National Guard (El Salvador): Difference between revisions

|patchcaption = Arm Patch of the ''Guardia Nacional''

The needOwing to createincreased ademands specialfor publichigher securitywages forceby tocoffee ensurepickers thein interestsrural of theareas, Salvadoran land owners in the countryside, owingfelt tothe increasedneed demandsto forcreate highera wagesspecial bypublic coffeesecurity pickersforce into ruralprotect areas,their sinceinterests. all efforts made byPrevious law enforcement authorities and task forcesforce hadefforts notfailed to hadyield goodsatisfactory results. The task forces were patrolling soldiers, commanded by an [[Army of El Salvador|army]] officer, scattered throughout the country. TheseThey organizations did not have anywere preparationunprepared in the fight against crime in its various guises, whichand were thus incapable of stopping the thefts, killings, rapes and so on. Criminals of that era were using topographical features to hide from the authorities.

This was the primary reason that prompted the President of the Republic Dr. [[Manuel Enrique Araujo]], to create the National Guard. A corps made up of specially trained men with modern equipment and uniformed appropriately for the type of coffee plantations where they were going to act was needed. Furthermore, it was legally constituted to support its actions and proceedings against the offenders to extendedextend the scope of justice to the most remote areas.

===First Reorganizationreorganization===

In mid-1914, the President of the Republic, Dr. [[Alfonso Quiñónez Molina]], brought from Spain a second mission of the [[Spanish Civil Guard]] to reorganize the National Guard. The mission was composed byof Colonel Jose Tomas Romeu and the Captains Cenjor Manuel Pizarro and Andres Manuel Lopez, who were assimilated tointo the ranks of lieutenant colonel and colonel respectively.

Under the reorganization, uniforms and equipment were also changed. IntroducedKhaki thecork usehelmets ofwere khaki cork helmetsintroduced, replacing the hats, on which waswere placed numbers, each corresponding to the number ofeach National Guardsman,'s andnumber, above which was a badge consisting ofdepicting the National Guard insignia and its coat of arms.

The Spanish Mauser rifle was replaced by the [[Mauser_rifle#G98_derivatives|Czech7.92×57mm Mauser|7.92×57mm]] rifle in [[7.92x57mm Mauser rifle#G98 derivatives|7.92x57Czech mmMauser]] rifle, which remained in use until 1961. The Corps carried the carterón (a small book) in the field where they took the documents and records relating to the capture of criminals, investigation of reports and information of all kinds.

On December 29, 1924, the Director of the time, Col. Tomas, presented to the Executive the “Cartilla"Cartilla de Servicio de la Guardia Nacional”Nacional" (the Records Service of the National Guard) which was approved on the same date. Previously, on Aug. 2, 1923, had approved the “Reglamento"Reglamento de Premios para Clases y Guardias”Guardias" (Regulations of Awards for Classes and Guards) had been approved.

This mission also created the "School of National Guardsmen Gral. e Ing. and Ing. José María Peralta Lagos”Lagos", officially inaugurated on July 14, 1924, under the leadership of Lieutenant General Jose Mauricio Lopez Escobar.

The Guards' School soon began to bear fruit, but years later disappeared due to lack of funds for its upkeep, and establishedSubsequently, the Company of Instruction was established, wherewhich hethen forged National Guard. On February 3, 1974, at the direction of Colonel Jose Mario Rosales and Rosales, Director General of the National Guard thenrenamed again this is appointedthe Educational Center with its original name of "National Guards School Gral. e Ing. José María Peralta Lagos”Lagos", in memory of one of the main founders of this rural police force.

[[1932 Salvadoran peasant massacre|"La Matanza"]], a massacre in January-FebruaryJanuary–February 1932 of an estimated 10,000 Salvadoran peasant farmers, was carried out principally by units of the Salvadoran National Guard, with assistance from the Salvadoran army.

On September 25, 1934, the new Organic Law of the National Guard was promulgated, and on February 3, 1936, wascame the Regulations for the Implementation of the Basic Law, on the occasion of 24th anniversary of its founding.

In 1950, under the leadership of Director General [[Jose Mauricio Lopez Escobar]], the uniform was changed to dark green and the helmet was changed from khaki cork to a dark green or black American [[M1 Helmet|M-1 steel helmet]] with a liner made of laminated fiber; the shoes, theand leggings, worn with the trousers were also black. In 1961, the Czech Mauser was replaced by the [[M1 carbine]], as it did not possess a modern weapon. The carbine was replaced eight years in January 1969 by the German 7.62 mm [[Heckler & Koch G3|G-3]] rifle.

During theThe [[Football War|"Football" War]] (La guerra del fútbol, in Spanish), also known as the 100-hours War, was a five-day war fought by El Salvador and Honduras in 1969. waged againstDuring [[Honduras]]this conflict, the National Guard, commanded by General Jose[[José Alberto Medrano]], had an outstanding participationparticipated in the Northern Theater of Operations (TON), and coveringcovered the flanks of the axisadvance ofcarried advancingout by the 1st and 8th Infantry Battalions. The National Guard advanced successfully in Morral, El Portillo, Llano Largo, San Marcos Ocotepeque, La Labor, and Plan of Rancho Santa Lucia, and also was charged with defending the "Presa 5 November ".{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}}

AIn veryMay significant change within1971, the National Guard, wasreplaced the replacement of theits old khaki uniform with an olive-green oneuniform.{{Citation inneeded|date=June May 1971.2021}}

The United Nations sponsored Truth Commission report, issued in 1993, alleges that the National Guard in the 1980s committed crimes against humanity, including massacres, torture, and extrajudicial assassinations. On December 28, 1983, the National Guard created the Batallón 15 de Septiembre (September 15 Battalion) with an initial total of 218 troops which was quickly increased to 500 and its mission was, guarding the premises of the Press "September 15", located in Canton San Lorenzo, on the edge of the Departments of San Vicente and Usulután on the [[Pan-American Highway]]. The Battalion was dissolved on December 31, 1990 by provisions of the High Command of the Armed Forces, likewise, was suspended the service provided to the National Guard facilities and Presidential House, it was replaced by the “Batallón"Batallón Presidencial”Presidencial" (Presidential Battalion).

The “Compañía"Compañía de Operaciones Antiterroristas para Areas Rurales y Urbanas ("Company for Anti-terrorist operations for Urban and Rural Areas) (COPARU) was created in 1985, in order to carry out counter-terrorist operations in the field and in the city. COPARU was dissolved on January 2, 1992, its mission transferred to the National Guard who was responsible for the functions of Public Security.

The National Guard, closed its doors on June 30, 1992,. leaving behind more than eighty years of history in the service of the Salvadoran people, and theIts last director was Col. [[Juan Carlos Carrillo Schlenker]].

In the late 1990's1990s, the U.S. based Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) began legal proceedings on behalf of Salvadorans living in the U.S. who had won political asylum due to their mistreatment by the Salvadoran National Guard. The following summarizes the legal proceedings of those cases against two Salvadoran generals, one of them, Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, commander of the Salvadoran National Guard from 1979 to 1984:

CJA has pursued Salvadoran human rights litigation since its founding in 1998, when it generated a “most"most wanted list”list" of Salvadoran human rights violators named in the UN-sponsored Truth Commission and reported to be in the U.S.

In May 1999, CJA filed a civil lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against two of the most notorious perpetrators on that list: Jose Garcia, the minister of defense of El Salvador from 1979 to 1983, and Eugenio Carlos Vides-Casanova, the director general of El Salvador’sSalvador's National Guard during the same period. Both defendants “retired”"retired" to the United States in August 1989.

CJA worked closely with Human Rights First, which brought a similar case Ford v. Garcia against the same two generals on behalf of four U.S. churchwomen who were tortured and murdered by the Salvadoran National Guard in 1980. A jury heard that case in October 2000, and rendered a verdict that the generals could not be held liable for the crimes, presumably on the theory that they did not have “effective"effective control”control" over their subordinates. The plaintiffs appealed and in April 2002 the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decided a new trial was not warranted and affirmed the U.S. Federal Court's decision in Ford v. Garcia.

The defendants appealed the verdict and, in February 2005, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned CJA’sCJA's victory in the case. The Court ruled that the plaintiffs failed to state a cause of action within the 10-year statute of limitations of Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA).

Then, in June 2005, the 11th Circuit acknowledged certain factual errors in its prior ruling: the court had failed to consider that Vides Casanova had left power in El Salvador in May 1989, and that therefore CJA’sCJA's May 1999 filing was just under the 10 year mark.

On January 5, 2006, the 11th Circuit issued a new ruling upholding the verdict in its entirety: the jury’sjury's verdict against both generals remained valid. The court’scourt's opinion reached two important conclusions on the question of equitable tolling in ATS cases. Equitable tolling is a legal doctrine that allows for the extending of statutes of limitations, when a deliberate act of the defendant, or an extraordinary circumstance prevented the plaintiff from timely filing suit. On this issue, the court held:

::: “The"The quest for … legitimacy and power may provide regimes with the incentive to intimidate witnesses, to suppress evidence and to commit additional human rights abuses against those who speak out against the regime. Such circumstances exemplify “extraordinary"extraordinary circumstances”circumstances" and may require equitable tolling so long as the perpetrating regime remains in power.”"

In 1988 the National Guard had 4,200 members<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=National_Guard_(El_Salvador)&action=edit&section=6</ref>, which expanded to 7,700 a year later and was organized into fourteen companies (often of battalion size), one per [[Departments of El Salvador|Department of El Salvador]], a [[Military Police]] company, the Technical Assistance Department (a [[SWAT]] unit with American [[military advisor]]s) and the Transport Group .

A tactical structure of five commands or battalions could replace the regular organization in an emergency.<ref>http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+sv0125) {{Dead link|date=August 2022}}</ref>

==Uniforms and Equipmentequipment==

* [[Civil Guard (Spain)|Civil Guard]]

==ReferencesNotes==

* [http://www.fuerzaarmada.gob.sv/MdnCcp/campana%208092/Guardia%20Nacional.htm History of the Salvadoran National Guard] (in [[Spanish onlylanguage|Spanish]])

[[Category:Military history of El Salvador]]

[[Category:1912 establishments in El Salvador]]

[[Category:1992 disestablishments in El Salvador]]