The El Salvador-Honduras War Of 1969
Clayton C. Mamele
4889-8901
“The Football War” In Brief The El Salvador-Honduras War of 1969, referred to also as the Football War or Soccer War, was an armed conflict between the Sanchez Hernandez regime of El Salvador and the Lopez Arellano regime of Honduras. The war began on July 14, 1969 when El Salvadoran Armed forces launched air raids and a ground invasion of the main highways connected El Salvador and Honduras. Fighting ended 4 days later when a ceasefire was negotiated on July 18th. It is titled the “Football War” because it's initiation is widely attributed to a series of soccer matches between the two countries. While participating in the 1970 FIFA World Cup qualifying round the two national teams met 3 times with El Salvador winning the series 2-1 in the playoff match held in Mexico City. Each of the 3 games was followed by a wave of riots, fights, and open hostility between crazed fans. Over 300,000 Salvadorans were living illegally in Honduras at the time of the Mexico City playoff. El Salvador had a population of over 3 million people in 1969, nearly double that of Honduras. Honduras, however, …show more content…
This could help explain why El Salvador, a country attempting to democratize, and Honduras, a faux democracy, were led to war. El Salvador had for years attempted to democratize only to be met with blatantly rigged elections and overthrown leaders (Merrill 1995). Likewise the Arellano regime had rigged multiple elections, and seemed to make no real progress towards a democratic society. Neither however made vast steps in the autocratic direction either. The obscurity of their political structures likely contributed to the unpredictable nature of their foreign policies and their path to
4889-8901
“The Football War” In Brief The El Salvador-Honduras War of 1969, referred to also as the Football War or Soccer War, was an armed conflict between the Sanchez Hernandez regime of El Salvador and the Lopez Arellano regime of Honduras. The war began on July 14, 1969 when El Salvadoran Armed forces launched air raids and a ground invasion of the main highways connected El Salvador and Honduras. Fighting ended 4 days later when a ceasefire was negotiated on July 18th. It is titled the “Football War” because it's initiation is widely attributed to a series of soccer matches between the two countries. While participating in the 1970 FIFA World Cup qualifying round the two national teams met 3 times with El Salvador winning the series 2-1 in the playoff match held in Mexico City. Each of the 3 games was followed by a wave of riots, fights, and open hostility between crazed fans. Over 300,000 Salvadorans were living illegally in Honduras at the time of the Mexico City playoff. El Salvador had a population of over 3 million people in 1969, nearly double that of Honduras. Honduras, however, …show more content…
This could help explain why El Salvador, a country attempting to democratize, and Honduras, a faux democracy, were led to war. El Salvador had for years attempted to democratize only to be met with blatantly rigged elections and overthrown leaders (Merrill 1995). Likewise the Arellano regime had rigged multiple elections, and seemed to make no real progress towards a democratic society. Neither however made vast steps in the autocratic direction either. The obscurity of their political structures likely contributed to the unpredictable nature of their foreign policies and their path to