Commission on the Truth for El Salvador

Truth Commission for El Salvador
Map of El Salvador
Active	1992 - 1993
Established	1 July 1992
Report Released	March 1993
Scope of Commission	1980-1992
Sanctioned by	UN Secretary General
Country	El Salvador
Chairman	Belisario Betancur
Purpose	Investigate the extent of human rights violations throughout the 12 year civil war.

The Truth Commission for El Salvador (Spanish: Comisión de la Verdad para El Salvador) was a restorative justicetruth commission approved by the United Nations to investigate the grave wrongdoings that occurred throughout the country’s twelve year civil war. It is estimated that 1.4 percent of the Salvadoran population was killed during the war. The commission operated from July 1992 until March 1993, when its findings were published in the final report, From Madness to Hope. The eight-month period heard from over 2,000 witness testimonies and compiled information from an additional 20,000 witness statements.

In December 1991, preliminary talks began between the Salvadoran government and the leftist guerrilla militia, the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), with UN secretary-general Javier Pérez de Cuéllar overseeing the negotiations. The agreement was finalized and signed by both parties on 16 January 1992, at what is known as the Chapultepec Peace Agreements.

Javier Pérez de Cuéllar appointed three lead commissioners, with the agreement of both the Salvadoran government and the FMLN, to head the investigation. Unlike preceding restorative justice initiatives, the Salvadoran commission was composed entirely of international commissioners.

Since its independence in 1838, El Salvador experienced years of political strife mostly due to the unequal spread of wealth throughout the country, a long term effect of Spanish colonization. Despite this unrest however, political violence was relatively low until 1931 with the emergence of military dictatorship. In 1931, President Pío Romero Bosque permitted the country’s first free elections. This however resulted in a military coup led by General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez.