Broadcasting the Civil War in El Salvador
293 pages, 6 x 9
Paperback
Release Date:01 Aug 2010
ISBN:9780292728950
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Broadcasting the Civil War in El Salvador

A Memoir of Guerrilla Radio

University of Texas Press

During the 1980s war in El Salvador, Radio Venceremos was the main news outlet for the Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN), the guerrilla organization that challenged the government. The broadcast provided a vital link between combatants in the mountains and the outside world, as well as an alternative to mainstream media reporting. In this first-person account, "Santiago," the legend behind Radio Venceremos, tells the story of the early years of that conflict, a rebellion of poor peasants against the Salvadoran government and its benefactor, the United States.

Originally published as La Terquedad del Izote, this memoir also addresses the broader story of a nationwide rebellion and its international context, particularly the intensifying Cold War and heavy U.S. involvement in it under President Reagan. By the war's end in 1992, more than 75,000 were dead and 350,000 wounded—in a country the size of Massachusetts. Although outnumbered and outfinanced, the rebels fought the Salvadoran Army to a draw and brought enough bargaining power to the negotiating table to achieve some of their key objectives, including democratic reforms and an overhaul of the security forces.

Broadcasting the Civil War in El Salvador is a riveting account from the rebels' point of view that lends immediacy to the Salvadoran conflict. It should appeal to all who are interested in historic memory and human rights, U.S. policy toward Central America, and the role the media can play in wartime.

Carlos Henríquez Consalvi ("Santiago") is founder and director of the Museo de la Palabra y la Imagen in San Salvador, El Salvador.

Charles Nagle is a graduate student at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Bill Prince is Professor of Spanish and Erik Ching is Associate Professor of History at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina.

  • Map 1
  • Map 2
  • Preface
  • List of Acronyms
  • Introduction by Erik Ching
  • 1980
    • Tearing Your Heart Out
    • Off to War with a Priest
    • On the Way to El Escondido
    • Rafael: Morazán, a Strategic Project
  • 1981
    • January 1
    • January 2
    • Licho
    • The Sky Is Taken by Assault
    • The Resurrection of Altagracia
    • The Pain of Calixtro
    • The Massacre at Junquillo
    • Damn! La Guacamaya Never Gives Up!
    • Monsignor Romero in La Guacamaya
    • Jonás
    • Calle Negra, Almost Certain Death
    • Villa del Rosario
    • El Zapotal
    • A North American in the War
    • Juan Ramón, from Bus to History
    • Eighty Devils Set Loose
    • The Torogoces Are Born
    • Benito
    • Alejandro Peluna’s Flying Mule
    • Chiyo and Pajarillo
    • Loving Marcela in the Midst of War Is Another War
    • Tancho
    • Perquín, Road of Embers
    • The Fifth Front
    • Victorino, the Light Within
    • Operation Hammer and Anvil
    • Toni, Montalbo, and Javier
    • Monterrosa Captures Radio Venceremos
    • Radio Venceremos Goes to the Sea
    • Return to Morazán
    • The El Mozote Massacre
  • 1982
    • The Cave of Passions
    • The Fortress of Happiness
    • Hell in Poza Honda
    • The Battle of El Moscarrón
    • The Incredible Return of Colonel Castillo
    • Ana Guadalupe
    • Manlio, Your Guitar’s Beating
    • The First Prisoner Exchange
    • Freedom for Perquín
    • Lesbia and the Idols of Pensacola
    • Every Last One of Us Danced, Colonel
    • Rogelio’s Sense of Humor
  • 1983
    • Shutting Down Transportation
    • Oswaldo Escobar Velado
    • El Quinto Piso de la Alegría
    • Paty’s Memories
    • The Swearing In of the BRAZ
    • The Defeat of the Belloso Battalion
    • The Amatillo Bridge
    • La Antena Is Taken
    • Monterrosa and His War Trophies
    • Atilio and the Smell of Ink
    • Diana the Huntress, an Assassin Sent by the CIA
    • The Bells Toll for Carlos
    • Attack on the Third Brigade
    • El Pedrero
    • We Capture the Butcher
    • El Cheje, the Godfather
    • The Military School in San Fernando
    • General Command in Morazán
    • Sesori
    • Morazán Has a Name: Commander Quincho
  • 1984
    • The Legend of El Chongue
    • The Colonels’ Logic
    • The Exchange of Colonel Castillo
    • The Trickster Is Tricked
    • Nolbo versus the Gringos
    • A Piece of Deerskin, and El Calihuate Is Reborn
    • A Stradivarius Violin
    • It Wasn’t the Siguanaba
    • Lety
    • Ana Lidia
    • The Carpenter Who Destroyed an Empire
    • A Meeting in La Palma
    • Operation Torola IV
    • To Die Like a Dog
    • The Gringos’ Man
    • The Trojan Horse
    • The Sword of Mars or the Mirror of Venus?
    • The Tenacity of the Izote
  • Epilogue, 1992
  • Epilogue, 2003
  • Epilogue, 2009
  • Index
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