In the 1980s the Salvadoran war was a major United States foreign policy matter. Washington lavished El Salvador’s quasi-military dictatorships with steady and plentiful aid and guidance. The American goal was to eliminate El Salvador’s leftist rebels, collectively known as the FMLN.
One summer day in 1985, when I was a Time correspondent, photographer Cindy Karp and I followed up on an interesting tip. I was told unofficially that there was a village that served as an important rebel supply hub. Here is an excerpt from my book that describes our experience.
I acted on a tip that a coastal village in Usulután was a key logistical supply point for the FMLN. All five factions operated there. Cindy Karp, a Time photographer, and I drove to the village on a hot summer day. We found Salvadoran Army medics there administering vaccinations. Karp and I wandered through the village, asking if they had contact with the rebels. The peasants all claimed that they had never even seen guerrillas.
An old man offered us slices of watermelon and invited us to sit in the shade of his hut. Convinced there were no rebels to be found, I was about to head back to San Salvador when a young man rode up on horseback. He carried himself with the confidence of someone in a position of authority.
“I am David, and who are you?” he asked, looking at us intently.
I replied that we were journalists who wished to confirm what we’d been told about the village.
“That is true, and I am the person responsible for the co- ordination of supplying our comrades in the interior,” said David.
He dismounted and let out a shrill whistle. Dozens of armed rebels emerged from the surrounding brush and peasant homes. Many were young women who wore makeup, an incongruous detail. Still more incongruous was how the rebels could maintain a presence just a few hundred feet from government soldiers.
David said he had to ask nearby commanders for permission to grant us an interview. He rode off and returned some 30 minutes later. He recounted that supplying the guerrilla armies was a struggle. Small boats would ferry weapons, gear, and food from a larger craft to shore. In the village, mules were loaded, and guerrillas made the risky trip up to eighty miles into the mountain strongholds.
After their frequent clashes with government troops, the rebels bought arms, supplies, and even uniforms from the Salvadoran Army. Salvadoran and American officials accused Nicaragua’s Sandinistas and Cuba of supplying the guerrillas. The guerrillas contended they had a few supply sources but never denied that Nicaragua had aided them. Years later, in Havana, I visited a rehabilitation center for wounded FMLN combatants, and officials there said they provided training. But they denied supplying weapons.
Ricardo Chavira Chicano 