>El Salvador’s politics were dominated by two parties rooted in the Cold War: One was the conservative ARENA party, which has its origins in U.S.-backed death s

>El Salvador’s politics were dominated by two parties rooted in the Cold War: One was the conservative ARENA party, which has its origins in U.S.-backed death squads Not exactly. ARENA was never the same organization as death squads. There may have been some people who simpathized with both or were member with both. But ARENA never had an armed branch. In contrast, the armed guerrilla though, was actually converted to a political party as part of the peace traty. This was actually something very remarkable that has not happend often in the world. In which an armed resistance is converted to a party. Switching from bullets to ballots. Something quite remarkable actually :)