.

Forces (Grupos de Tarea Antipandillas)IACHRInter-American Court of Human RightsIDBInter-American Development BankIDHUCAHuman Rights Institute at the University of Central America (Instituto de Derechos Humanos de la UCA)IIRAIRAIllegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility ActILOInternational Labor OrganizationIMLInstitute of Forensic Medicine (Instituto de Medicina Legal)INAZUCARNational Sugar Institute (Instituto Nacional de Azúcar)INCAFENational Coffee Institute (Instituto Nacional del Café)INSImmigration and Naturalization ServiceISDEMUSalvadoran Institute for the Advancement of Women (Instituto Salvadoreño para el Desarrollo de la Mujer)ISIimport substitution industrializationISSSSalvadoran Social Security Institute (Instituto Salvadoreño del Seguro Social)IUDOPUniversity of Central America Institute for Public Opinion (Instituto Universitario de Opinión Pública Universidad Centroamericana, “José Simeón Cañas”)IVAvalue-added tax (impuesto al valor agregado)JVEElectoral Review Board (Junta de Revisión Electoral)LARARENA League to the Rescue (Liga Arenera al Rescate)MACAuthentic Christian Movement (Movimiento Auténtico Cristiano)MCCMillennium Challenge CorporationMINUSALUnited Nations Mission in El Salvador (Misión de las Naciones Unidas en El Salvador)MIPLANMinistry of Planning and Coordination of Economic and Social Development (Ministerio de Planificación y Coordinación del Desarrollo Económico y Social)MNRNational Revolutionary Movement (Movimiento Nacional Revolucionario)MPR-12Popular Resistance Movement of October 12 (Movimiento Popular de Resistencia 12 de Octubre)MPSCPopular Social Christian Movement (Movimiento Popular Social Cristiana)MS-13Mara SalvatruchaNACLANorth American Congress on Latin AmericaNGOnongovernmental organizationOASFrench Secret Army Organization (Organisation de l’Armée Secrète)ONUCAUnited Nations Observer Group in Central AmericaONUSALUnited Nations Observer Mission in El SalvadorORDENNationalist Democratic Organization (Organización Democrática Nacionalista)PARLACENCentral American Parliament (Parlamento Centroamericano)PCNNational Conciliation Party (Partido de Conciliación Nacional)PCSSalvadoran Communist Party (Partido Comunista de El Salvador)PDDemocratic Party (Partido Democrático)PDCChristian Democratic Party (Partido Demócrata Cristiana)PDDHNational Counsel for the Defense of Human Rights (Procuraduría para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos)PESParty of Hope (Partido de la Esperanza)PFGPartnership for GrowthPLDLiberal Democratic Party (Partido Liberal Democráta)PMRReformist Movement Party (Partido Movimiento Renovador)PNNational Police (Policía Nacional)PNCNational Civilian Police (Policía Nacional Civil)PNDNational Democratic Party (Partido Nacional Democrático)PRIInstitutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) (Mexico)PRNNational Reconstruction Plan (Plan de Reconstrucción Nacional)PRTCRevolutionary Party of Central American Workers (Partido Revolucionario de Trabajadores Centroamericanos)PRUDRevolutionary Party of Democratic Unification (Partido Revolucionario de Unificación Democrática)PTTLand Transfer Program (Programa de Transferencia de la Tierra)RNNational Resistance (Resistencia Nacional)RNPNNational Registry of Natural Persons (Registro Nacional de Personas Naturales)SIFSocial Investment Fund (Fondo de Inversión Social)SIMETRISSSMedical Workers Union of the Salvadoran Social Security Institute (Sindicato de Médicos Trabajadores del Instituto Salvadoreño del Seguro Social)SIUSpecial Investigative Unit of the Commission to Investigate Criminal ActsSRNSecretariat for National ReconstructionSRPSocial Rescue PlanSTISSSWorkers’ Union Salvadoran Social Security Institute (Sindicato de Trabajadores del Instituto Salvadoreño del Seguro Social)TPStemporary protected statusTSESupreme Electoral Tribunal (Tribunal Supremo Electoral)TVPAU.S. Torture Victim Protection ActUCAUniversity of Central America (Universidad Centroamericano, “Jose Simeón Cañas”)UDNNationalist Democratic Union (Unión Democráta Nacional)UEAExecutive Anti–Drug Trafficking Unit of the National Police (Unidad Ejecutiva Antinarcotráfico)UESUniversity of El Salvador (Universidad de El Salvador)UNDPUnited Nations Development ProgramUnidosUnited for Solidarity (Unidos por la Solidaridad)UNONational Opposition Union (Unión Oposición Nacional)UNODCUnited Nations Office on Drugs and CrimeUSAIDU.S. Agency for International Development

      Introduction

       Peacebuilding, Elites, and the Problem of Capture

      The population does not value peace as a synonym for progress. Peace for most people does not make sense because it has no social content, or the content lacks justice. The impact of the neoliberal transition of the past fifteen years has laid a foundation for society that trends toward authoritarianism rather than democracy.

      —Salvador Sánchez Cerén, October 2006¹

      ON OCTOBER 15, 1979, a group of junior officers overthrew El Salvador’s military government with the intent of forestalling a revolution. Decades of systematic repression, socioeconomic exclusion, and the collapse of legal political space in the early 1970s had resulted in the mobilization of guerrilla organizations and affiliated social groups that wished to dismantle the existing political and economic order in one of Central America’s most unequal and violent societies. The subsequent juntas, composed of military officers and civilians, had hoped to loosen the military’s grip on the state and the oligarchy’s grip on the economy. The successive juntas failed to achieve the reforms it deemed necessary to prevent the escalation of violence, reforms that threatened the country’s most powerful economic elites. The levels of state violence increased and, by 1980, El Salvador was a country at war with itself.

      More than seventy-five thousand Salvadorans were killed and one million more displaced in the civil war, making it one of the most destructive in the region. Driven to the negotiating table by a military stalemate with the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) guerrillas, the Salvadoran government under President Alfredo Cristiani invited the United Nations to mediate a settlement that would end the war. El Salvador’s civil war was to be the first in which the United Nations agreed to act as mediator in such negotiations. The negotiations began in April 1990 and continued for almost two years, during which the participation of the UN and mediation by the secretary general’s office were crucial to the successful negotiation of sensitive issues, particularly military reform. On January 16, 1992, representatives for the government of El Salvador (GOES) and the FMLN signed the peace accords that aimed not only to end the civil war but to build lasting peace. The Chapúltepec Peace Accords, named after the castle where they were signed in Mexico City, promised a new beginning for El Salvador. Hailed as a success story of United Nations peacebuilding efforts, the peace process transformed the country’s political landscape. The accords placed the military under civilian control for the first time in El Salvador’s history. State-sponsored terrorism ceased to be the modus operandi of the country’s various “security forces,” which were eliminated and replaced with a new civilian police force. Opposition parties and their affiliated organizations were legalized and, over time, functioned without fear of recrimination. The FMLN transitioned from a guerrilla movement to political party, becoming the largest party in the legislature and governing more than 50 percent of the population