Monumentalizing Memory in San Salvador

Historical Context-The Salvadoran Civil War

Like much of Central America, El Salvador became increasingly threatened by the region’s entry into the geopolitics of a bipolar world of the Cold War during the 20 ^th  century. After a period in which military and civil governments shared power, the polarization between military reformist governments and diverse sectors of the civil society, which demanded more respect for civil liberties and equitable distribution of wealth, led to an open confrontation between the government and the guerillas.

After the 1979 coup carried out by a group of military officers in the Junta Revolucionaria de Gobierno against conservative president Carlos Humberto Romero, who the military argued had lost control over social protest and the threat of the guerrilla, the hostilities between the Frente de Liberación Farabundo Martí, which brought together six different guerrillas, and the government officially began in January of 1980. The conflict between rebels, supported by Cuba and Nicaragua, against a heavily US-backed army and paramilitary became one of the last ones of the Cold War and one of the most violent in the region.For twelve years, the government’s scorched earth tactics, systematic human rights violations, and the unwillingness of both sides to cease fire led to a casualty toll of around 80,000 and around half a million refugees.

The Peace Process

The war, which did not have a clear victor, left a country torn down. As the global conflict between socialism and capitalism ended, international pressures led the country towards a peace agreement. In 1992, the Chapultepec Peace Accords, the first United Nations-brokered peace negotiations, were signed. The Peace Accords included the disarmament of the guerrillas and paramilitary groups, the holding of democratic elections, and the implementation of truth commissions to investigate systematic human rights violations during the conflict. The demobilization of violence and an overall peaceful election process, which had former combatants competing on ballots less than two years after the peace treaty was signed, were regarded as a part of an exemplary model of democratic transition. The UN’s intervention in the peace was later replicated in Guatemala, Somalia, and Iraq.

Although the international community highly touted the peace process for achieving peace, Salvadoran democracy has not lived up to the expectations raised by regime change. El Salvador is far from an ideal case of reconciliation and democratization. Thirty years after the war, many of the problems that caused the conflict remain, and new ones, such as the proliferation of gangs or maras that date back to the last years of the Civil War, have emerged. With occasional truces between the government and criminals, the homicide rate in El Salvador has remained similar and even surpassed those of the years of civil strife. In addition to the expansion of gangs, the high levels of inequality and poverty have caused that, continuing a trend that began during the Civil War, 20 percent of the country’s population has migrated, primarily to the United States.

Memory and Monuments

Amongst the recommendations for moral compensation from the 1993 United Nations Truth Commission on El Salvador was: "The construction of a national monument bearing the names of all victims" (176). Although the military governments have erected various monuments commemorating civic values during the war, it was not until 2003 that the Monumento a la Memoria y a la Verdad was constructed. Numerous monuments have populated San Salvador commemorating the different sides of the Civil War from then on. These monuments have garnered little attention from art and cultural critics. They have been rather subjected to criticism for their aesthetics, political affiliations, and use of public resources for their construction. As Salvadoran art critic Astrid Bahamond Panamá has commented on the monuments that have been constructed since the second half of the twentieth century: "After the Second World War, an institutional campaign of empty patriotism uses public money for sculptural projects such as the Monument to the Constitution (39,translation is mine). Despite the disregard that art criticism has shown towards these monuments, their aesthetics and politics reflect significantly on how the Salvadoran body politic has continued to reimagine itself after the Civil War.

Plaza to the Salvadoran Soldier-1984

The plaza is located on Boulevard de Los Próceres and was erected in 1984 by the San Salvador government. The plaza is organized around a cement structure that reads Monument the Salvadoran Soldier and bears two inscriptions on the plinth. The first thanks Salvadoran Soldiers for their sacrifice to maintain El Salvador as a peaceful and sovereign country. The second has the name of the then-mayor of San Salvador and the city council members during the inauguration. Two other plaques have been vandalized and are not readable. The plaza features a bust of General Manuel José Arce. Arce was the founder of the Salvadoran Military in 1824. It is interesting to note that this plaza was constructed four years into the civil war and appeals to the foundation of the Salvadoran nation. The plaza is still used for military ceremonies for fallen soldiers and holds the annual celebration of Soldier's Day.

Monument to the El Salvador Constitution- 1991

The Monumento a la Constitución was inaugurated on October 12 ^th , 1991, to commemorate the proclamation of El Salvador's 1983 Constitution. It is located in Avenida Constitución, crossing the city from South to North. The monument was built by Salvadoran sculptor Ruben Martínez Bulnes designed the monument. At the top of the monuments rests the phrase: "All persons are equal before the law." Like many sculptures portraying legal institutions, this monument portrays the Greek goddess of justice Themis holding a sword, scales, and closed eyes, representing impartiality. The local populace has given this statue the nickname "La Chulona."

The structure is framed by a rectangular vertically oriented concrete structure that contains various plaques, the latest referring to the renovations of the statue in 201 and 2010. One includes the first article of the Salvadoran Constitution of 1993, which reads: "El Salvador recognizes the human person as the origin and the end of the activity of the state, which is organized to attain justice, judicial security, and the common good. In that same manner, it recognizes as a human person every human being since the moment of conception. In consequence, it is the obligation of the State to secure for the inhabitants of the Republic, the enjoyment of liberty, health, culture, economic well-being, and social justice".

 Another plaque contains the names of the members of the local legislature and the Mayor of San Salvador at the time of the inauguration. Another plaque includes a commemoration of the day that congress declared the day of the Constitution to be every December 20 ^th . There is another plaque with the members of congress at the time of the inauguration and Roberto D'Aubuisson Arrieta, who became notorious for his paramilitary activity and multiple human rights violations and was the President of the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly. Likewise, it is staking to see rhetoric regarding the Constitution's protection of human rights after a decade infamous for its systematic violations.

Monumento to Peace-1994

The Monument to Peace, also known as the Monumento Cristo a la Paz, was built in 1994, two years after the peace accords, for the 5th Central American Games. The monument is located on the outskirts of San Salvador on the road that leads to the Airport. The design by Ruben Martínez Bulnes features a three-legged concrete base, which reads the biblical verse "La paz sea con vosotros," "Peace be onto you" (John 20:21) turns into a vertically oriented frame that holds an image of Jesus signaling peace with a V sign in one hand and holding a dove with the other. The figure of Jesus consists of an alloy composed of bronze, brass, and discarded bullets.  

Across the plaza where the monument is located lies an Obelisk erected in 2010 commemorating the signing of the Peace Accord of 1992 when the city was governed by ARENA and the country by the FMLN. The obelisk includes a plaque that includes prominent of the then President Alfredo Félix Cristiani and the leaders of the FMLN at the time such as Schafik Hándal, Francisco Jovel, Salvador Sánchez Ceren (who would later be president), and Joaquín Villalobos.  It is interesting to note how the first commemoration of the Peace Accord does not include any mention of the victims or the sides that took part in the struggle but only a dehistoricized account of the process, which at the same time reintroduces Christian imagery that coincides with ARENA's view of El Salvador as a Western-Christian nation. Moreover, the installation of the obelisk in 2010 points to a symbolic return to the Peace Accords by an ARENA major once the left has reached power, perhaps as a way to savage conservative governments' participation in the peace process.

Monument to Memory and Truth - 2003

Right-wing governments systematically ignored the United Nation's recommendation to construct a monument with civilian victims of the conflict. The Committee for the Monument of the Civilian Victims of Human Rights Abuses struggled for six years to gather the funds and the government's approval for the monument. A controversial element of this monument was the government's opposition to including any members of the FMLN. To have a chance to construct the memorial, the committee opted for including only those who lost their lives as civilians.

 Finally, in 2003, the Monumento a la Memoria y la Verdad was inaugurated in Cuscatlán Park in San Salvador. This memorial consists of a 90-meter-long granite wall with the names of 25,625 victims of state violence. The monument is also accompanied by a mural of El Salvador's artistic and cultural heritage designed by Julio Reyes Yazbek. After its inauguration, relatives of other victims asked for the inclusion of their relatives. In 2008, 3,169 were added. Although this is recognized officially as a monument, this memorial is not an exaltation of a unified Salvadoran people and its history. As Maria De Lugan has pointed out, it serves as a counter-memory to the official narratives trying to "help society contend with all degrees of past and present violence"(121).

Redondel Mayor Roberto D'Aubuisson- 2006

The Redondel Mayor Roberto D'Aubuisson is a roundabout located in the wealthy neighborhood of Antiguo Cuscatlán, which was constructed in 2006. The roundabout consists of a flagpole that carries the Salvadoran flag bedecked with D'Aubuisson's famous slogans and is surrounded by a small park. These quotes are: “Patria SI Comunismo No-Fatherland YES, Comnunism NO- “Primero El Salvador, segundo El Salvador y tercero El Salvador-First El Salvador, Second, El Salvador, and third El Salvador”, “El Arma Más Poderosa del Hombre Libre es el Voto-The most powerful weapon of a free man is voting” “Presente Por la Patria-Presente por la Patria-Present for the Father land”. Since its inauguration, this monument has been very controversial because of D'Aubuissons's role in the Civil War. The monument has often been vandalized, and there have been various attempts to remove it, all of which ARENA administrations have stopped.

Roberto D'Aubuisson was an extreme right-wing politician and military leader who was the President and founder of the conservative party ARENA (Nationalist Republican Alliance), Presidential candidate, congressman, and President of the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador. The UN-Truth Commission has accused him of the organization of death squads and the death of Monseñor Óscar Romero, one of the most recognized figures in recent Salvadoran history. This monument is an example of how even if ARENA remained silent about the state's involvement in the systematic violation of human rights, the party continued to foster their opposition to Communism as its defining identarian feature. An example of the response to these counter-narratives are the various attempt to mend the image of this infamous politician. Amongst these efforts to restore the founder of ARENA is the bust dedicated to him in the National Cemetery of the Illustrious, where his remains lie, and the construction of this roundabout. The celebratory structure presents D'Aubuisson as a patriotic figure who defended democratic and liberal values. Countering El Salvador's shift into a democracy committed to respecting human rights and plurality as the product of an armed conflict is part of a larger struggle for the appropriation of this country's true "democratic origins."

Monument to Schafick Hándal-2011

Mirroring ARENA, the FMLN continued participating in the struggle for historical memory. In 2011, the subject of remembrance were not the victims of the Civil War but Schafik Hándal, one of the most prominent leaders of this organization as a guerrilla and then in its electoral period, who died in 2006. The FMLN governments set up to build a monument, mausoleum, and a museum. Designed by Cuban Miami-based sculptor Rafael Consuegra and Cuban architect Rómulo Ferndández Villolda, famous for his representations of other revolutionaries, the monument is composed of three concrete structures of different sizes. Located in the working-class neighborhood of Mejicanos, the monument is located on the north side of Boulevard Constitución, which hosts at its southern end the monument honoring the 1983 Constitution Monument. As Carlos López Bernal has pointed out, by recalling the statements of FMLN's Secretary-General Medardo González, the tallest column, which bears the star symbol of the party, surpasses the height of the Monumento a la Constitución, which expresses "The solid conviction that the people are and must be the ground for any work of transformation."

A contestation to Roberto D'Aubuisson's rehabilitation and the liberal narratives that portray a democratic and constitutional past, this monument puts the democratic origins of El Salvador in leftist struggles. The monument bears a fragment of Hándal’s discourse on the occasion of the 60 years of the Salvadoran Communist Party “Si hemos de mirar al pasado, que sea solo para extraer de él firmeza, reafrmacion de nuestro caracter revolucionario.” This passage of Hándal is an example of the FMLN's discursivity aims to return to the past in order to frame the Salvadoran Communist party as its avant-garde and the FMLN as its political heir.

Monumento to the Fallen Brothers-2010

Located in the working-class neighborhood of Soyapango, which has also become notorious for gang activity, the Monument to the Fallen Brothers (Monumento a los Hermanos Caídos) is a metallic statue with two guerrilla members carrying a rifle and waving a flag that reads "Hasta el tope… y punto!" (Until the end/top). The plinth is made of concrete and has two plaques. The first commemorates the heroes that fought in the "Hasta el tope" offensive of 1989 and bears the name of the then-mayor of Soyapango and the association of FMLN veterans. The other includes the name of various guerrilleros that participated in this offensive, as well as various drawings of rural figures.

As the Civil War ended without a clear victor, The FMLN launched the "Ofensiva hasta el tope" to venture into San Salvador and seize power in November 1989. As both sides recognized that the war had reached a stalemate, this offensive was seen as one last attempt to win the war by the rebels. Even as the rebels could not topple the government, this event forced the government to recognize that they had grossly underestimated the FMLN's power and their widespread acceptance. As Greg Grandin argues: "the rebels therefore bargained from a position of strength and were able to demand that any cessation of hostilities be contingent on the implementation of many of the initiatives long championed, at least rhetorically, by the United States—including land reform, reform of the judicial system, dismantling of the death squad apparatus, and purging the military of some of its worst human rights offenders" (108).

Monument to Reconciliation- 2017

 The exaltation of the peace process continued even as the FMLN stint in power, which took over a discredited ARENA, struggled through corruption accusations and an epidemic of violence. In an attempt to continue the legacy of the transition, the government built a new Monument to Reconciliation (Monumento a la Reconciliación) designed by Salvadoran sculptor Napoleón Alberto Romualdo in 2017. The memorial consists of an enormous blue woman named Civis (citizen or civil in Latin) and a smaller metal statue with a guerrillera and a soldier with their arms across each other's waists and a group of doves at the front. Along with the returning idea of a truce between two military foes, the name chosen for the monumental figure and the positions in which the former combatants were erected point to the promise of democracy and reconciliation as paving the way for civil coexistence of previously antagonistic forces. The sculptures are surrounded by the Reconciliation Sculpture Park. The park features the mural "Traces of the Jaguar." This mural is an interpretation that begins with the Mayas and continues through different historical episodes of El Salvador by depicting historical figures such as Pedro de Álvarado, who first conquered the area; characters central to the independence from Spain such as Francisco Morazán, indigenous leader Anastasio Aquino, as well as various writers and artists such as Claudia Lars, Salvador Salazar, Arrúe, and Alberto Masferrer. Likewise, various plaques commemorate the signing of the Peace Accords, the United Nations' involvement in the peace process, and the help from the governments of Mexico, Colombia, Spain, and Venezuela during the negotiations.

The statue garnered criticism for its lack of proportion, color tonalities, and rigidness. Even the sculptor disregards the piece as not corresponding to the original design, not to mention the public criticism regarding the alleged lack of transparency in the cost of the memorial. In June of 2020, President Nayib Bukele said that the monument would be demolished because of the corruption during its construction as well as its unpleasant looks. Even if this is only part of its many political stunts –it remains unclear if the monument will be tornndown—this gesture embodies how Bukele's regime is upending El Salvador's post-dictatorial regime.

Bibliography

Bahamond Panamá, Astrid. Procesos del arte en El Salvador. Secretaría de Cultura de la Presidencia, Dirección de Publicaciones e Impresos, 2012.

De Lugan, Robin Maria. Reimagining National Belonging: Post-civil Gar El Salvador in a Global Context. University of Arizona Press, 2012.

Grandin, Greg. Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism. Metropolitan Books, 2007.

Guzmán G. and Mendia Azkué, I. “Tejiendo la memoria desde abajo: el Monumento a la Verdad y la Memoria de El Salvador.” Decisio, 52, 2016 pp. 51-56,

López Bernal, Carlos, “Schafik Jorge Hándal: y la reconfiguración del Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (1992-2014.)” Sociedades en conflicto: Movimientos sociales y movimientos armados en América Latina, edited by Roberto González Arana and Alejandro Schneider. CLACSO, 2016, pp. 95-118.

Sprenkles, Ralph. “Roberto d’Aubuisson vs Schafik Hándal: Militancy, Memory Work and Human Rights.” European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, October 2011, No. 91, pp. 15-30.

UN Security Council, Annex. From Madness to Hope: The Twelve-Year Civil War in El Salvador: Report of the Commission on the Truth for El Salvador, S/25500, 1993.