Remembering a massacre in El Salvador : the Insurrection of 1932, Roque Dalton, and the politics of historical memory

426 Pages·2007·12.57 MB·English

by  Héctor Lindo-Fuentes, Erik Ching, Rafael A. Lara-Martínez

Remembering a
Massacre in El Salvador
The Insurrection of 1932,
Roque Dalton, and the
Politics of Historical Memory
Héctor Lindo-Fuentes,
Erik Ching,
AND
Rafael A. Lara-Martínez
University of New Mexico Press
Albuquerque
© 2007 by the University of New Mexico Press
All rights reserved. Published 2007
12 11 10 09 08 07 1 2 3 4 5 6
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lindo-Fuentes, Héctor, 1952-
Remembering a massacre in El Salvador : the Insurrection of 1932,
Roque Dalton, and the politics of historical memory /
Héctor Lindo-Fuentes, Erik Ching, and Rafael Lara-Martinez.
p. cm. — (Diálogos)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8263-3604-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. El Salvador—History—Revolution, 1932. 2. El Salvador—History—
Revolution, 1932—Historiography. 3. Collective memory—El Salvador—
History—20th century. 4. Dalton, Roque, 1935-1975 5. Mármol, Miguel.
Miguel Mármol. I. Ching, Erik Kristofer. II. Lara Martinez, Rafael. III. Title.
F1487.5.L56 2007
972.8405^—dc22
2007012888
Book design and composition by Damien Shay
Body type is Minion 11/14
Display type is Brioso Pro and Type Embellishments
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Acronyms and Abbreviations xvii
Introduction i
CHAPTER ONE 23
The Uprising and the Matanza of 1932
CHAPTER TWO 69
The Historical Background
CHAPTER THREE 97
The Life and Writings of Roque Dalton Prior
to Miguel Mármol
CHAPTER FOUR 137
Dalton, Mármol, and the Notebooks
CHAPTER FIVE 183
Left-Wing Politics and Memories of 1932
CHAPTER SIX 217
Right-Wing Politics and Memories of 1932
Conclusion 251
APPENDIX:
Document 3-1 263
Roque Dalton, excerpt from "Testimony of the
Committed Generation” La Prensa Gráfica, 1957
Document 3-2 265
Roque Dalton, excerpt from El intelectual y la sociedad, 1969
Document 3-3 266
Roque Dalton, excerpt from El Salvador, 1963
Document 3—4
Roque Dalton, excerpt from the introduction
to El Salvador: Monografía, 1965
Document 3-5
Roque Dalton, excerpt on the issue of
Anastasio Aquino, El Salvador: Monografía, 1965
Document 3-6
Roque Dalton, excerpts from “People, Places, and
Events of 1932,” Historias prohibidas del Pulgarcito, 1974
Document 4-1
Roque Dalton/Miguel Mármol, excerpts
from Miguel Mármol, 1972
Document 4-2
Roque Dalton/Miguel Mármol, selection from
Daltons handwritten notes on the 1932 uprising
Document 5-1
Jorge Fernández Anayas report on
El Salvador, September 1930
Document 5-2
Report by Comrade H before Caribbean Bureau of
Investigation, late 1932
Document 5-3
Reply by Comrade R to Comrade H, Caribbean
Bureau of Investigation, late 1932
Document 5-4
Response by Comrade H, Caribbean Bureau of
Investigation, late 1932
Document 5-5
Report on El Salvador from Santa Ana
Comrades, 1936
Document 5-6
Miguel Mármol’s brief historical notes on the
labor movement in El Salvador, 1948
Document 5-7 325
David Luna, excerpt from 1963 Tribuna Libre,
"The Uprising of 1932”
Document 5-8 328
Roque Dalton, excerpt from unpublished 1972 manuscript
on the history of the Communist Party of El Salvador
Document 6-1 333
"A Landowner s Account,” 1932
Document 6-2 337
Message of President Hernández Martínez before
the National Assembly, February 1932
Document 6-3 340
Excerpts from Joaquín Méndez,
Los sucesos comunistas, 1932
Document 6-4 344
Excerpts from Jorge Schlesinger s
Revolución comunista, 1946
Document 6-5 350
"How Is a Dictatorship Born?” editorial from
La Tribuna, 1952
Document 6-6 353
Excerpt from Enrique Cordovas Memoir,
"General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez,”
written in 1960s
Document 6-7 356
“Is Confrontation Inevitable?" editorial by
Sidney Mazzini in Diario de Hoy, 1977
Notes 359
Works Cited 381
Index 399

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Roque Dalton in Prague ca. 1966-1967 3
Victims of the Matanza, from Revolución comunista 39
Cover of Revolución comunista 46
Lynching of Ama in Revolución comunista 59
Map of El Salvador indicating the main sites of the 1932 uprising 70
Roque Dalton on his high school diploma, 1952 99
*
Roque Dalton being released from prison, early 1960s 104
Headline Diario de Hoy, October 30,1964 ios
A page of Dalton’s original notebook 144
A page of Dalton’s original notebook 147
A page of Dalton’s original notebook 148
A page of Dalton’s original notebook 154
A page of Dalton’s original notebook 155
A page of Dalton’s original notebook i58
A page of Dalton’s original notebook 159
A page of Dalton’s original notebook i6l
A page of Dalton’s original notebook 165
xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
4-8 A page of Dalton’s original notebook 166
4-9 A page of Dalton’s original notebook 168
4-10 A page of Dalton’s original notebook 17O
4-11 A page of Dalton’s original notebook 172
4-12 A page of Dalton’s original notebook 175
4-13 A page of Dalton’s original notebook 178
4- 14 A page of Dalton’s original notebook 180
5- 1 Miguel Mármol, ca. 1960s or 1970s 196
5- 2 Dalton with Roberto Retamar in Cuba, ca. early 1960s 211
6- 1 Headline of El Día, January 21,1932 220
6-2 Page from Diario de Hoy, January 16,1967 236
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This project is a group effort that has grown out of many years of
professional work by three scholars who came together because
of a shared commitment to the subject matter. It would be impossi­
ble to recognize the tremendous number of people and institutions
that have helped each of us carry out our research over the years. So,
at the risk of failing to acknowledge the many intellectual, personal,
and financial debts we have accrued, we will limit ourselves to the
people and institutions that have been most immediately involved in
the completion of this specific book.
First, we owe a great debt to the family of Roque Dalton for
allowing us access to Dalton’s personal archive. We were the first
scholars to see the archive, and we acknowledge the unprecedented
opportunity that we have had in doing so. We have done our best to
provide an honest and open interpretation of what we found.
Throughout this process, our appreciation for the quantity and qual­
ity of Dalton’s work has only grown. He was a remarkable author and
a political activist who paid the ultimate price for his commitment to
make El Salvador a better country.
Susan Greenblat-Campos translated most of the annex materials
that were originally in Spanish. She demonstrated an unflinching
attention to detail and insisted on getting it “just right,” despite our
repeated assurances that what she had done was enough.
Carlos Gregorio López-Bernal, the former director of the history
program at the University of El Salvador (UES), has been a long­
standing colleague in the study of Salvadoran history. In addition to
facilitating Ching’s Fulbright at the UES in the spring of 2005, he
xiii