ABSTRACT
El Salvador is a fertile case for us to examine because it provides myriad outcomes: it experienced amnesty, a truth commission, reform of the security forces and nominal purification. In addition, the factors leading to the transition seem to be multiple, including a virtual military stalemate leading both sides of the civil conflict to see the virtues of negotiation, and the active pressure and facilitation of the USA and the UN. This does not mean, however, that full accountability and reform could be achieved: an amnesty was pushed through, limiting accountability, but the reform of the armed forces was rather more successful, as we shall see.
