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Live Streaming and New Participants in “From War to Politics”

Posted on 03/30/2016 by clacsblogadmin | Leave a comment

“From War to Politics” begins this Thursday night with a keynote address by Álvaro de Soto, former UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, at Columbia University. On Friday and Saturday, the conference continues at New York University with panels of key players in the peace talks and scholars of the process.

For those who cannot attend the conference in person, we are offering live streaming video of every talk and panel that can be viewed wherever there is an internet connection. Click here for the links to the live streams in both English and Spanish.

Join us to learn more about why the process worked, who made it possible and how each side perceived the outcomes. In addition to the existing participants, including the former President of El Salvador, an FMLN representative to the Accords, and a former US Ambassador to El Salvador, we are pleased to announce the following additions to the program:

Luis Parada: Parada was assigned to the Salvadoran Embassy in Washington DC, where he represented the Armed Forces and assisted the Salvadoran Ambassador in his relations with Congress and the Administration in support of the peace process.

Francesc Vendrell: Former UN Ambassador and Secretary-General’s Deputy Representative in the El Salvador peace process. He has specialized in Central America and worked closely and extensively with Secretary-Generals Javier Pérez de Cuéllar and Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

Peter Romero: Former US ambassador and Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. Romero pioneered and directed whole-of-government programs to demobilize army and guerrilla combatants and the commensurate community-based development strategies still employed in Iraq and Afghanistan today.

Hugo Martinez: The current Foreign Minister of El Salvador, who will deliver a message from the current President of El Salvador, Sánchez Cerén.

From War to Politics: An International Conference on El Salvador’s Peace Process

Posted on 03/18/2016 by clacsblogadmin | Leave a comment

(Written by CLACS MA student Vladimir Penaloza.)

From March 31st to April 2nd, New York City will play host to a conference about the process and effects of the 1992 Peace Accords that brought an end to El Salvador’s bloody and lengthy civil war. The conference is hosted by New York University’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and Columbia University’s Institute for Latin American Studies.

The Chapultepec Peace Accords were signed on January 16, 1992. The treaty was brokered by representatives of the Salvadoran government, the rebel movement (FMLN) and Salvadoran political parties, with observers from the Roman Catholic Church and United Nations. These peace accords brought peace to a country that had endured a twelve-year acuerdosdepazphoto (1) civil war that was waged between the military-led government and a coalition of leftist groups and the communist party (FMLN). Its is believed that more than 75,000 people died, and an unknown number of people “disappeared” during one of Central America’s longest and bloodiest conflicts.

It has been close to 25 years since the Salvadoran Peace Accords were signed at Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City. From War to Politics intends to reflect on the circumstances that allowed the peace process to be successful. The peace process itself was a remarkable achievement that ended an intractable conflict and enabled El Salvador to transition to peaceful civilian rule. By bringing together over a dozen of the most crucial participants and scholars, this conference hopes to find consensus on what happened and what the outcomes were. The panels to be held will focus on the topics still considered the core details of the Accords, for example, what impact did the role of external actors on the process have in shaping the peace process? Were the external actors of greater impact than internal actors? All this and more will be discussed during the conference.

The panels will include the following topics:

The Role of El Salvador’s Internal Actors in Shaping Peace
Fighting While Talking: How Battleground Dynamics Influenced Negotiating Strategies
The Role of External Actors in Shaping Peace
Roundtable: What Difference Did the Accords Make?

The conclusions reached during these sessions will have been arrived at by the people who actually participated in the original Peace Accords. Some of the participants include:

Armando Calderon Sol, former president of El Salvador (1994-99) and Mayor of San Salvador (1988-94) calderon-sol

Bernard W. Aronson, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs bernardquien201

Salvador Samayoa, former member of the FMLN’s Political-Diplomatic Commission sama2

For more information about the conference, including a detailed program, biographies of the participants, and a link to register, please see the official conference website.