Abstract

Officers' Mafia in EI Salvador

Suppose a group of high-ranking officers conspired with a domestic arms manufacturer to pilfer hundreds of thousands of dollars through a rigged contract. Say that as part of the deal, the company bought cheap, faulty Yugoslavian ammunition, relabeled it "Made in the U.S." and sold it to El Salvador. If the public, found out about the scam, there would be an outcry and calls for an immediate investigation and the punishment of the guilty parties. Such a transaction did take place in 1983, only the officers were Salvadoran, not American. The affair evoked little comment either in the United States or in El Salvador. Recent interviews with Salvadorans living in the United States and with one senior officer who asked that his name not be used and whose information has proved reliable in the past, suggest that the case is only one example of how the Salvadoran, officer corps, or much of it, functions as a mafia in uniform.