José Napoleón Duarte

José Napoleón Duarte Fuentes (1925–1990) was born on November 23 1925 in San Salvador in El Salvador. From 1980 till 1982 he led the civil-military Revolutionary Government Junta that took power in a 1979 coup d'état. He served as President of El Salvador between June 1 1984 and June 1 1989.

President

On March 25 1984 in new presidential elections Duarte as the PDC candidate came first with 43.4% of the vote, and in the second round on May 6 he won with 53.6% of the vote against Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) candidate Roberto D'Aubuisson. He became President on June 1. The elections were marred by violence between the FMLN and Salvadorean military at and near the polling stations. As D'Aubuisson and the ARENA party were widely alleged to have close links with death squads, the CIA used approximately $US2 million to support Duarte's candidacy.

Related Topics:
March 25 - 1984 - May 6 - Nationalist Republican Alliance - Roberto D'Aubuisson - June 1 - CIA

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Duarte was determined to end the civil war by "dialogue without arms" with the FMLN, and on October 15 1984 in La Palma, Chalatenango he met FMLN leaders face to face, which marked the beginning of the end of the civil war. His basic goal was to see the guerrillas disarm and then demobilize, so that their members could be reincorporated into society. He argued that the issues that caused them to rise up in armed struggle either had been or were in the process of being resolved. The FMLN wanted the ARENA party banned from participating in the political life of the country, and the dialogue between the two sides was difficult. During 1985, Duarte tried to improve the record of the state by banning the Air Force from bombing civilian areas without presidential permission, creating an Investigative Commission to investigate political assassinations, and persecuting the right-wing death squads that were alleged to be embedded in the state security services. However, his government was steadily undermined by his inability to control the excesses from certain quarters within the state. On March 31 there were new elections to the Congress, in which the PDC gained a majority with 33 seats. ARENA losing control of the Congress made life easier for Duarte. On September 10 his daughter Inés was kidnapped by an FMLN guerrilla group. In spite of angering the military, on October 23 Duarte exchanged 22 political prisoners and 96 wounded guerrillas with the FMLN in exchange for his daughter and 28 army officers also in their power.

Related Topics:
October 15 - 1984 - La Palma - Chalatenango - 1985 - Air Force - March 31 - September 10 - October 23

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In 1986 his tax reform plans, bitterly opposed by ARENA, were judged unconstitutional. Then in August he participated in the historic Esquipulas II agreement with other leaders to lay the groundwork for a firm and lasting peace in Central America, outlining the demobilization of the guerrilla groups in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua. On October 5 dialogue with the FMLN began again, and on October 28 Congress passed an amnesty law, just 2 days after Herbert Ernesto Anaya Sanabria, the president of the special United Nations Human Rights Commission for El Salvador, was assassinated in what was seen as a clear signal of the disapproval of the peace process in certain quarters who believed that the guerrillas were close to defeat, and thus should not be given political concessions. Duarte was increasingly seen as powerless not only between the two opposing forces of left and right but also in terms of the US anti-communist political influence in the region. With corruption scandals, an economy in tatters, rumors of a right-wing coup and a civil war that did not appear to have a solution the government became ineffective, unstable and unable to stop the indiscriminate violence and brutality. In the elections of March 20 1988 the PDC were soundly beaten by ARENA. In June he was taken as an emergencty to a military hospital in Washington, DC where he was diagnosed with advanced stomach cancer and given between 6 months and a year to live, all of which became public knowledge. In spite of having to stay in the United States for surgery and chemotherapy he refused to resign as President, and he was able to hand power over democratically to Alfredo Cristiani in June 1989. He died in San Salvador on February 23, 1990.

Related Topics:
1986 - Esquipulas - Central America - Guatemala - Nicaragua - October 5 - October 28 - Herbert Ernesto Anaya Sanabria - United Nations - Human Rights - March 20 - 1988 - Washington, DC - Cancer - Surgery - Chemotherapy - Alfredo Cristiani - 1989 - February 23 - 1990

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