Sánchez Hernández, Fidel (1917–2003)

Fidel Sánchez Hernández (b. 1917; d. 28 February 2003), president of El Salvador (1967–1972). Born in San Miguel, Sánchez Hernández graduated from the National Military Academy. He was minister of the interior when he was tapped by outgoing president Julio A. Rivera (1962–1967), to be the candidate of the military-backed National Conciliation Party (PCN) in 1967. Although winning easily nationwide, the PCN won only 41 percent of the votes in San Salvador. As a result, Sánchez Hernández felt pressed to continue the mild reformism of his predecessor, pushing through a rural minimum-wage law.

Falling coffee and cotton prices in 1968 stimulated trade union militancy and the congressional elections brought the opposition parties within two seats of the PCN. However, success in fighting in the 1969 "Football War" with Honduras (a conflict over borders, trade relations, and immigration policy triggered by the actions of unruly fans at two preliminary World Cup soccer matches held in Tegucigalpa and San Salvador in June 1969) restored the popularity of the government. He died of a heart attack on February 28, 2003.

See alsoEl Salvador, Political Parties: National Conciliation Party (PCN) .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Thomas P. Anderson, The War of the Dispossessed: Honduras and El Salvador, 1969 (1981).

Kenneth L. Johnson, "Parties, Union and the State: An Historical-Structural Interpretation of the Salvadoran Crisis, 1948–1982." (M.A. thesis, Tulane University, 1988).

Additional Bibliography

Domínguez, Carlos Armando. La representación proporcional y la apertura política en el período del Presidente Rivera (1962–1967). San Salvador, El Salvador: Tribunal Supremo Electoral, 1997.

Ellacuria, Ignacio. Veinte años de historia en El Salvador (1969–1989): Escritos políticos. San Salvador, El Salvador: UCA Editores, 1993.

Montgomery, Tommy Sue. Revolution in El Salvador: From Civil Strife to Civil Peace. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1995.

                                      Roland H. Ebel