On October 5th, 1979 military officers went to President Carlos Romero and informed him that he and his staff had until 3 pm to pack up their things, turn over the government, and leave. After this demand, President Carlos Romero made calls to regional leaders, United States embassy, and his headquarters. He called looking for support but everyone he turned to was not willing to support him. With President Carlos Romero having no support from allies he decided to pack his things and turn over the government, with no shots fired. President Carlos Romero was a right-wing military dictator who had kept continue the almost century-long issue of oppressing the poor and helping the rich in El Salvador. This coup was backed and funded by the Carter
…show more content…
After the guerrillas overthrew the President they threw the National Guard (seen as a huge force) in prison. Guerrilla fighters similar to ones who gained power in Nicaragua wanted to do the same in El Salvador. As mentioned before the Left movement in El Salvador was growing due to the access to education and frustration of social inequality. Up to this point in history, the country ran like an Oligarchy. The El Salvadoran military feared an outcome similar to one of the National Guard in Nicaragua so decided to be proactive. Which is why they overthrew President Carlos Romero. The whole point of the coup was to take power, fulfill the needs of the Left movement while not letting communism come into power. This was shown through the actions after the military takeover. The group in power went to these groups/civilians for support or help: the United States, Oscar Romero(Archbishop who was a leader in human rights), Guillermo Ungo (leader of social democratic National Revolutionary Movement), along with 14 political and union organizations. Guerrilla fighters sided with the poor and educated who were sick of the social inequality. Guerrilla fighters became the side which the poor and educated could join in order to fight back against the powers in control, ruling the country Guerrilla fighters were also funded by Russia.In …show more content…
The Russians backed Guerrilla fighters in order to turn Cuba and Nicaragua communist and sought to try and use the same tactic in El Salvador. Remember this was during the Cold War where proxy wars were being fought all over the world between the United States and U.S.S.R. Everywhere around the world the fight for Democracy versus Communism was relevant. The Carter Administration decided to back and fund this military coup in order to stop the spread of communism. Seeing how El Salvador was under the rule of a dictator who had violated human rights, that was used as the cover story to justify the coup while the underlining story was to prevent communism from spreading to El Salvador. The Carter Administration wanted to show how it’d be tough on abusive governments and that the United States did not support or befriend any governments like this. The goal of the United States backing this coup was to promote the best of the Left movement such as economic and social equality. Promoting that while not accepting and pushing away super Left ideology of Communist authoritarianism, violence, and international isolation. As the New York Times reported in 1981, “Some of the guerrilla field commanders have been trained in Cuba, and some of their arms were made in the Soviet Union and China and transhipped through Cuba, but the only foreign military advisers known to be in El Salvador are from the United
After the guerrillas overthrew the President they threw the National Guard (seen as a huge force) in prison. Guerrilla fighters similar to ones who gained power in Nicaragua wanted to do the same in El Salvador. As mentioned before the Left movement in El Salvador was growing due to the access to education and frustration of social inequality. Up to this point in history, the country ran like an Oligarchy. The El Salvadoran military feared an outcome similar to one of the National Guard in Nicaragua so decided to be proactive. Which is why they overthrew President Carlos Romero. The whole point of the coup was to take power, fulfill the needs of the Left movement while not letting communism come into power. This was shown through the actions after the military takeover. The group in power went to these groups/civilians for support or help: the United States, Oscar Romero(Archbishop who was a leader in human rights), Guillermo Ungo (leader of social democratic National Revolutionary Movement), along with 14 political and union organizations. Guerrilla fighters sided with the poor and educated who were sick of the social inequality. Guerrilla fighters became the side which the poor and educated could join in order to fight back against the powers in control, ruling the country Guerrilla fighters were also funded by Russia.In …show more content…
The Russians backed Guerrilla fighters in order to turn Cuba and Nicaragua communist and sought to try and use the same tactic in El Salvador. Remember this was during the Cold War where proxy wars were being fought all over the world between the United States and U.S.S.R. Everywhere around the world the fight for Democracy versus Communism was relevant. The Carter Administration decided to back and fund this military coup in order to stop the spread of communism. Seeing how El Salvador was under the rule of a dictator who had violated human rights, that was used as the cover story to justify the coup while the underlining story was to prevent communism from spreading to El Salvador. The Carter Administration wanted to show how it’d be tough on abusive governments and that the United States did not support or befriend any governments like this. The goal of the United States backing this coup was to promote the best of the Left movement such as economic and social equality. Promoting that while not accepting and pushing away super Left ideology of Communist authoritarianism, violence, and international isolation. As the New York Times reported in 1981, “Some of the guerrilla field commanders have been trained in Cuba, and some of their arms were made in the Soviet Union and China and transhipped through Cuba, but the only foreign military advisers known to be in El Salvador are from the United