Start Date
9-8-2010 3:30 PM
End Date
9-8-2010 5:00 PM
Description
In 2010 Nicaragua is commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Nicaraguan Peace Accords the end to a previous twenty years of violence in the struggle to overthrow the Somoza family dictatorship and then the contra war against the Sandinista Revolutionary government (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional –FSLN) in the 1980s. In El Salvador the Frente Farabundo Marti de Liberación Nacional (FMLN) is celebrating their 2009 electoral victory over the ARENA party. What shapes these national liberation parties today? How have these processes of reconciliation been realized? What are the lessons to be learned and applied in other war torn societies?
In Nicaragua the 1990 protocol for transition, demobilization and reconciliations processes, which occurred after the elections, marked a new course of history for the country. Lessons were learned from the Nicaraguan demobilization and civilian re-insertion of former combatants and some of those mistakes were avoided in the Salvador demobilization and reconciliation process of 1992. This paper will look at lessons learned from the two demobilization/reconciliation experiences. It will discuss the state of reconciliation with the passage of time, the role of amnesty, truth commissions and pardon that has shaped Nicaragua’s and El Salvador’s national reconciliation processes. Stories will be shared from the protagonists of these reconciliation processes the men and women who took up arms. Now, twenty years later, time enough has passed, wounds have begun to heal, and their testimonies can be heard and shared and maybe, just maybe, we can learn to wage war no more.
The Central America Peace Accords, Demobilization and Reconciliation: Experiences in Nicaragua and El Salvador
In 2010 Nicaragua is commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Nicaraguan Peace Accords the end to a previous twenty years of violence in the struggle to overthrow the Somoza family dictatorship and then the contra war against the Sandinista Revolutionary government (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional –FSLN) in the 1980s. In El Salvador the Frente Farabundo Marti de Liberación Nacional (FMLN) is celebrating their 2009 electoral victory over the ARENA party. What shapes these national liberation parties today? How have these processes of reconciliation been realized? What are the lessons to be learned and applied in other war torn societies?
In Nicaragua the 1990 protocol for transition, demobilization and reconciliations processes, which occurred after the elections, marked a new course of history for the country. Lessons were learned from the Nicaraguan demobilization and civilian re-insertion of former combatants and some of those mistakes were avoided in the Salvador demobilization and reconciliation process of 1992. This paper will look at lessons learned from the two demobilization/reconciliation experiences. It will discuss the state of reconciliation with the passage of time, the role of amnesty, truth commissions and pardon that has shaped Nicaragua’s and El Salvador’s national reconciliation processes. Stories will be shared from the protagonists of these reconciliation processes the men and women who took up arms. Now, twenty years later, time enough has passed, wounds have begun to heal, and their testimonies can be heard and shared and maybe, just maybe, we can learn to wage war no more.