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Today in 1932, the Pipil people, joined by mestizo peasants and communists, rebelled against the dictator Maximiliano HernĂĄndez MartĂnez. What followed is known as La Matanza, âThe Massacreâ, Salvadoran history's seminal tragedy
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The Great Depression, obscene wealth concentration among a handful of families, and the dissolution of the communal lands indigenous peoples depended on pushed thousands to desperation during the late 20s and early 30s
The impoverished and propertyless masses began organizing in ways that they hoped would allow them to escape these crises. Feliciano Ama, a respected cacique, began rallying people to take up arms.
The Salvadoran Communist Party (PCS) was founded in 1930 with broad international and some local support. PCS leader Farabundo MartĂ realized the party wasnât ready for armed struggle, but knew it was inevitable and refused to abandon Ama.
President Arturo Araujo, elected in 1931, promised socialdemocratic reforms - but was overthrown in December of the same year by General Maximiliano HernĂĄndez MartĂnez, in order to protect the landowning elite's privileges.
The rebels struck on January 22nd 1932. They fought mostly with machetes, targeting military bases, police stations, and landowners' estates, killing fewer than 100 ppl. The Izalco volcano erupted concurrently, spewing ashes and bad omens.
The government was well prepared and well equipped. The army had tanks, firearms, and an air force. It killed not only the rebels, but also 30,000 more civilians, persecuting anyone that âlookedâ indigenous or communist.
While the Pipil people of Western El Salvador suffered the worst, MartĂnezâs racist policies spread throughout the country. Indigenous peoples and their languages, clothing, and traditions were violently suppressed through this genocide.
Felicano Ama was lynched. Farabundo MartĂ, alongside young rebel students Alfonso Luna and Mario Zapata, was captured and executed via firing squad.
The military remained in power for another 50 years. José Tomås Calderón, one of the Generals involved in suppressing the rebellion, was the grandfather of Armando Calderón Sol, the first president elected after the 80s Civil War.
Most of the PCS was killed or exiled during La Matanza, but it eventually managed to regroup. New leadership worked steadily, peacefully, and often covertly to rebuild union power while avoiding direct confrontation with the army.
This strategy paid off when a general strike involving workers and the small bourgeoisie removed Maximiliano HernĂĄndez MartĂnez from power in 1944. The former dictator was assassinated in exile by the son of one his victims in 1966.
However, timidity and loyalty to this alliance with the small bourgeoisie against the army and the landowning oligarchy pervaded the PCS for decades, until it was among the last socialist groups to organize militarily.
The memory of La Matanza couldnât deter the masses forever. The Peopleâs Liberation Forces â Farabundo MartĂ (FPL) and later the Farabundo MartĂ National Liberation Front (FMLN) raised it up as a banner, as the Peopleâs Uprising of 1932.
The communist Francisco âChicoâ Sanchez briefly established a workers council in Juayua during the uprising. FMLN would later call it âThe First Soviet of the Americasâ and named the Eastern Front of the Civil War war in his honor.
Other areas commemorated indigenous leaders. The Western Front was named âFeliciano Amaâ and the Paracentral Front was designated âAnastasio Aquinoâ, after another cacique that revolted in 1833.
Colonel OsmĂn Aguirre y Salinas, who captured and killed Farabundo MartĂ, was briefly named president after Maximiliano HernĂĄndez MartĂnez. He was assassinated by the FPL in 1977.
Alfonso Luna and Mario Zapata inspired university movements that would produce many of FMLNâs leaders in the 70s and 80s. The ERP, RN, and PRTC in particular were established by brave students that wanted to make a difference.
To this day La Matanza is why many people deny the history and ethnic roots of this country, saying that "there are no indigenous peoples in El Salvador". Yet others work tirelessly to preserve and recover our language and culture.
In the end this event was only the first heroic (and tragic) attempt in the generational struggle for a better future.
More here on the next revolutionary wave: https://twitter.com/PaoloAMendoza/status/1348350720312037376?s=20
More here on the next revolutionary wave: https://twitter.com/PaoloAMendoza/status/1348350720312037376?s=20
