Use of images from the collections of the Tom & Ethel Bradley Center is strictly prohibited by law without prior written consent from the copyright holders. The responsibility for the use of these materials rests exclusively with the user. The Bradley Center may assist in obtaining copyright/licensing permission to use images from the Richard Cross collection. http://www.csun.edu/bradley-center/contact
Description
A Salvadoran Army soldier walks next to a line filled with people waiting to vote on election day in Santa Tecla while on patrol. He is armed with an M1 Garand rifle, designed, manufactured and supplied to the Salvadoran government by the United States. The Salvadoran government reported that 1,551,687 persons went to the polls although researchers at the University of Central America in San Salvador said the number of voters was between 600,000 and 800,000. There were long lines but not too many polling places, only thirteen, for example, in the capital of San Salvador. The U.S. administration considered the elections a democratic success but parties representing political views to the left of the Christian Democrats were not even represented, and many Salvadorans voted in fear of reprisals by the Salvadoran armed forces against those who didn't vote. Journalist Lynda Schuster of The Wall Street Journal, for example, reported that soldiers had threatened to kill the villagers of San Benito if they didn't cast a ballot. During those years Salvadoran were required to carry around an identification card, called cédula, which was stamped after the person had voted. As journalist Raymon Bonner writes in his book Weakness and Deceit, “thousands of Salvadorans peasants walked many miles, endured long lines, stood in the blistering sun solely because they wanted their cédulas stamped, not because they had faith in the democratic process or were opposed to the guerrillas.” Richard Cross took this image in 1982 while covering the presidential election and War of Liberation in El Salvador. Un soldado del ejército salvadoreño camina junto a una larga fila de gente esperando votar en el día de la elección mientras patrulla en Santa Tecla. Él sostiene un fusil M1 Garand, diseñado, fabricado y suministrado al gobierno salvadoreño por los Estados Unidos. El gobierno salvadoreño informó que 1 millón 551,687 personas acudieron a las urnas aunque investigadores de la Universidad Centroamericana en San Salvador dijo que el número de votantes estaba entre 600 mil y 800 mil. Había largas colas pero no demasiados lugares de votación, solo trece, por ejemplo, en la capital de San Salvador. La administración de Estados Unidos consideró las elecciones como un éxito democrático, pero los partidos que representaban los puntos de vista políticos a la izquierda de los demócratas cristianos ni siquiera estuvieron representados, y muchos salvadoreños votaron por temor a represalias de las fuerzas armadas salvadoreñas contra quienes no votaron. La periodista Lynda Schuster de The Wall Street
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