Fleet said. Disillusioned young reformers who were unhappy with the organization's progress, also joined the guerrilla group's movement. The factions eventually engaged in civil war from 1980 to 1992.
The FMLN was able to negotiate a peace agreement with the El Salvadoran government on Dec. 31, 1991, to officially end the civil war, but El Salvador remains burdened with many struggles, Fleet said. In legislative elections, for example, the FMLN has the largest single delegation of any group but has failed in four presidential elections.
As the Central American Free Trade Agreement comes into full effect in Central American countries, further problems may appear on the horizon for El Salvador, Fleet said. CAFTA eliminates tariffs on imports and exports between the United States and the countries listed in the contract and could have repercussions for farmers and small businesses.
Students who attended the presentation appreciated learning about the trade agreement and El Salvador.
"I really enjoyed learning more about CAFTA and CAFTA's potential effects on El Salvador," said College of Arts & Sciences senior Joe Gietl.
Morton, who participated in the Casa de la Solidaridad, a study abroad program offered through Santa Clara University, spoke about the obstacles in health care El Salvador faces. Much of the population cannot afford it or have no means of transportation to receive care, she said. Doctors also are underpaid and operating with inadequate supplies, tools and machinery.
"I found it very valuable that students have been there. They have seen the conditions, hospitals, and been witnesses to the poverty and low humanity levels," said campus minister Michael Smith.
Hertel discussed the influence of the School of the Americas, now the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, on El Salvador. In the 1993 United Nations Commission Report on El Salvador, she said, two-thirds of those named for committing atrocities in the country's civil war were trained at SOA.
Marquette students will join other Jesuit university students next weekend in Ft. Benning, Ga., for the Ignatian Family Teach-In, an annual protest of SOA, Hertel said. The group will leave Nov. 17 and return Nov. 21. The total cost of the trip is $65, and the deadline to sign up is Thursday in University Ministry.
Learning about foreign policy can enable students to affect change, Hertel said.
"The most important thing about educating yourself on foreign policy is that there are things we can do individually to make a difference," she said.